re mid
THE
MONTHLY
CHRONICLE
OF
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND
323 ENGRAVINGS.
1890
Printed and Published for Proprietors of tlie "Newcastle Weekly Chronicle'" by
WALTER SCOTT, NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE,
AND 24 WARWICK LANE, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.
Content^
Page
The Derwentwater Insurrection : —
Part I.— The Rising 1
„ II.— The Collapse 49
„ III.— The Execution 97
The Rose of Raby 4
THE NORTH-COUNTRY GARLAND OF SONG. Ev John
Stokoe :—
" Winlaton Hopping," 6; "Barber's News, or
Shields in an Uproar," 52; "Blow the Winds
I-ho," 109; "Bowld Airchy Droon'd," 165;
"Sawney Ogilvie's Duel with bis Wife," 198 ;
"The Skipper's Wedding," 269; "SairFeyl'd,
Hinny," 325; "The Miller and his Sons," 372;
"Show me the Way to Wallington, 421 ; "Kin-
mont Willie," 453; "Success to the Coal Trade,"
494 ; " Hughie the Grseme," 558.
Ovingharn Village 7
Alnwick Church 8
More about the Helm Wind 11
The Case of Alexander Birnie 13
William Shield, Composer 14
The Wren 16
Joseph Garnett 17
MEN OF MARK 'TwixT TYKE AND TWEED. By
Richard \Velford :—
John Cosyn, 19 ; Edward Collingwood, 20 ; Geortre
Coughron, 22 ; John of Coupland, 65 ; Joseph
Cownley, 67 ; Sir Cresswell Cresswell, 68 ; Sir
William Creagh, 114 ; Matthew and George
Culley, 116 ; Thomas Lord Dacre, 154 ; Rev. W.
N. Darnell, B.D., 155 ; Robert Davell, 156 ; Sir
Alexander Davison, 157 ; Richard Dawes, 202 ;
Henry Dawson, 203 ; William Dickson, 205 ;
Robert Dpubleday, 206; Sir Ralph Delaval,
Admiral Sir Ralph Delaval, John Hussey Dela-
val, Thomas Delaval, Edward Hussev Delaval,
250 ; Thomas Dobson, M.A., 298 ; Rev. William
Dodds. M.A., 299; Armorer Donkin, 300; Mat-
thew Duane, 302; William Durant, 337; the
Cuthbert Ellisons, 339; John Ellison, M.A., 342;
the Nathaniel Ellisons : Nathaniel Ellison (1656-
1721), Nathaniel Ellison (1737-1798), Nathaniel
Ellison (1786-1861), Robert Ellison, 411 ; Thomas
Elliott, 441 ; James Ellis, 442 ; Jeffrey Ekins,
443 ; William Elstob, 444 ; Elizabeth Elstob, 445 ;
Richard Emeldon, 489 ; Rev. James Fverett,
490; Christopher Fawcett, 492; Dr. Richard
Fawcett, 493; Sir John Fenwick, 537; Lieu-
tenant - Colonel John Fenwick, 540 ;. Colonel
George Fenwick, 541.
Warkworth Castle 23
Richard Grainger, Builder 28
"Jockey Brough " 31
Brignal Church and Brignal Banks 32
Madame Stote and her Salve 33
Deer Parks in the North 36
Aydon Forest 37
Nicky-Nack 37
William Brockie 38
The Butcher's Dog : A Story of the Morpeth Road ... 39
MuncastPr Castle 40
Cocklaw Tower 41
Hebburn Hall 42
"Guinea Dick" ... . 42
Page
JSOTES AND COMMENTARIES : —
Baron Hullock— The Hermit of Skiddaw—
Beacons in Northumberland 43
The Skiddaw Hermit— A Weardale Knitting
Stick — Richard Grainger — John Bird,
Mathematician 90
Pudding Chare— The Preacher and the High-
wayman 133
The Oak Tree Coffins of Featherstonehauprh —
Curious Customs of the Lake District— Fairy
Pipes 185
Family Longevity — Journalistic Enterprise at
Kendal— "Old Will Ritson"— The Old Mill.
Jesmond Dene — The Remains of the Forsters
at Bamborough — Thomas Topham in Gates-
head — Newcastle in Danger — Thomas Mor-
ton, Bishop of Durham 281
Embleton Bog — Smollett and Akenside— A
Weardale Holystone 329
A Weardale Stay Busk — A Northumberland
Farmer's Wedding 140 Years Ago — Old
Street Calls in Newcastle 378
Old Street Cries in Newcastle— Oystershell Hall
— Toad Mugs — Yorkshire Plant Lore 473
A Newbrough Centenarian — Henwife Jack 522
The Chesters — A Tyneside Temperance Advocate
—Bath House, Newcastle 570
North-Country Wit and Humour :— 44, 90, 138, 186, 234,
283, 330, 378, 426, 474, 522, 571
North-Country Obituaries :— 45, 91. 139, 187, 235, 284,
331, 379, 427, 475, 523, 572
Record of Events :— 46, 93, 141, 189, 236, 285, 332, 380,
429, 476, 524, 573
Joseph Cooke, Mystic and Communist 54
St. Hilda's, East Hartlepool 55
Barnard Castle Church 57
John Knox in Newcastle 59
Mother Shipton and her Prophecies 61
Ullswater and Stybarrow Crag 63
An Eccentric Magistrate 69
The Countess's Pillar 71
Pandon Dene, Newcastle 71
The Savings Bank Tragedy, Newcastle 76
The Story of Dr. Cradock, an Ill-Fated Churchman. . . 78
Robert Browning.. '.... 79
Dr. Lightfoot, Bishop of Durham 81
The Newcastle Riot of 1740 83
William Gill Thompson 85
The Titmouse Family 86
The Mayor and Sheriff of Newcastle— Thomas Bell,
Edward Culley 89
Turnip Husbandry 101
Julia St. George 103
Cauldron Snout 105
Charles and Eugene d'Albert 105
Cuckoo Jack 110
Durham Cathedral 117
The Pipits 12+
The Towneley Family 125
The Sad Story of Amy Fawsitt 126
Craster House, Northumberland 128
Hollinside Manor 128
Curious Customs of the Lake District 130
The Tyne Conservancy Contest 131
Winter's Stob, Elsdon 13+
[I.
CONTENTS.
Page
Camilla Colville 145
Valentine Smith 135
Mr. Justice Manisty loo
The Invention of the Lucifer Match 1*5
Charles Cowden Clarke's Visits to Newcastle 148
Mitford Church 150
St. Oswald's Church, Durham 152
The Village of Elsdon 159
The Wooden Dolly, North Shields 161
" The Duke of Baubleshire " 163
The Brown Linnet and the Lesser Redpole 163
Durham Castle 166
The Grand Allies 170
Demands 174
A Laird of the North Countree 174
Derwentwater, Keswick, and Grange 175
William the Lion, King of Scots 178
North-Country Artists:— G. F. Robinson, Arthur H.
Marsh. .1. Hock Jones, Stephen Brownlow IE
Coldstream Bridge 183
Crawley Tower 185
The Laidley Worm of Spindlestone Heugh 193
James Snape, D.D 196
Farthins Giles and Guinea Dick 199
The First Screw Collier 200
Coupland Castle 201
The City of Durham 207
( 'u t ty Soauis 214
The Quayside, Newcastle 215
The Elopement of John Scott and Bessie Surtees 215
The Lighting of Towns 218
The Raven, Carrion Crow, and Hooded Crow 221
(iateahpad Perambulation* 222
The "Newcastle Chronicle" 223
John Hunter Rutherford 226
Rookhope Ryde 2!
Two Northumbrian Highwaymen 229
More about the Skiddaw Hermit 231
The Bull Ring, North Shields 232
Dryburgh Abbey 233
Strong Men: The Commons 234
Forde, Lord Grey, and Lady Henrietta Berkeley 241
The Shilbottle Blue Bonnet 244
Jeremiah Dixon, Mathematician 245
The Highlanders at Wolsingham 246
The Shrike, or Butcher Bird 247
Twizell House 249
Penrith Castle 249
The Bowes Museum at Barnard Castle 256
New Church Schools, Newcastle 257
The Household Books of Naworth Castle 257
A Roman Traveller in the North-Country 261
Newcastle and its Bridges 263
Lindley Murray at York 267
Beeswing and Lanercost 270
Stephen Hollin's Ghost 271
Nab Cottage, Rydalmere 272
Long Meg and her Daughters 273
William Swan's Misfortunes 273
Luke Long, Quack Doctor 275
The Burning Hills of Shields 276
A Bedlington Legend 278
Richard Halfknight, Artist 280
Falloden Hall 281
Leland, the Antiquary, in Durham and Northumber-
land 289
The Battle of Sark 292
A Jeddart Axe 294
Ralph Dodds, Alderman of Newcastle 294
The Hawfinch, Bullfinch, and Goldfinch 296
Aln wick Castle 303
An American Poem on Alnwick Castle '". 309
Blagdon Gates 311
Kirkley Hall and Obelisk "!!!""" 311
The Strange Robbery at Kirkley Hall ......"... ... 314
The Assassination of Gustavus of Sweden . 318
The Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade .. 319
Whitefield in the North " 321
The Captured Prelate 323
"The Old Highlander," North Shields 326
Page
The First Public Concerts in Newcastle 326
Oriel Window at Kentom 327
Mr. W. S. B. Woolbouse 327
Ogle Castle 328
Alnwick Abbey 344
Dungeon Gill Force 346
The Hermit of Warkworth 346
Jingling Geordie's Hole 349
Kirkwhelpington Church 350
Workington Hall 352
The Mosstroopers : —
Part I.— The Border Line— The Brigantes—
Border Hardihood and Cunning— Dickie o'
the Den — Man-Hunting with Bloodhounds —
The Border Wardens and Warden Courts —
Castles, Peles, and Bastle Houses — Cottages,
Huts, and Shiels — Robbers Perforce — "Ride,
Rowley, Ride !"— Wat o' Harden 354
Part II. — General Character of the Borderers —
Misrule in the Thirteenth Century — Edom of
Gordon — The Border Clans — Clannish Feuds
— Northumbrians at Feud — The Murder of
De la Bastie — A Raid of Kerrs — Raids into
the Merse and Teviotdale — Sir Ralph Fen-
wick in Tynedale— The Robsons 402
Part III.— The Church and the Borderers— Lord
Dacre and the Thieves — The Scottish Thieves
—The Feud of the Scotts and Kers— A
Raid into the County Palatine — Lush burn
Holes — The Dacres and the Ogles — " Saufey
Money " — James V. : Piers Cockburn —
Johnny Armstrong — The Northumberland
Fencibles 436
Part IV.— The Gallant Graemes— The Liddesdale
Thieves — The Inglewood Forest Thieves —
The Redesdale Thieves— The Law of Gavel-
kind— Hexhamshire— The Halls 500
Part V. — Haltwhistle Harried and Avenged —
The Elliotts and Armstrongs — Kinmont
Willie— Wat of Buccleugh— Jock o' the Side
—The Borders Partially Cleared— The Last
of the Mosstroopers 529
Wallington, Northumberland 358
A Nook in the Borderland 363
Egglescliffe Church 367
Brancepeth Castle 371
The Brawn of Brancepeth 371
Harrison's Description ot the North 373
The Jay, the Chough, and the Nutcracker 375
A Cleveland Tragedy and a Cleveland Poet 385
Camden's Account of the Northern Counties 387
The Alnwick Stables in the Sixteenth Century 389
Seventy Years Ago in North Shitlds 390
Hartburn and Bolam 391
The Leakesof Bedlington 393
Madame Tomsett, Vocalist 396
Toad Mugs 396
Pack Horses in the North 397
Newcastle's First Postman 398
Agnes Prmgle, Artist 399
Belsay Village, Castle, and Hall 399
The Town and Port of Sunderland 406
Hulne Abbey 416
A Family of Artists— The Hernys 417
The Buntings 419
John Clayton, Solicitor and Antiquary 422
Branxholme Tower 435
Henry Evers, Teacher of Science 439
Brislee Tower, Alnwick 440
St. George's Church, Jesmond, Newcastle 441
Dray ton's Description of the Northern Counties 446
" The Sanctuary " 447
Gateshead School 449
The Blake Family Romance _ ... 449
Berwick Bridge 454
The Bell Tower, Berwick 458
Duns Scotus 459
Miracle Plays and Mysteries of the North 461
Bird Life on the Fame Islands 463
Herring Gull 466
CONTENTS.
in.
Page
•Great Auk 466
Common Guillemot 467
Puffin 467
A Cumberland Poet : Josiah Relph of Seberffham ... 468
The Church of Haughton-le-Skerne 470
Ancient Cross at Gosforth, Cumberland 473
Taylor, "Lord Kenedy." the Bigamist 481
The Water Poet in the North 485
Robert Paton, Postman 486
The Miller of the Clock Mill 487
Two Bits of the North Road 488
Kirkliarle Church 495
Bondgate Tower, Alnwick 496
The Arctic Expedition and Newcastle Election 498
The Village of Ponteland 503
Captain Zachary Howard, the Cavalier Highwayman 506
The Seamen's Riot at Sunderland, 1825 508
Illicit Whisky in North-West Durham 510
Coniston and Brantwopd 511
A Liddesdale Farmer in the Eighteenth Century 513
The Warblers .. ..515
Jedburgh Abbey (Frontispiece)
Staward Farm House
Ovingham
St. Michael's Church, Alnwick 9
Grave Covers, Alnwick Church 11
Helm Wind 12
The Wren 17
"Cousin's House " Sun Dial ]
Cosyn's House, Quayside, Newcastle 19
The Lion Tower, Warkworth 23
Warkworth Castle 24
Warkworth from the River 25
Gateway, Warkworth Castle 26
The Keep, Warkworth 26
The Coquet, Warkworth 27
Warkworth from the Cross 27
Brignal Banks 32
Brignal Church 33
King of the Forest, Aydon Forest 37
Muncaster Castle 40
Cocklaw Tower 41
Hebburn Hall 42
St. Hilda's Church, East Hartlepool 56
Barnard Castle Church 57
South Doorway, Barnard Castle Church 58
Mother Shipton's Cave, Knaresborough 63
Tipper Reach of Ullswater 64
Stybarrow Crag, Ullswater 65
The Countess's Pillar 71
Barras Bridge, Newcastle 72
Pandon Dene, Newcastle 73,74.75
The Titmouse Family 86,87,88
A Weardale Knitting Stick 90
Execution of Lord Derwentwater 100
Memorial Cross to Lord Derwentwater 101
Home of Julia St. Georee, Pandon Dene, Newcastle 104
Cauldron Snout, Teesdale 105
Jack Tar Inn, Newcastle 112
Autographs of Sir William Creagh, Ambrose Barnes,
Wm. Hutchinson, and Samuel Gill 115
Durham Cathedral 118
St. Cuthbert's Cross and the Dun Cow, Durham
Cathedral 119
Chapel of the Nine Altars, Durham Cathedral 120
The Nave. Durham Cathedral 121
The Galilee, Durham Cathedral 123
The Pipits 124, 125
Craster House, Northumberland 128
Hollinside Manor 129
Winter's Stob, Elsdon 134
Effects of Explosion in Ellison Terrace, Newcastle ... 142
Mitford Church 152
St. Oswald's Church, Durham 153
Autograph of Alex. Davison ... 158
Elsdon Village 160
Bishop Bury's Lending Library 517
The Morning Star of the Reformation 518
Bishop Cosin's Public Library 532
Three Norwich Soldiers ' 533
Views of Winlaton Mill 536
Mr. W. H. Patterson, Miners' Agent 542
Redmarshall Church 543
Bellister Castle 545
Clavering's Cross 546
The Failure of the District Bank 548
The Village of Felton 550
The Redstarts 554.
The Wild Dog of Ennerdale ....'".'".".'. 555
Rev. Frank Walters 557
The Lark Hall Sprite ..............'..... 558
Brougham Castle 559
Helvellyn Fatalities 561
Lumley Kettlewell, a York Eccentric 563
Wynyard Hall 564
Jedburgh Abbey 565
John and Albany Hancock 566
The Wooden Dolly, North Shields 161, 162
Linnet and Redpole 164
Exterior of the Great Hull, Durham Castle 168
Interior of the Great Hall, Durham Cattle 169
Greta Hall 175
Keswiek and Derwentwater, from Latrigg 176
Village of Grange, Borrowdalc 177
Coldstream Bridge 184
Crawley Tower 185
The First Screw Collier, "Q.E.D." 200
Coupland Castle 201
Monument to Henry Dawson 204
Durham, from the Railway 208
Durham Castle and Cathedral 209
Silver Street. Durham 211
Elvet Bridge. Durham 212
Quayside, Newcastle 216
The Elopement of John Scott and Bessie Surtees 217
Raven 221
Carrion Crow 221
Hooded Crow 222
Gateshead Boundary Tokens 223
Skiddaw Hermit's Hut 231
The Bull Ring, North Shields 232
Dryburgh Abbey 233
The Shrike, or Butcher Bird 247
Twizell House 248
Pennth Castle 249
Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle 256
New Church Schools, Newcastle 257
Newcastle from Gateshead 263
High Level Bridge, Newcastle 264
Tyne Bridge, „ 265
Swing Bridge, „ 266
Nab Cottage, Rydalmere 272
Long Meg and her Daughters 273
Falloden Hall, Northumberland 281
A Jeddart Axe 294
Hawfinch, Bullfinch, Goldfinch 296, 297
Alnwick Castle : Bird's Ey« View — The Barbican —
Stone Figures— The Warders' Tower— The Keep
— The Constable's Tower — Garret and Fragment
of Norman Masonry — The Well — Castle from the
river Aln-The Saloon 3034-5-6-7-8-9-10
Blagdon Gates ! 312
Entrance to Kirkley Hall 313
Kirkley Hall and Obelisk 314
Firing the Rocket 320
Coming Ashore in Breeches Buoy 321
"The Old Highlander, "North Shields 326
Oriel Window &t Kenton 327
Ogle Castle 329
A Weardale Holystone 330
Cuthbert Ellison's Tombstone, 340
CONTENTS.
Page
The Vicar's Will 343
Alnwick Abbey Gateway ^T*
Dungeon Gill Force. Langdalc ;>£>
Sun Dial, Kirkwbelpingtou Church A&U
Kirkwhelpington Church J^e
Workington Hall 353
WaUington Bridge 358
Arms of Sir George Trevelyan ... / *>»
Entrance to the Courtyard. Wallington Hall 6M
South Front, Wallington Hall 360
Picture Gallery. Wallington Hall obi
Egglescliffp Church 068
Brancepeth Castle • "»
Jav. Chough, and Nutcracker 870-f
A \VeardaJe Stay Busk 3<°
St. Augustine's Church, Newcastle 382
St. Jude's Church ,, 383
Font in Hartburn Church 392
Hartburn Church 392
Bolam Church 393
Toad Mup. 396-7
lielsay Village, Castle, and Hall 399, 400, 401, 403
The Ousrry, Belsay 402
Sunderland :— South t-Juay, Upper and Lower Hipth
Street, Bodlewell Ferry 407-8-9-10
Signature of Ur. Nathaniel Kllison 412
Hulno Abbey : Tower and Church 416-7
The Buntings 419-20-21
The Cheaters, Northumberland 424
"JJoya at Play " : From a picture by Miss Dorothy
Tennant 432
Branx holme Tower 433
Brislee Tower, Alnwick 440
St. George's Church, Jesmond 441
"The Sanctuary" 448
Gatesheiul School 449
Twizel Castle and Bridge 451
Berwick Bridge 456
Page
Royal Border Bridge, Berwick 457
The Bell Tower, Berwick 458
The Pinnacles, Fame Islands 463, 464, 465
Herring Gull 466
Great Auk 466
Common Guillemot 467
Puffin 467
Haughton-le-Skerne Church 472
Gosforth Church Cross, Cumberland 473
Oystershell Hall 474
Old Inn in Pudding Chare 479
Twenty-Mile Bridge, North Road 488
North Gate Toll Bar 489
Font in Kirkharle Church 496
Kirkharle Church 496
Bondgate Tower, Alnwick 497
The Wbalton Road, Ponteland 504
Ponteland 505
Coniston Water, Cumberland 512
Mr. Ruskin's House, Brantwood, Cumberland 513
The Warblers 515-6-7
Wycliffe Church, Exterior 520
Wycliffe Church, Interior 521
Lifton House, Jesmond, Newcastle 524-
Fac-simile of Lord Tennyson's Letter 526
Grand Hotel, Barras Bridge, Newcastle 527
Views of Winlation Mill 535, 536,537
Redmarshall Church 544
Bellister Castle 545
Clavering's Cross 546
Views of Felton 550, 552, 553
Redstart 554
Blackstart 555
Brougham Castle 560
Striding Edge and Red Tarn 561
WynyardHall 564, 565
Oatlands, Surrey 569
Bath House, Newcastle 571
Page
The Earl of Derwentwater 1
Thomas Forster 2
William Shield 14
Joseph Garnett 17
William Brockie 33
The Hermit of Skiddaw 43
Martin F. Tupper 48
Mr. Justice Cresswell 68
Robert Brc/wning 80
Bishop Lightfoot 81
William Gill Thompson 85
Thomas Bell 89
Edward Culley 89
"Cuthbert Bede" 91
Bracey R. Wilson 91
Alderman Joseph Spence 92
Mrs. Ann Lanchester 93
J. G. Brown 93
Julia St. George 103
Charles D'Albert 106
Eugene D'Albert 107
Cuckoo Jack 113
AmyFawiiitt 126
Camilla Colville 135
Valentine Smith 136
Mr. Justice Manisty 137
Christian Allhusen ..139
William Dodd 139
Alderman John Dobson 140
Sir Edward Watkin 144
"The Duke of liaubleshire " 163
BoldArcby 165
Robert Southey 175
G.F.Robinson 182
Arthur Marsh 182
J. Rock Jones 183
Stephen Brownlow 183
Page
Alderman John 0. Scott 187
John Flemmcr 187
Alderman Henry Milvain 188
Old Will Ritson 189
Edmund Gosse 189
Bishop Wilkinson 190
Captain A. J. Loftus 190
Mrs. Cuninghame Graham 191
James Snape, D.D 196
William Dickson 205
Robert Doubleday 207
Thomas Slack 224
Mrs. Slack 224
Mrs. Solomon Hodgson 224
William Preston 225
Thomas Hodgson 225
James Hodgson 225
Dr. J. H. Rutherford 226
Skiddaw Hermit 231
Thomas Beckwith 255
Bishop Westcott 237
David Dale 238
J. Crichton Browne 238
John Burnett 239
F»rd«, Lord Grey 241
Richard Half knight .. ... 280
Edwin Waugh 288
Alderman Ralph Dodds 296
Thomas Dobson, M.A 298
Armorer Donkin 301
Matthew Duane 302
John Morrison 320
Alderman John Foster Spence ... 321
W. S. B. Woolhouse 323
Miss Eleanor Burnett 332
Bernhard Stavenhagen 333
John H. Amers .. ... 335
Page
Miss Philippa Fawcett 336
Cuthbert Ellison 341
Henry Ellison 341
Isabella Ellison 342
Thomas Wakenshaw 379
William Crawford 380
Stephen Renforth 384
Madame Torasett 396
Newcastle's First Postman 398
Agnes Pringle 399
Robert Ellison 4H
Charles Napier Hemy 418
Tom M. Hemy 418
BernardB. Hemy 419
John Clayton 425
George Noble Clark 428
Henry Evers 439
Elizabeth Elstob 445
Duns Scotus 459
Robert Paton, Postman 486
Rev. James Everett 491
John de Wycliffe 519
Mrs. Mary Teasdale 522
William Murphy 525
James Grey 525
William Bowey 525
W. H.Patterson 542
Rev. Frank Walters 557
John Hancock 566, 568
Albany Hancock 568
William Peel 570
John Thompson 572
Thomas M'Kendrick 573
Herbert Ward 574
William Jenkins 574
Robt. Shadforth 575
Stephen yum 576
Chronicle
OF
NORTH-COUNTRY»LORE*AND»LEGEND
VOL. IV.— No. 35.
JANUARY, 1890.
PRICE GD.
Ensurmttmt,
I.— Slje llijstng.
JAMES RADCLIFFE, the last Earl of Der-
wentwater, was the representative of an
ancient Northumberland family, who had
acquired by marriage immense property in
the neighbourhood of Derwentwater Lake, in Cumber-
land, in addition to their own originally large possessions.
Throughout the troubles of the seventeenth century, the
Radcliffes uniformly espoused the cause of Royalty, as
did many others of the Northumberland gentry, especially
Buch as, like them, professed the Catholic religion. At
length their attachment to the Stuart family was con-
firmed by the marriage of Edward, eldest son of Sir Francis
Radcliffe, to Mary Tudor, an illegitimate daughter of
Charles II. This event took place in 1687, and in the
ensuing year Sir Francis was made Earl of Derwentwater
by James II., then about to lose his throne.
When the revolution took place, and King James, with
his consort and infant son, sought refuge in France, the
Derwentwater family adhered most devotedly to his ruined
fortunes. James, the eldest son of Edward the second
earl, was brought up at St. Germains, in France, with the
son of the exiled king, who was of the same age, and with
whom, accordingly, he formed one of those youthful
friendships which are usually found to be both the most
tender and the most lasting. On the death of his father
in 1705, he succeeded in his seventeenth year to the title
and estates of his family, and in 1710, then in his twenty-
first year, came to live at Dilston, in Northumberland,
once a fine old mansion, now in ruins, where he exercised
almost princely hospitality. He was in due time married
to a daughter of Sir John Webb, of Canford, in Dorset-
shire, by whom he had a son and daughter.
Shortly after the death of Queen Anne and the acces.
sion of George I., which events occurred in the autumn of
1714, a very extensive design existed for restoring the
family of Stuart to the throne. Those who favoured this
unhappy cause — usually termed Jacobites, from James
[Jacobus] II., who had forfeited the crown in 1688 — were
principally old families of rank in the North and West of
2
MONTHLY CHRONICLE
I January
1 1890.
England and in Scotland. The Government of George
I., becoming alarmed for its safety, took measures to pre-
vent the suspected insurrection, seized the horses, arms,
and ammunition which had been gathered together by
the Jacobite leaders, and hastened to take various per-
sons into custody. The Habeas Corpus Act, which gives
the people a right to immediate trial should they be
seized for any alleged offences, was likewise suspended.
This extreme measure is supposed to have precipitated
the rebellion. Among the noblemen and gentlemen who
were ordered to be taken into custody on suspicion were
the Earl of Derwentwater and Mr. Thomas Forster,
of Adderstone, one of the members for
Northumberland. Warrants were accord-
ingly issued for their apprehension : but
the design having been communicated by
one of the clerks at the Secretary of
State's office to his lordship's friends in
London, they immediately gave him warn-
ing of the intended arrest. Lord Der-
wentwater, in consequence, fled from
Dilston, and found refuge in the cottage
of one Richard Lambert, a humble but
faithful retainer of his family. Various
houses are assigned as the place in which
the earl passed the last night he spent in
Northumberland whilst flying from the
officers of the Crown. One of theee is the
Manor House at Alston ; another is a
farm house at Staward, of which Richard-
son baa given an engraving in his Table
B»k.
For some time preparations had been making by the
Roman Catholic gentry of Northumberland, in concert
with their friends in London, to appear in arms on the
first warning. The manner in which they communicated
their plans to each other is somewhat curious. As it was
considered unsafe to employ the usual mode of carrying
on so important a correspondence, gentlemen were en-
gaged to travel on horseback from place to place in the
country, as if on commercial concerns, and letters were
deposited by them in secure situations, while others were
there taken up and delivered elsewhere. The placing of
letters beneath stones at certain spots on the hills and
moors was one of the expedients employed. A holly
hedge still existing on the roadside between Dilston and
the Linnels, locally known as the "HollinBus," is also
said to have been used for this purpose. And it was by
such means that the Earl of Derwentwater received
private intelligence from his friends.
Derwentwater remained some time in concealment ;
but, being at length desirous of an interview with his
family, he repaired secretly to his own house. On his
lordship presenting himself before his wife, she reproached
him with some asperity, declaring it was not fitting that
the Earl of Derwentwater should continue to hide his
head in hovels from the light of day when the gentry
were up in arms for the cause of their lawful sovereign. It
is also said that she at the same time threw down her
fan, indignantly exclaiming, "Take that, and give your
sword to me." These stinging reproaches decided the
earl as to the course he should pursue. With regard to
this matter, however, Mr. Sidney Gibson says it is very
improbable that such a scene really occurred. Be this as
it may, the earl resolved to join the insurgents.
It was on the 6th October, 1715, that the Earl of Der-
wentwater went into open rebellion. A few weeks before,
the Earl of Mar had commenced a similat rising in Scot-
STAWABD FARM HOUSE.
January 1
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
land, and he was now posted at Perth with a considerable
body of troops. It was anticipated that the people of
both countries would instantly flock to the Stuart stan-
dard. Moreover, important aid was expected from
France. Unluckily for those who took arms, the death
of Louis XIV. prevented all foreign assistance, besides
repressing the ardour of such as were still undeclared.
On the side of the English, in particular, there was a
lamentable failure of energy.
Attended by only a small body of retainers, the Earl of
Derwentwater met Mr. Forster with a few followers at a
place called Green Rig, on the top of a hill in the
parish of Birtley, North Tyne. The whole force
amounted to sixty persons on horseback. What
was wanting in numbers could not well be said to
be compensated by military skill or heroism. The
emallness of Derwentwater's party showed that the
authority which he possessed over his extensive estates
and the large mines which belonged to him at
Alston Moor had either been exerted very feebly or had
been counteracted by some opposite influence. He was
himself, though an amiable man, possessed of no spe-
cial talents for such an enterprise ; while his companion
Forster was even more deficient in the qualities necessary
to command a rebellion.
The insurgents marched first to a place called Plain-
field on the river Coquet, where they were joined by a
number of friends, and then to Rothbury, where they
quartered for the night. Next morning they proceeded
to Warkwortb, where they were joined by Lord Wid-
drington, great-grandson of the famous Lord Widdring-
ton, " one of the most goodly persons of that age," who
had been killed fighting for Charles II. in 1651. Forster
was now chosen commander-in-chief, not from any sup-
posed abilities or military knowledge, but merely because
he was a Protestant, it being judged unwise to excite
popular prejudice against the insurgent cause by placing
a Catholic at its head.
From Warkworth they marched to Alnwick, where, as
they had done at Warkworth, they proclaimed James
III. Proceeding next to Morpeth, they were met at
Felton Bridge by seventy horse from the Scottish Border, so
that they now amounted to 300. Some of their adherents
remained undecided till the last fatal moment. Patten,
the chaplain of Lord Derwentwater, and the historian of
the rebellion, mentions that one of their number, John
Hall, of Otterburn, attended a meeting of the Quarter
Sessions which was held at Alnwick for the purpose of
taking measures for quelling the rising, but left it to join
the Jacobites with such precipitation that he forgot his
hat upon the bench. The insurgents received many offers
of assistance from the country people, but were obliged
tb decline them1, as they had neither arms to equrp
nor money to pay the recruits. They therefore deemed
it advisable to receive none but such as came mounted
and armed.
The main body of the insurgents experienced a severe
disappointment in the failure of the attempt to obtain
possession of Newcastle. As they had many friends in
that place, and Sir William Blackett, one of the represen-
tatives in Parliament, and a great coal proprietor, and,
therefore, possessed of extensive influence among the keel-
men, was understood to be warmly inclined towards their
cause, they expected an easy capture of the town, intend-
ing to make it a grand stronghold for their party. But
the great body of the inhabitants, like those of all the
thriving towns in the country, sided with the reigning
family. Newcastle, though not regularly fortified, had
strong walls and gates, which were well secured and de-
fended by seven hundred volunteers, while as many more
could very soon have been raised among the keelmen
and bargemen employed on the Tyne. The Earl of
Scarborough, Lord Lieutenant of Northumberland, and a
number of the neighbouring gentry, supported the loyal
portion of the citizens in their resolution, and the arrival
of a body of regular troops put this important post out of
danger. Frustrated in their designs on Newcastle, the
Jacobites turned aside to Ilexham, from which they were
led, few of them knowing whither, to a large heath or
moor near Dilston, and there they halted, waiting for an
opportunity to surprise Newcastle. But hearing of the
arrival of General Carpenter with part of those forces
with which he afterwards attacked the insurgents, they
again retired to Hexham, where they proclaimed King
James, nailing the proclamation to the market-cross.
They had, a few days before, sent a message to the Earl
of Mar, informing him of their proceedings, and entreat-
ing him to send them a reinforcement of foot-soldiers.
In the meantime the Jacobites in the South-West of
Scotland had also risen in insurrection, placing Viscount
Kenmure, a Protestant nobleman of high character, at
their head. Kenmure, finding that he could not with u
handful of cavalry obtain possession of Dumfries, resolved
to unite his forces with the Northumberland gentlemen ;
and with that object he proceeded through Hawick and
Jedburgh over the Border to Rothbury, where the junc-
tion was effected.
"The two bodies," says Sir Walter Scott, "inspected
each other's military state and equipments with the
anxiety of mingled hope and apprehension. The general
character of the troops was the same, but the Scots seemed
the best prepared for action, being mounted on strong,
hardy horses fit for the charge; and, though but poorly
disciplined, were well armed with the basket-hilted broad-
sword then common throughout Scotland. The English
gentlemen, on the other hand, were mounted on fleet
blood horses, better adapted for the race-course and
bunting field than for action. There were among them a
great want of war-saddles, curb-bridles, and, above all,
of swords and pistols; so that the Scots were inclined to
doubt whether men so well equipped for flight, and so
imperfectly prepared for combat, might not, in case of an
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/January
encounter, take the safer course and leave them in the
lurch. They were unpleasantly reminded of their want
of swords on entering Wooler. Their commanding officer
having given the order, 'Gentlemen, you that have
swords, draw them,' a fellow among the crowd inquired,
with some drollery, ' And what shall they do who have
none ? ' Out of the four troops commanded by Forster,
the two raised by Lord Derwentwater and Lord Wid-
drington were, like those of the Scots, composed of gen-
tlemen and their relations and dependants. But the
third and fourth troops differed considerably in their
composition. The one was commanded by John Hunter,
who united the character of a Border farmer with that of
a contraband trader; the other by a person named
Douglas, who was remarkable for his dexterity and suc-
cess in searching for arms and horses— a trade which he is
said not to have limited to the time of the rebellion.
Into the troops of these last named officers many persons
of slender reputation were introduced, who had either
lived by smuggling or by the ancient Border practice of
horse-liftinsr, aa it was called. These light and suspicious
characters, however, fought with determined courage at
the barricades of Preston."
Our portrait of the Earl of Derwentwater is copied
from a beautiful oil-paintinfj, believed to be the work of
Sir Godfrey Kneller, now in the possession of a gentle-
man at Tynemouth— Mr. Swinburne Wilson. The
picture, which is said to have been originally the pro-
perty of the Earl of Derwentwater himself, came into
Mr. Wilson's hands through a retainer of the family at
Dilston Hall.
[iHE following quotation from an old ballad
relates, in a concise manner, the history of
the illustrious lady known as the "Rose of
Raby," whose life was indissolubly linked with the chief
actors in the savage battles, ruthless executions, and
shameless treasons which stamp the struggle between
the rival houses of York and Lancaster as the most dis-
tressful period in our English annals : —
" A gracious lady !
What is her name, I thee praie tell me ? "
" Dame Cecile, sir." " Whose daughter was she ? "
"Of the Erie of Westmoreland, I trowe the yengist,
And yet grace fortuned her to be the highest."
Cicely Neville was the youngest daughter and twenty-
second child of Ralph, Lord Neville of Raby, Earl of
Westmoreland, by his second wife, Joan Beaufort,
daughter of John of Gaunt. So far as can be ascer-
tained, she was born at Raby, in the year 1415 ; was
brought up in the North of England, and educated
with her future husband, Richard, Duke of York,
who was a ward of her father, the Earl of Westmore-
land. Cicely was by birth a Lancastrian, her mother
being half-sister to Henry IV., and she herself first
cousin one remove from Henry VI. ; but her maternal
relationship did not count for much after she married
the representative of the second son of Edward III.,
as she then became heart and soul a Yorkist ; and
there is little doubt that this union induced the
Nevilles to interest themselves in endeavouring to place
the sceptre in the hands of the Duke of York and their
kinswoman, thus plunging their unhappy country into all
the miseries of civil war. Yet at the time of the marriage
there appeared little chance of Richard ever ascending the
throne, as it had been filled by three sovereigns of the
Lancastrian branch in succession, while his own father
had been attainted and executed for treason. The
influence of the Nevilles was, however, all powerful and,
after much bloodshed, the Duke of York was proclaimed
Prince of Wales, and Protector of the Realm. The
much-coveted diadem seemed now almost within Cicely's
grasp ; but many and dreadful were the battles that
were still to ensue between the two factions. At
last the Yorkists received what appeared to be a
crushing defeat at Wakefield, Cicely's brother, the
Earl of Salisbury, being slain on the field of battle, and
her third son, the young Earl of Rutland, cruelly
slaughtered by the black-faced Lord Clifford, while her
husband was taken prisoner and afterwards beheaded.
The manner in which the Duke of York was put to death
pourtrays the ferocious spirit which then pervaded
England. Dragged by his cruel captors to an ant-hill, he
was there seated as on a throne, crowned with a diadem
of knotted grass, and insultingly sneered at by his
enemies who made obeisance, exclaiming, in unhallowed
perversion of scripture : " Hail, king without a kingdom !
Hail, prince without a people !"
The Duchess of York was in London at the time
of her husband's defeat and death ; but such was the
respect in which she was held that, though alone and
unprotected in the midst of the foes of her family,
she was allowed to remain unmolested in her house,
Baynard's Castle. Three months afterwards the star
of York was once more in the ascendant ; her
young and handsome son Edward (surnamed from his
birthplace the " Rose of Rouen ") triumphed at Towton ;
after his victory, he hastened to London, called his
first council in his mother's house, and was there
proclaimed king. Although possessing great influ-
ence over Edward IV., the duchess was unable to pre-
vent his marriage with Elizabeth Woodville. Furious
at the thought of yielding her place as first lady in the
land to the daughter of a man who had commenced life as
a simple squire of ordinary descent, she endeavoured to
impress on her son the impolicy of marrying a woman who
was not only a subject, but a widow with a family. Her
representations were of no avail ; the king jestingly
answered — " She is, indeed, a widow, and hath children,
January
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
and, by God's blessed lady, I, who am a bachelor, have
some too. Madam, my mother, I pray you be content."
Dame Cicely had to acquiesce. She ultimately consented
to stand as sponsor to Edward's eldest daughter, who was
christened Elizabeth— a proof that the gallant monarch
cared more to pay a compliment to his wife than to
conciliate his haughty mother.
The Duchess of York's dislike to her daughter-in-law
was, in all probability, increased when the king, in his
anxiety to provide for his wife's poor relations, insisted
on marrying his mother's eldest sister, Catherine Neville,
Duchess of Norfolk, a widow in her eightieth year, to
John Woodville, a youth of twenty. At the death of
Edward IV. the Duchess Cicely, influenced, doubtless,
by the bad terms she was on with Elizabeth Woodville,
joined the party of her son, Richard III., all of whose
early councils were held under his mother's roof. It
must, however, be supposed that she was greatly shocked
by his subsequent conduct, for her noble upright character
absolutely precludes any idea of her complicity in the
murders of her unfortunate grandsons.
Before the death of her husband the Duchess of York
had assumed all the state and dignity of a reigning
sovereign ; and, though after his decease she withdrew
into comparatively private life, she still used the arms of
France and England quarterly, thus implying that of
right she was Queen. Even after taking the vows of the
Benedictine order, in 1480, she still gave audience in her
throne-room with all the pomp and circumstance of
royalty. Her life, dominated as it was by two supreme
ideas, the care of her soul, and the furtherance of
her ambitious hopes for herself and family, was ap-
parently passed between the cloister and the Court.
Although she had professed a religious life, and had very
strong feelings on the subject, such was her pride of race
that she never allowed any one for a moment to forget
that the blood of the haughty Nevilles and imperious
Beauforts flowed in her veins. Well might she be proud
of her noble lineage. Herself of royal descent, nine of
her brothers were by birth, marriage, or creation peers
of the realm ; two of her sons were crowned kings ; and it
was a final satisfaction to her to see the succession peacefully
settled by the marriage of her eldest grand-daughter to
Henry VII. She lived to see several children born of this
union, and, after surviving her consort thirty-five years,
died in retirement at her castle of Berkhamstead in 1496.
In accordance with her own desire, she was buried by
the side of her husband in the collegiate church of
Fotheringay.
Cicely was remarkably beautiful, and was known in the
neighbourhood of her birthplace as the "Rose of Raby."
In after life her pride grew so inordinate that her name
became a byword, and in the Midland Counties to this
day, when anyone wishes to describe a haughty, arrogant
person, they say she is a "proud Cis." Curious por-
traits of Dame Cicely and the Duke of York still exist
in the south window of Penrith Church, where
they were probably placed by Richard III. Cicely's
head is decorated with a garland of gems, and
her face gives the idea of a very handsome woman
past her first youth. Whatever faults of pride or temper
may be laid to the charge of the " Rose of Raby," her
moral character was at least unspotted ; vile calumnies
were circulated against her by her Lancastrian enemies,
but nobody believed her guilty of the crimes laid to her
charge. The time was a stormy one, and in consequence
of the greatness of her connections she endured grievous
misfortunes. Her husband was beheaded ; her son,
Rutland, murdered ; her son, Clarence, imprisoned by
one brother, was put to death by another ; while her
3'oungest son, after disgracing humanity by his
murjerous deeds, fell in battle fighting for the
Crown he had so unjustly usurped. Out of her
family of twelve children only one survived her,
and nearly all her relatives were either killed or beheaded.
In spite of their high estate, wretchedness marked the
fate of Plantagenets and Nevilles, and both families
are now alike remembered for their ambition and their
crimes.
A long account of the methodical and admirable manner
in which the duchess ordered her house, and passed her
days, has been preserved. From an old account we learn
that, rising at seven in the morning, she not only
attended mass in her chapel several times a day, but had
religious books read to her during meals. After
dinner, which was at "eleven of the clocke," she gave
audiences on business, and not till after supper,
which was at five in the afternoon, did she dispose herself
"to be famyliare with her gentlewomen to the seeking of
honest mirthe,"and as she lived in anti-abstinence days, she
saw no sin in comforting herself before going to bed at
eight with "one cuppe of wine." By her will, after
giving instructions as to her interment, she leaves her
largest bed of bande kyn with a counterpoint of the same
to her daughter Ann, a traverse of blue satin to her
daughter Katherine, and to her daughter Anne, Prioress
of Syon, a book of Bonaventure. The memory of
Cicely Neville yet lingers in the North ; but, owing
to the disturbed period in which she lived, little special
personal information can be gleaned about her. She
must, however, always hold an important place in history
as the direct ancestress of our present Royal family ; for
her great grand-daughter, Margaret Tudor, whose birth
she lived to see, was the grandmother of Mary, Queen of
Scots, the mother of James I., and from his grand-daughter
Sophia, Electress of Hanover, all succeeding sovereigns
are descended.
The Earl of Westmoreland's house stood in Westgate
Street, Newcastle. There can be little doubt that Cicely
passed some portion of her childish days in the town, and
it needs little imagination to fancy her playing on the
verdant slopes leading to the Tyne, or gazing from the
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I January
i 189J.
embattled tower on the trees and flowers which then
rendered the Forth one of the most favoured resorts of
the old burgesses.
M. S. HARDCASTLE.
JTfte J?cri'tft-C0tuttri) daiiatttf
3oh.ix
WINLATON HOPPING.
[INLATON HOPPING, like all the other
annual festive gatherings of the district, is
now considerably shorn of its former glories,
and the scenes of hilarious enjoyment for-
merly witnessed are now things of the past.
John Leonard, the writer of the song, was the son of
Mr. George Leonard, gardener, of Gateshead, who was
also the owner of a property on the east side of High
Street, still known by the name of Leonard's Street. The
M>n was brought up to the trade of a joiner, and wrote
numerous pieces of poetry, including some satirical effu-
fc'ions on the events of the day, all of which are now lost
or forgotten. In the latter portion of his life he fell into
difficulties, and the property named passed into other
hands.
The song was written above sixty years ago, and is a
clever description of a village fair or hopping. John
Peacock, the piper named in the song, was the Paginini of
the players on the Northumbrian small pipes, and one of
the laat of the "Town Waits" whom the old merry
burgesses of Newcastle maintained time out of mind to
wait upon the Mayor on gala occasions, who played at
weddings and other festivals, and serenaded the inhabi-
tants during the winter months.
The tune is of Irish extraction, and possesses a rollick-
ing character which fite it well to the lively verses of
the song.
Ye sons of glee, come join with me, Ye
e'er re - fuse to hear my muse, Sing of
r — r
Win • I» - ton fam'd . hop - ping, a To
Tench - e'i Ho - tel lef$ re - tire. To
^ N \ r r l—f~^f~T
ffi * d — J* i £ r-f— * J
tip - pie a - way so neat - ly, O ; The
-P •-
P • —
-A •-
fid - die and song you'll sure ad - mire, To-
ge - ther they sound 80 sweet • ly, O.
w~
>— X— >— ^ N^ ^— ^-
tr —
i
• ^ J— 1 • « •—
al the dal la, fal the dal la,
WT
• — * — r — £ r — f — p — ^ —
F
— /_ / — J ^ — | 1
al the dal the di dee O,
~7r
S N \ "!" »i N. S.
{. j ) —
— *^- — I-* — — r — •- —
F
« -• • 1 • » • 1
al the dal la, fal the dal la,
-, p • • P -,
1
x <if— —v 1 •+? 1 ;
'al the dal the di dee O.
With box and die
You'll Sammy spy,
Of late Sword-Dancers' Bessy, O —
All patch 'd and torn,
With tail and horn,
Just like a de'il in dressy, O :
But late discharged from that employ,
This scheme popp'd in his noddle, O ;
Which filled his little heart with joy,
And pleased blithe Sammy Doddle, 0.
Close by the stocks
His dice and box
lie rattled away so rarely, O ;
Both youth and age
Did he engage,
Together they played so cheerly, O :
While just close by the sticks did fly
At spice on knobs of woody, O :
"How ! mind my legs ! " the youngsters cry ;
" Wey, man, thou's drawn the bloody; O ! "
Ranged in a row,
A glorious show,
Of spice and nuts for cracking, O :
With handsome toys
For girls and boys,
Graced Winlaton's famed Hopping. O.
Each to the stalls led his dear lass.
And treat her there so sweetly, O ;
Then straight retired to drink a glass.
An' shuffle and cut so neatly, O.
Ye men so wise
Who knowledge prize,
Let not this scene confound ye, O ;
At Winship's door
Might ye explore
The world a" running round ye, O.
Blithe boys and girls on horse and chair,
Flew round without e'er stopping, O ;
Sure Blaydon Races can't compare
With Winlaton's famed Hopping, O.
The night came on,
With dance and song
Each public-house did jingle, 0 ;
All ranks did swear
To banish Care,
The married and the single, O ;
January \
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
They tript away till morning light,
Then slept sound without rocking, 0.
Next day got drunk, in merry plight,
And jaw'd about the Hopping, O.
At last dull Care
His crest did rear,
Our heads he sore did riddle, 0,
Till Peacock drew
His pipes and blew.
And Tench he tun'd his 6ddle, 0 :
Then Painter Jack he led the van,
The drum did join in chorus, O.
The old and young then danced and sung,
Dull Care fled far before us, O.
No courtier fine,
Nor grave divine,
That's got the whole he wishes, 0,
Will ever be
So blithe as we,
With all their loaves and fishes, O :
Then grant, O Jove ! our ardent prayer.
And happy still you'll find us, O ;—
Let pining Want and haggard Care
A day's march keep behind us, 0.
arcadian
bank of
j|ROM Tynemouth to Wylam, foundries, ship-
yards, and chemical works have effectually
marred the banks of the Tyne. Further
westward, however, the valley is more
in aspect, and at Ovingham, on the north
the river, everything incongruous has dis-
appeared from the landscape.
To the beauty of nature is added the charm of
antiquity. Here more than a thousand years ago a family
of Anglian settlers established themselves, and the place
was known as the ham or home of the Offings, or family
of Offa. The early chroniclers are silent respecting the
early vicissitudes of Ovingham. Protected, as it was,
from the middle of the twelfth century, by the neigh-
bouring stronghold of the Umfrevilles — Prudhoe Castle —
it would suffer but little from the depredations of
Scottish marauders. It is more than likely that the •
army of William the Lion, which had spitefully stripped
off the bark from the apple trees at Prudhoe on retiring
from the walls of the castle in 1174, would inflict some
injury on Ovingham as well. In 1644, a part of the
Scottish army, under Lesley, crossed the Tyne by the
ford here, on retreating from Newcastle, which they had
vainly beleaguered from the 3rd to the 22nd of February of
that year.
The most memorable event in the history of Ovingham
took place on November 17th, 1771, when the Tyne rose to
a great height above its normal level. The turbulent
waters surrounded the boathouse, which was occupied on
this particular evening by ten persons, viz., the ferryman,
John Johnson, his wife and two children, his mother,
brother, a man servant, maid servant, and two young
men. The details of the picture are soon sketched in.
The inmates take refuge in an upper room, and then climb
on to the roof. The flood grows stronger and the night
darker. They break through the wall into an adjoining
stable as the foundations of the building begin to give
way, and so get on to the roof. They are swept away by
the torrent, and carried down with the thatch nearly
three hundred yards into a wood. The ferryman snatches
at a bough of a tree with one hand, seizing his wife with
the other. She, however, is forced away from his grasp,
and he can barely save himself by climbing up into the
branches. His brother and the maid servant escape from
the flood in a similar way, and for ten weary hours they
remain in their perilous position. Then help comes, and
they are rescued, the girl, however, dying but a little
while after.
Ovingham has associations of great interest— especially
to lovers of art. It is the birthplace of the portrait-
painter William Nicholson, E.S.A. (born 1785), and of
Bewick's pupil, John Jackson (born 1801). Here, in 1795,
died John Bewick, the engraver, at the house of his
sister, Mrs. Ann Dobson ; and here he lies buried by the
side of his more famous brother. The mother of George
Stephenson was a native of Ovingham, she being the
second daughter of George Carr, a dyer in the village,
who is represented with his employer, Thomas Dobson,
in Bewick's wood-cut of "The Ovingham Dyers."
If the village had none of these memories of Bewick
and his pupils, it would still have a charm for the artist
as a picturesque subject for the exercise of his powers.
There is a slight swelling of the ground on the north
bank of the Tyne here, and upon this long green knoll is
seated the village. A new iron bridge in a coat of red
paint now connects it with the railway station of
Prudhoe.
Every view of Ovingham is dominated by the ancient
tower of the church, a plain, square structure, without
buttresses. It was built about the middle of the llth
century, and is an interesting specimen of pre-Conquest
work. Beneath the tower against its west wall is the vault
of the Bewick family surrounded by iron palisades.
One is continually being reminded of the great engraver
on visiting this venerable church. Passages from his
autobiography recur to our memories, and by their help
we can picture to ourselves the somewhat unruly schoolboy
who was afterwards to become so famous. First we have a
glimpse of him locked up in the belfry for misconduct
with some of his class-mates. They amuse themselves by
pulling one another up and down to the first floor by the
bell ropes. But an accident occurs. The rope slips
through their hands, and the boy holding on to it is
precipitated to the ground and much hurt. Then we
see him shut up alone in the church, now peeping intc
the dark corners half expecting to discover some terrible
ghost or boggle, and now climbing up one of the columns
and sitting astride the capital, to the no small consterna-
tion of his reverend tutor, who marches up the aisles
exclaiming "God bless me !" Now he is drawing various
8
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
r January
V 1890.
figures upon the soft painted book-board with a pin
during service, or arousing poor Dummy, of Wylam, from
a refreshing nap with a sharp blow on the head. And
now he is following the bent of his genius in sketching
with a bit of chalk on the gravestones and the Boor of the
porch.
After the church, the next most interesting building in
the village is the ancient Rectory House, standing above
the river a little to the west of the bridge. It is a long
low building of two storeys, looking very quaint with its
ivied east gable, its mullioned rectangular windows, its
round-arched door, and the sundial above it resting on a
heavy, broad string-course. It occupies the site of a cell
of Black Canons, which was founded here about 1378 by
the first Earl of Northumberland. The north door has
in lieu of a knocker the old screw ring and screw post
forming the door-rasp now nearly extinct in England.
One apartment in the house is of great interest, as the
school-room in which Thomas Bewick, John Hodgson
Ilinde, the historian, and other North-Country worthies
received their education. The tutor of Bewick was
the Rev. Christopher Gregson, whose housekeeper his
mother had been before her marriage. Here Bewick was
well grounded in English, and acquired some knowledge
of Latin. Full of boyish mischief he was always in some
escapade or other ; as, for instance, taming a runaway
horse by riding it bare-backed over the sykes and burns.
From 1848 to 1850 the Rectory House was the home of
the gentle and accomplished poetess — Dora Greenwell,
She came to live with her brother, the Rev. William
Greenwell (now Canon of Durham Cathedral, and the
author of a valuable work on "British Barrows "), who
was holding the living for a friend. " It was during the
early part of her life at Ovingham," says her biographer,
"that Miss Greenwell experienced the pleasure of the
publication of her first volume of poems." A pretty fruit
and flower garden arranged in terraces descends to the
river, its walls over-run with mosses and ivy. On the
side of the steps leading down it are memorial stones
marking the height of the floods on November 17th, 1771,
and December 31st, 1815.
The view of the village from the opposite banks is
very fine. Our eye rests on the Rectory House, then
on the churchyard sycamores behind it and the old
Saxon tower, and then on the rich undulating cornfields
and meadows in the distance, and the wooded glen of the
Whittle Burn. Clear and bright as in the days of Bewick
are the waters of the Tyne as they pass this charming
village, and pleasant it is to see, in the twilight, the
angler knee-deep in the stream — unconsciously recalling to
our memories many a woodcut of the famous engraver
depicting a similar scene. Wsr. W. TOMLINSON.
3 1 IT tot rh Cftttrcfr.
jjHE Norman church of Alnwick, we may
safely say, was built between 1130 and
1147. It consisted of a long narrow nave
and chancel, both without aisles, but
having a small apse at the east end. When the old Nor-
man church became too small, aisles would be thrown out,
probably at different times. The north aisle, originally a
very narrow one, was doubtless built first. A little one-
light window still existing at the west end would origin-
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NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
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10
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I January
t 1890.
ally be in the middle of the west wnll of this aisle. Then
about the middle of the fourteenth century a south aisle
was built, opening into the nave by four arches, of which
one pillar, the central one, still exists. The timber roof
of this aisle rested, on the inner side, on corbels, four of
which yet remain. A fifth would be destroyed when the
tower was erected. All those corbels are sculptured in
representation of heads.
In tho fifteenth century the church underwent many
changes, the total result of which was that it was almost
entirely re-built First of all, the north aisle of the nave
and the arcade opening into it, were rebuilt. This was
probably done about 1430. Then a few years aftewards
the tower was erected, and a new and wider south aisle
was built. These works we may ascribe to about the year
1450. After another short interval, the whole of the pre
sent chancel was built. In the last century the church
suffered grievously. The old arcades of the nave were
almost totally destroyed, two arches having been thrown
into one, and the intermediate pillars removed, on both
sides. In 1863 the edifice was restored, under the direc-
tion of an eminent architect, Mr. Anthony Salvin, who
replaced the missing pillars, and reduced the arches to
their original size.
So much for the history of the edifice.
We enter the building by a porch which is as late as
any part of the church, if not later. The dripstone of the
outer doorway terminate^ in bosses which bear, on one side
the crescent, and on the other the fetter-lock — symbols
borne by the ancient house of Percy, which we shall see
again and again during our survey of the church.
The first thing which strikes our attention on entering
is the marked difference between the north and south
arcades. The pillars of the latter are octagons, are per-
fectly plain, and are surmounted by massive capitals with
few and simple mouldings. The pillars on the north side
are hexagons, are panelled on every side, and have
elaborately moulded capitals. There is an equally
marked difference between the windows of the north aisle
and those of the south.
But it is when we pass into the chancel thit we find
the most enriched architectural features of the church.
The pillars, which are octagonal, are panelled, and have
capitals richly carved with foliage and fruit. The hood
mouldings of the arches terminate in angels bearing
shields. On one of these a St. Catherine's wheel is carved,
and on some of the others is the heraldic bearing of Bishop
Anthony Beck, a cross moline. The abacus of one of the
capitals presents us once more with the fetter-locks and
crescents of the Percies.
The chancel has what is known as a priest's door in
its south wall, and a modern doorway and porch on the
north side, built about 1840 for the exclusive use of the
Duke of Northumberland and bis family. There is a
piscina in the east wall of the south aisle, which proves
that this part of the chancel was formerly a chantry.
But the most remarkable and interesting feature about
the chancel is the spiral stairway in its north-east corner
and the turret to which it leads. The external appearance
of this singular appendage to the church is very well
shown in our engraving. The stairway, after winding
round and round for a time, suddenly assumes a straight
course and ascends into what, in the picture, is the left
hand part of the turret. From this part access is gained
to the roof of the aisle, and from this, again, to an almost
circular chamber with a domed stone roof, which is now
partly ruinous. This chamber is directly over the spiral
stairway. The higher parapet, which now hides the roof
of the east part of the turret, is a comparatively
modern addition. For what object it has been
put on I cannot imagine. Beneath it, however,
the original parapet may be distinctly seen. The
purpose of this singular structure has been a fruitful
subject for speculation. The late George Tate, the
historian of Alnwick, says, " It may have been a watch
tower with a beacon on the top to warn the brethren of
the abbey of approachine danger, of which notice might
have been given either by the castle on the one side, or by
Heiforlaw pele on the other ; or it probably had been
used as an occasional residence by one of the chantry
priests who performed services at the altar of Saint Mary. "
I feel compelled to say that I cannot accept either of
these theories. For any purpose of watch and warning
the tower of the church or some turret raised upon it would
have been much more efficient. Then also it has only one
out-look, namely, the square opening shown in our
engraving, and the integrity of the ancient masonry shows
that it never had any other. That it was the abode of an
anchoritic chantry-priest is extremely improbable. Its
position for such a purpose is unusual ; its dimensions are
too small ; and it has not, and never Das had, a fireplace.
Its most probable object is suggested by its one outlook.
This outlook commands, or did command, the principal
entrance to the castle. The turret, I am inclined to say,
was built to enable an acolyte, or some other attendant,
to announce to the priests, waiting to celebrate divine
service in the church below, the approach of the Earl of
Northumberland or bis retinue.
Returning to the chancel, we must not omit to notice
the two sepulchral effigies which lie close to the wall on
the south side, both resting on modern altar tombs. They
are of almost identical date, and may be ascribed to the
second quarter of the fourteenth century. One is the
effigy of a man dressed in a short tunic, and with a purse
hanging from his girdle. The other is that of a lady,
with raised veil on her head, and wimple over her chin.
Each effigy has an animal at its feet, and a canopy over
its head. The head also rests in each case on a cushion
which has been supported on each side by a- small
kneeling human figure. These figures, however, are all
partly or entirely destroyed. In the duke's porch
we have another sepulchral effigy, of considerably later
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
11
date, which also lies on a modern altar tomb. It is that
of a monk.
Several other interesting memorials of the departed are
now preserved beneath the tower. One of these is a email
Norman head-stone, bearing a cross on each side, the one
on the front ornamented with a moulding of pellets. It
bears a few letters of an inscription— B o on one side of
the cross and B I or B E on the other — which may have
begun with the name ROBEBTVS. Another stone,
which is part of a grave cover of uncertain date, bears
the words —
VXOR SIMOlS
— the wife 0} Simon, whom Mr. F. R. Wilson, author of
"The Churches of Lindisfarne, " thinks may have been the
Simon de Lucker who, for the salvation of his soul and
that of Juliana his wife, gave certain lands in Lucker, in
or about the year 1258, to the monks of Alnwick. There
are several other grave covers, bearing no inscriptions,
but only symbols of the condition or occupation of the
persons they were intended to commemorate. But the
most interesting is one which bears very unusual sym-
bols. On one side a horn is represented, suspended
from a cord. On the other side is an archer's long
bow. This slab has covered the grave of an ancient
forester. Its date is the fourteenth century. As the
reader will see, it has been at some time cut in two, and
till very recently it did duty as part of the water table on
the west gable of the nave.
In the same part of the church two stone figures, not of
a sepulchral character, are preserved. Correctly speaking,
they are not statues, and for what purpose they were
originally intended it is not easy to determine. One is the
effigy of a crowned king, with a broken sceptre in his right
hand, and globe in his left. The other represents St. Sebas-
tian. Except a napkin round the loins, the figure is quite
naked. Both hands and feet are corded, and the body is
pierced by no fewer than nine arrows. The heads of both
these effigies are modern. J. R. BOYLE, F.S.A.
Mart fffcaut tfr* ^tlnt
N that portion of the Pennine range of moun-
tains, extending from Brough on Stain-
more to Bramptou in Cumberland, a dis-
tance of about thirty-five miles, a strong
wind descends from the upper regions of the atmos-
phere, passes across the country in a westerly direc-
tion, and in a great measure terminates at the river Eden.
The temperature of this wind is low, and in May and
June it has a very prejudicial effect on vegetation. Even
oak trees exposed to its full force are cracked longitudi-
nally and rendered less valuable for timber The pheno-
mena connected with it has commanded the attention of
the inhabitants of the villages on the east side of the
Eden from a remote period. According to tradition,
in Saxon times the wind was deemed to be the work
of fiends who held their revels on the tops of these
mountains. The Rev. T. Robinson, in the beginning of
the last century, stated : — " Crossfell was formerly called
Fiends-fell, from the evil spirits which are said, in
former time to have haunted the Top of the Mountain,
and continued their Haunts and Nocturnal Vagaries upon
it, until St. Austin, as it is said, erected a Cross, and
built an Altar upon it, whereon he offered the Holy
Bucharest, by which he counter-charm'd those hellish
Fiends, and broke their Haunts. Since that time it has
had the name of Crossfell, and to this day, there is a heap
of stones, which goes by the name of the Altar upon
Crossfell. This is an old Tradition that goes current
among the neighbourhood." (Natural History of West-
moreland and Cumberland, &c., 1709.)
When the Helm Wind commences to blow a cloud settles
on the tops of the Pennine mountains, and extends a short
distance down the west bides. This cloud is called the
Helm ; and with the exception of a few cirro-stratus
clouds, and the small detached black clouds blown
rapidly from the Helm, the sky is nearly clear to about
the river Eden, where a dark cloud is formed, which is
called the Bar. The phenomena connected with this
wind are represented generally in the section which ac-
companies this article.
The Helm Wind occurs at all seasons of the year. One
of the greatest storms of this kind I ever recollect
occurred in the mid-winter of 1860-61, when the tempera-
ture was very low in the country. I remember taking
refuge, for a short time, behind an old thorn tree near
Dufton Pike ; and I was very much exhausted when I
arrived at the Dufton Fell mines. The wind brought the
snow down from the upper part of the mountain, and its
course appeared to be checked by the Dufton Pike, for
12
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
January
7~yne.. Crossftll
the snow fell most abundantly in Great Rundle ravine,
though none was falling from the atmosphere. It was
drifted from the rocks and hung over their edges in
beautiful curves. In the early part of this century two
brothers named Emerson were admiring the beautiful
curves of drifted snow in Crow
Rundle — a deep ravine which se-
parates Cumberland from West-
moreland— when a large mass of
it broke from the rocks or steep
sides of the glen, and buried and
smothered one of them, and car-
ried the other before it to a con-
siderable distance.
Some of the phenomena con-
nected with this wind are very
very remarkable. On the 19th November, 1885, about
7'30 a.m., I observed small dark helm clouds blown from
the fells towards Appleby with great rapidity. The sky
over the vale of the Eden was in a great measure free
from clouds. When the small dark clouds were carried
a little beyond Appleby, they were checked in their pro-
gress to the west by nothing visible. Portions of them were
thrown back to the east for two or three hundred yards,
and then vanished like steam from an engine boiler.
About 1'30 p.m. of the same day, the Helm cloud extended
only from High Cup Gill to the north end of Crossfell.
The lower part of the cloud covered the mountain, being
about 2.200 feet above the sea. The whole of the vale of
the Eden was densely clouded over and the country
greatly shadowed, except the space between the Helm
and the Bar, which appeared to be above Dufton and
Knock villages. Through this clear narrow space the sun
shone brightly on the Helm cloud which covered the
summit, and rose resplendent far above the top of Cross-
fell. The view of the Helm cloud from Appleby Fair
Hill, in contrast with the shadowed country, was truly
magnificent. When the Helm and Bar joined together
on the north side of Crossfell the resplendent clouds ap-
peared to be much disturbed and rapidly changed their
forms from one fantastic shape to another. The dull grey
Bar drifted in the direction of the wind, which was a
little to the south of east. Small dark clouds were
detached from the Helm, and moved rapidly in almost
every direction, except with the wind which drifted the
Bar cloud. When these small dark clouds approached
the Bar, they made a sharp circular bend, and fell back
towards the Helm cloud ; but in every case that came
under my observation, they faded away before reaching
the Helm.
There is one phenomenon not often observed connected
with the Helm Wind which is singularly striking. I came
to reside at Dufton in 1861. Sometime after that period,
Mr. John Ellwood, an elderly gentleman, who has resided
at Dufton all his lifetime, informed me that he had
occasionally seen the form of Dufton Pike reproduced in
the clouds when the Helm Wind was blowing. One
day in the spring of 1883, on seeing indications of the
Helm Wind, I walked np to the high ground of Appleby
Fair Hill in order to obtain a good view of the storm
clouds, and had the good fortune to see the form
fclen. T/ieBar.
of the Pike reproduced in the sky. The cloud was
projected upwards with great force from the summit
of the Pike, almost colourless, and something like super-
heated steam. It curved away from the Pike, gradually
expanded, and grew darker as it flowed away in a
horizontal position to the Bar. The Pike had the ap-
pearance of a burning mountain. The sun had set, and
it would have been difficult even for a gifted artist to
reproduce in painting the weird aspect of the landscape
with the small dark clouds drifting rapidly across the
unclouded portion of the leaden-coloured sky on the south
side of the dense Pike cloud.
The most destructive storm of this wind known took
place in 1860. I then resided at Nenthead, in the East of
Cumberland. On Whitsunday evening, May 28th, the
wind blew very strong from the south-easterly quarter,
and was intensely cold. During the walk from the
church a friend remarked that it was cold enough for
snow. Next morning there was lying over the whole
country from four to six inches of snow. It had fallen
from a still atmosphere ; for it was not in the least degree
drifted. The branches of the few trees growing at Nent-
head were all bent down with their load of snow. Such
was the state of the weather in Alston Moor ; and it may
be taken for granted that it was not much different in the
districts of the upper Wear and Tees. From inquiries
made, after my removal the following year into Westmore-
land, it appeared that the Helm Wind commenced on tha
morning of the 28th (Whit Monday), but I have not been
able to ascertain the exact hour. At Appleby, between
three and four a.m., there were two or three loud peals of
thunder, and the snow which fell during the night was
much drifted. On the fell sides, great numbers of sheep
were deeply covered with snow, and before they could be
found and extricated many of them were smothered.
The sun melted the snow more rapidly than it does in the
winter season. The loss to many farmers was very
serious. On Long Marton Moor, the cattle, which had
taken shelter behind hedges or stone walls, were covered
with snow with the exception of their heads. On Stain-
January 1
1890. I
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
13
more also the storm was very severe. A farmer who
lived there informed me that many ponies were over-
blown, and many sheep not covered with snow were
frozen to death.
In all the storms of Helm Wind which have come under
my observation, with one exception, the cirro-stratus
clouds remained perfectly motionless. The one case oc-
curred when the wind was not very strong. I detected a
very slight motion to the east, or one contrary to the
movement of the Helm clouds.
The cause of this wind and the remarkable phenomena
connected with it have never received an explanation
based on strictly inductive methods. What was the
attractive or propelling force which, on the 28th May,
1860, compelled the cold east wind to leave the valleys of
the Tyne, and fall like a cataract down the west side of
the Pennine Mountains, and from thence flow like a
mighty river across the country until stopped or blocked
in its rapid course near to the river Eden ? Mr. Charles
Slee, in a paper on the subject, read before the Royal
Physical Society in January, 1830 (quoted in Sopwith's
"Alston Moor Mining District," 1833), observes: — "I
have no theory to offer by way of explaining the Helm,
inasmuch as some of the facts relative to it appear
to me hardly compatible with the laws of matter
and motion." Since then many interesting facts
have been recorded, and, during' recent years, some
important observations have been made under the
direction of the Royal Meteorological Society. On the
14th February, 1889, the secretary (Mr. Marriott) de-
livered an interesting lecture on these observations
under the auspices of the Penrith and District
Literary and Scientific Society. Mr. Marriott stated that
that the Helm Wind " was caused by the air rushing
down the west side of Cross Fell after having come up
the east (Alston) side." " The descending air," he added
"being heavy, came down very rapidly, and it was
probably its coming in contact with the hot air below
that produced the sound which was associated with the
Helm Wind. A rebound afterwards took place, and the
air was pressed upwards and became visible in the
form of the Bar some little distance from the Fell-
side." That the air rushes down the west side of the
mountains is perfectly certain. But Mr. Marriott does
not explain clearly how it is due to gravity. The
height of Crossfell is 2,927 feet ; and if we estimate
the low lands from its base to the Eden at 550 feet, in the
ordinary state of the atmosphere, the difference in the
pressure of the air, according to Mr. Belville's tables, is
about 2i inches of mercury, or at 550 about 178 to 180 Ibs.
more per square foot than on the top of Crossfell. The
air, as it ascends from the German Ocean, must rapidly
expand in bulk and lose in weight as it is carried to
higher elevations ; nor is it possible that its condensation
from the loss of heat should render it heavier than the air
upon the plains. By the law of Dalton and Guy-Lussac
all gases expand by the same fraction of their bulk for
equal increments of temperature, 'which fraction is only
three-eighths in proceeding from freezing to boiling water,
or a difference of 180° Fahr. There is a loss of heat of 1°
for every 334 feet of elevation, or from the country to the
top of Crossfell 8i°. It is, therefore, evident, that the
difference in the temperature of the air at the summit
from the air at the base of these mountains has little effect
upon its weight ; and also that so far as gravity is con-
cerned, instead of removing the heavy compressed air out
of the lowlands, the less compressed air ought to take the
lino of least resistance and float over the vale of the
Eden like oil upon water. Perhaps delicate aneroid
observations made on the top of Crossfell when the
Helm Wind is strong might throw more light on the
subject. \V. WALLACE.
C.to't at
JJirim*
GREAT sensation was caused in Xorthum-
berland early in the year 1862 by the dis-
covery of a man in a dying state at Stobhill,
near Morpeth. The man's name was Alex-
ander Birnie — a journalist who had at one time been
editor of the Che&ter-lc-Strect Liberal.
While .residing in the County of Durham, Birnie identi-
fied himself with the public life of the neighbourhood.
He was, said a writer in the Newcastle Chronicle of the
time, witty, humorous, and "gifted with considerable
perspicuity as a writer and fluency as a speaker." But he
had one great failing — "he was in the habit of taking
undue liberties with the bottle."
After leaving Chester-le-Street, Birnie became editor
and proprietor of the Falkirk Liberal, to which he contri-
buted a weekly article over the somewhat curious signa-
ture of "The Cock of the Steeple." For some reason or
other, the speculation did not succeed in a pecuniary
sense, and Birnie went to Edinburgh in the hope
of findiuer employment. There he appears to have in-
dulged rather freely in drink, and to have fallen amongst
the Philistines, who robbed him of all the money he had
in the world, together with a portion of his clothes. In
a state of remorse he afterwards attempted to commit
suicide ; but, in consequence of the quantity of laudanum
he took being too large, the poison failed to perform its
deadly office.
With nothing in his pockets but a few pence, and a
number of newspaper contributions of bis own composi-
tion, upon which he seems to have placed a peculiar
value, he left Edinburgh for Newcastle on foot. For
days he never had his clothes off, never rested on a bed
and seldom under cover, never tasted food, and never
had anything to drink excepting water. "I had no
idea," he wrote in the diary which he kept of his last
days, "that the body, especially one so feeble as mine
14
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I January
A 1890.
apparently, was capable of so much endurance." It was
late in the evening when he arrived at Morpeth. After
spending his last penny upon a roll of bread in that
town, he mistook the road to Newcastle, became over-
powered by suffering and fatigue, and finally crept into a
straw stack near Stobhill Brick Works.
The following extracts from liis diary will tell what
afterwards transpired : —
Thursday, February 13. — I have now lain under some
straw, by a hay-stack, near Morpeth, last night and all day.
God knows if ever I will be able to proceed any farther.
I would liked to have got to Chester-le-Street, to be
buried there, that my poor wife, when she looked on my
grave, might forgive and weep.
Saturday, 15th. — One week my punishment has
lasted. I still lie here, but very weak and pained in the
bowels.
Sabbath, 16th. — Another day without food or drink ;
cold. When will the trial be over ?
Monday, 17th. — O God ! grant me patience.
Tuesday, 18th. — Alone, without a ROU! to see or speak
to, a bit of bread, or a drop of water for six days and
nights ; how lung can it be?
Wednesday, 19th. — This cannot hold out long. Help,
O Lord !
Friday, 21st. — The ninth day without food ; got a drink
• >l wati-r last ni^ht.
Sabbath, 23rd. — Eleven days ! My legs are useless. O
God ; when will it end ?
Monday, 24th. — Oh, I am weary ! One part of my body
appears to be dead. I cannot go for a drink now. Seven-
teen ('ays' suffering ; during that time had twice a piece
of bread ; twelve days without a morsel.
Tuesday, 25th. — Death comes on ; I wait. I meet him
without fear, Jesus is all. Oh! He has saved me, yet so
as by fire, these thirteen days. Oh, bless Him for them.
To Him I commit my soul, my memory, my family, my
all. Amen.
At length, after lying without food or drink for a fort-
night, Birnie was discovered and conveyed to Morpeth
Workhouse. His limbs were found to be so excessively
swollen by exposure and travel that it was necessary to
cut his boots from his feet. All the care and attention of
the doctors and officials proved unavailing. The long-
continued pressure of his boots, aggravated by the many
privations he had undergone, was too much for his feeble
frame. Mortification of both feet set in, and he died at
the early age of thirty-six.
MPftUtam
, Ccmtpcron*.
j|N"E of the most eminent composers that
England has produced was William Shield.
Recent research has set at rest the doubts
that previously prevailed as to the date and
place of his birth. The parish register in Wbickham
Church, county Durham, contains the following entry : —
"William Shield, son of William and Mary Shield, born
at Swalwell, March 5th, 1748."
While only six years old, he was taught by his father, a
singing-master, to modulate his voice, which was remark-
ably full-toned, and to practise the violin and harpsichord ;
and it was decided that he should follow the profession of
the musical art ; but the premature death of his father
prevented this design from being carried out. The poor
lad found he had no inheritance left, save his manner of
singing Marcello and of playing Corelli, which was not
likely to afford him as much as a supper. Moreover,
the circumstances in which his mother was placed
laid her under the necessity of getting him taught some
handicraft, by which he might immediately earn a few
shillings a week. So, having had the choice of three
trades offered him, he fixed on that of a boat-builder ;
and accordingly he was apprenticed at South Shields, by
regular indenture, to Mr. Edward Davison, with whom
he continued to labour assiduously till his time was out.
His master, a kind-hearted, indulgent man, rather
encouraged than checked him in the pursuit of music
in his leisure moments, and not unfrequently permitted
him to perform on the violin at the concerts in the town
and neighbourhood.
After having faithfully completed the term of his
apprenticeship, he gave up boat-building to follow the
natural bent of his mind ; and having attracted the
notice of the organist of St. Nicholas" Church,
the celebrated Charles Avison (see Monthly Chronicle,
1888, p. 109), he obtained from that able master, who, it
is said, had given him a few lessons in thorough-bass
when a boy, instructions in the principles of composition.
The fruits of these, as well as -his own zeal and indefati-
gable industry, he shortly afterwards exhibited by
composing, in 1769, an anthem for the consecration
of St. John's Church, a chapel-of-ease in Sunderland
January 1
J890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
15
parish, which was most successfully performed by the
choir of Durham Cathedral to a crowded congregation.
Its rich harmony secured for him a perfect ovation
among his personal friends, while it greatly added to
his fame as a musician of genius and power. In
particular, it led to his being invited to the tables of the
Church dignitaries at Durham, an introduction which,
combined with his genuine ability and excellent conduct,
speedily placed him on the high road to preferment.
While in Newcastle, we believe, he conducted open-air
concerts in Spring Gardens, which were situated at the
end of Gallowgate, but of which nothing now remains
but the name.
As leader of the orchestra in the local theatres, he had
ample opportunity for developing his talents and fitting
himself for a higher and wider sphere. Invited to
Scarborough, then, as now, a fashionable resort, he
undertook the management of the concerts in the
Assembly Rooms there during the Spa season, and
also led the orchestra at thn theatre. Among his new
associates were men of the highest professional repute
in the dramatic world ; and one of the " reputable
actors" in the company was the pastoral poet John
Cunningham, of whom an account has been given in
the Monthly Chronicle for 1887, page 277, and some of
whose most admired songs he wedded to immortal
melody. At one of the Scarborough concerts, where
these songs were selected for the vocal part, he was
importuned by the eminent professors, Fischer and
Borghi, to fill a vacant seat in the orchestra in the
Italian Opera House. This gratifying offer he readily
accepted, and he had not been long in London, furnished
with good recommendations, before that great musical
genius, Giardini, the best solo-player of his day, engaged
him as second violinist. In the following season, on
Herr Stamitz leaving England, he was appointed first
viola by Cramer, who had succeeded Giardini as leader.
This position in the King's Theatre he held for the long
period of eighteen years, in the course of which time he
composed upwards of twenty operas for the Haymarket
and Covent Garden Theatres. Of the latter he became
the musical director, and was likewise appointed one of
the musicians in ordinary to his Majesty George III.
His engagements comprised Bach and Abel's Concerts,
the Professional Concerts, the Lady's Friday Concert, the
Grand Sunday Concerts, and the Wednesday Concert of
Ancient Music, from the latter of which he for a time
withdrew, as his necessary attendance at the Monday's
rehearsal interfered with his theatrical duty ; but Lord
Sandwich, who was the influential friend of the chief
promoters of the Wednesday concerts, "commanded,"
we are told, "his return to a duty which he always
performed with profitable pleasure, and at last relin-
quished with great regret."
Shield first made himself known to the public as a
dramatic composer in 1778, by his opera of "The Flitch
of Bacon "—written by a gentleman who had contrived to
make himself very conspicuous, the Rev. Henry Bate,
afterwards Sir Henry Bate Dudley— which was performed
with the most marked success at Covent Garden. It was
soon after this that he entered into his engagement at the
same theatre as composer and musical manager. In 1783
appeared "Rosina," written by Mrs. Brook, which is
almost universally considered to be Shield's chief work,
and which was performed some ten years ago at the
Theatre Royal, Newcastle, for the benefit of the late
Henry Egerton. The same year (1783) was produced
"The Poor Soldier," the drama by O'Keefe, which as a
melodious opera is second only to "Rosina." "Robin
Hood" and " Fontainbleau " followed shortly after;
"Marian," "Oscar and Malvina," "The Woodman," and
others succeeded, and helped to sustain the reputation
which the composer had gained.
During a brief sojourn at Taplow, near Maidenhead,
in 1790, he had the good fortune to form the acquaintance
of Haydn, the German composer, from whom, it is said,
"he gained more important information in four days'
communion with that founder of a style which has
given fame to so many imitators than ever he did by
the best directed studies in any four years of any part
of his life."
In the course of the following summer he paid a visit to
his native village, and sought, in the company of his aged
mother, who still resided at Swalwell, to revive the
associations of his early years. He ministered liberally
to her wants, and displayed towards her the fondest
affection. (He took advantage of the occasion to collect
several of the airs that are still traditionally sung in the
counties of Northumberland^ Durham, and Cumberland,
which in his infancy he had been taught to sing and play,
and of which he says :— "These hitherto neglected flights
of fancy may serve to augment the collector's stock of
printed rarities, and may perhaps prove conspicuous
figures in the group of national melodies." Several of
them he introduced in his "Rudiments of Thorough
Bass," published in 1817.
Shield had long been on terms of intimacy with the
eccentric critic and collector, Joseph Ritson, who invited
him, in the autumn of 1791, to accompany him to Paris —
a proposal which was accepted. During his stay abroad,
he made the acquaintance of several eminent musicians
in the French capital, as well as of others who were
countrymen of his own, drawn thither by a desire to
increase their musical knowledge ; and, extending his
tour to Italy, he abode some time in Rome, for the
purpose of perfecting his studies in- the classic land
of song.
He returned to England in 1792, and renewed his
engagement at Covent Garden, but only for A short
time, a misunderstanding between him and Mr. Harris
indueing him to resign and devote himself to other
pursuits. Soon after this time he published the first
16
MONTHLY CHRONICLE
January
1890.
edition of his well-known "Introduction to Harmony,"
a, work in two quarto volumes, which remained a
standard work till superseded by those of Marx, Dehn,
and Schneider.
Sir William Parsons, the Master of the Musicians in
Ordinary to the King, having died in 1817, no one was
considered so worthy to succeed him as William Shield,
and when he attended at the Brighton Pavilion to express
his gratitude for the appointment, the Prince Regent, it
is said, addressed him thus :— " My dear Shield, the
place is your due ; your merits, independently of my
regard, entitled you to it." Fairly installed in this
office, he continued to be the object of great esteem
and kindness in the circle of the Royal household till
the day of his death.
The great comp'oser died at his house in Berners Street,
London, on the 25th of January, 1829, and his remains
were deposited among those of England's greatest sons
in Westminster Abbey. He left a widow, whose
character was thus given in one of his letters: — "I
ought to be the happiest of mortals at home, as Mrs.
Shield is one of the best women in the world, and it is
by her good management that I have been able to assist
my mother, who laboured hard after the death of my
father to give her four children a decent education. This
power of contributing to her support I consider as one
of the greatest blessings that heaven has bestowed upon
me."
While he left his widow a competency for life, it is
worthy of note that in his declining years Shield
remembered his Royal patron, George IV., to whom he
bequeathed his fine tenor violin, humbly entreating his
Majesty to accept it as a testimony of his gratitude. The
bequest was accepted, but only after its full value in
money had been paid over to the widow, his Majesty's
determination being thus expressed, through Sir Frederick
Watson, to the testator's executor, Mr. Thomas Broad-
wood, that "she should be no sufferer by a bequest which
so strongly proved the attachment and gratitude of his
late faithful servant."
Peter Pindar (Dr. Wolcot), who lampooned all sorts of
persons from George III. down to the liverymen of
London, bestowed upon Shield the following crambo
lines, on the occasion of the bust of the God of Music
falling into the orchestra during a rehearsal : —
One day, on Shield's crown,
Apollo leaped down.
And lo ! like a bullock he felled him !
Now, was not this odd ?
Not at all, for the god
Was mad that a mortal excelled him !
The ^vorks of Shield are too numerous to be so much
as catalogued here. Suffice it to enumerate of dramatic
pieces not already mentioned, " Hartford Bridge,"
"The Farmer," "Lock and Key," "Two Faces under
a Hood," "Omai," and "Lord Mayor's Day." He
also composed many famous songs, including; " The
Heaving of the Lead," "Old Towler," "The Post
Captain," "Let Fame Sound her Trumpet," "Tom
Moody," "The Thorn," and "The Wolf."
Though his early education had been rather neglected,
Shield's thirst for knowledge led to exertions which
enabled him to teach himself much more than, in all
probability, he would have learned in a grammar school.
He devoted all his spare hours to reading, and well
digested what he read. Besides, during the greater
part of his life, he mixed much with men of letters,
whose society was his delight, and by whose conversation
he profited. His moral character stood unimpeached ;
detraction herself never ventured to assail it, though the
spirit of the age was comparatively gross and scurrilous.
Such were the uprightness of his conduct and the sweet-
ness of his temper, that he won the confidence of honest
men, moved without offending less scrupulous persons,
and appeased the most irascible and vehement. Among
other proofs of his honourable feeling, it is stated by
Mr. Reynolds, in his "Life and Times," that when he
presented him, by Mr. Harris's desire, with one hundred
guineas, as part payment for composing an opera which
had proved unsuccessful, Shield declined the offer,
saying, "I thank Mr. Harris, but I cannot receive
money which I feel I have not earned."
' Our sketch of Shield is copied from a portrait by
George Dance, the younger, dated May 23, *1798,
engraved and published by William Daniell in 1809.
Mr. W. J. Ions, organist of St. Nicholas' Cathedral,
Newcastle, has in his possession a miniature of Shield —
a kind of silhouette, drawn with the point of a needle
on smoked glass, which was given by the composer to
Sir Robert Shafto Hawks, and afterwards presented to
Mr. Ions by Lady Hawks.
jjHE wreu (Troglodytes vulgaris — Bewick and
Yarrell) is one of the smallest of British
birds. It is well known in all the Northern
Counties. That the perky little bird is a
general favourite is shown by its many common names,
such as Jenny Wren, Kitty Wren, &c. It may often
be seen darting in and out of hedges, bushes, and over-
hanging banks, pertly cocking its little tail, while uttering
its short and sharp "chit-chit." It may also oiten be
seen running up and round the boles of trees in search of
food. Though it is such a deserved favourite everywhere,
it is even at this day ruthlessly persecuted, from supersti-
tious motives, in some parts of Ireland and the Isle of
Man on St. Stephen's Day.
Charles Waterton thus happily sketches the charac-
teristics of the bird : — "The wren is at once dis-'
tinguished in appearance from our smaller British
songsters by the erect position of its tail. Its rest-
January \
189J. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
17
lessness, too, renders it particularly conspicuous ; for,
when one looks at it, we find it so perpetually on the
move that I cannot recollect to have observed this
diminutive rover at rest on a branch for three minutes in
continuation. Its habits are solitary, to the fullest
extent of the word ; and it seems to bear hard weather
better than even the hedge-sparrow or the robin ; for
whilst these two birds approach our habitations in
quest of food and shelter, with their plumage raised, as in-
dicative of cold, the wren may be scon in ordinary pursuit,
amid icicles which hang from the bare roots of shrubs and
trees, on the banks of rivulets ; and amongst these roots it
is particularly fond of building its oval nest. The ancients
called the wren Troglodytes ; but it is now honoured
with the high-sounding name of Anorthura, naturalists
alleging for a reason that the ancients were quite mistaken
in their supposition that the bird was an inhabitant of
caves, as it is never to be seen within them. Methinks
that the ancients were quite right, and that our modern
masters in ornithology are quite wrong. If we only for a
moment reflect that the nest of the wren is spherical, and
is of itself, as it were, a little cave, we can easily imagine
that the ancients, on seeing the bird going in and out of
this artificial cave, considered the word Troylodytes an
appropriate appellation. "
The wren often commences singing as early as January,
mostly taking its stand on a heap of sticks, a log of wood,
or a currant bush. It may even be heard in song in mild
winters in December, and in sharp frosty weather, during
brief gleams of sunshine, while nearly all other birds are
mute and melancholy, excepting the evergreen robin.
Although it does great service in gardens in devouring
insects and other " small deer " inimical to fruit and
flowers, the wren is not only persecuted from stupidly
superstitious motives, but it isoften shot that its feathers
may garnish fish-hooks.
Two nests are built in the year, in April and June ; and
some observers affirm that the female is the chief archi-
tect. Incomplete nests are frequently found near the
right ones. These unfinished nests, called "cock nests,"
which are never lined, are said to be built by the male
bird while his mate is brooding near. The birds build in
various situations, and often in strange ones. Bechstein
states that he once found a nest in the sleeve of an old
coat hung up in an outhouse ; while the Rev. J. G. Wood
mentions another that was built in the body of a dead
hawk that was nailed to the side of a turn. Many
persons have been puzzled how the wren can so easily pop
out and in at the small hole of her warmly-lined nest.
The poet, James Montgomery, asks the bird the question,
and receives quite a satisfactory reply : —
Wren, canst thou squeeze into a hole so small ?
Aye, with nine nestlings too, and room for all.
Go, compass sea and land in search of bliss,
And tell me if you find a happier home than this.
The male bird weighs about two drachms and three
quarters, and its length is a little over four inches. Mr.
Duncan's drawing gives an admirable represpntation of
our pretty little friend.
I T would be difficult to find a better sample of a
Newcastle tradesman of the old school than
Joseph Garnett, who for over sixty years
occupied the same premises, living above his shop, in-
teresting himself in the charities of the town, ami quietly
18
MOJV1MLY CHRONICLE.
{Ja!8
lending a helping hand to those less fortunate than him-
self. Mr. Garnett was a bachelor, a man with few wants,
and of very simple life ; anJ, with a large and lucrative
business, he could scarcely help accumulating money.
But he spent it freely in doing good, and the remarkable
stained-glass window in St. Nicholas' Cathedral does not
exaggerate his virtues and benevolence. He died on the
same night as the Prince Consort — Dec. 14, 1861.
Joseph Garnett was born at Alnwick, in 1772, of parents
in a very humble position. When quite a young man, he
was appointed by the then Astronomer-Royal to a post in
the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. Here he showed
himself in every way worthy of the confidence reposed in
him, for he was both industrious and ingenious. During
his engagement here, he designed and completed a new
semaphore for the purpose of signalling astronomical
messages. Mr. Garnett was always very proud of this
invention of his youthful days, and en an oil painting of
himself, taken in later life, the semaphore is introduced
in the background. Mr. Garnett read a paper before
the Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society, giving
*' a description ot a telegraph and a comparison between
it and others which had been offered to the public." The
Rev. William Turner and Mr. Wailes (Recorder of
Leeds) laid the invention before the Lords of the
Admiralty, at a time when no such thing as a, Govern-
ment telegraph existed in this country. But no notice
was taken of Mr. Garnett's scheme, and it met with
total neglect. Twenty years later, an improved tele
graph, substantially the same as his, brought honour and
fame and solid reward to Sir Home Popham.
Owing to an affection of his eyes, Mr. Garnett felt com-
•pelled to resign his position in the Royal Observatory,
and he then came to Newcastle with letters of introduc-
tion to Mr. Turner and others. He first started business
as chemist and druggist on the Quayside towards the
close of the last century. From thence he removed,
about six years after, to the shop at the foot of the Side
which still retains his name over the door, and on the
premises above which he continued to reside for sixty-
one years. The shop is in the same condition as to
fittings and general appearance as when first opened
eighty-nine years ago. Mr. Garnett never left these
premises, notwithstanding his wealth and his consequent
ability to live where he pleased. The great explosion
occurred in 1854, and doubtless shook his house not a
little. He also had a very narrow escape from being burnt
out by a fire next door ; but still he would not remove.
Mr. Garnett was not only a retailer and dispenser of
drugs, but was consulted by so many persons as to their
complaints and .ailments, that he became generally known
by the title of " Dr. Garnett." This can doubtless be ex-
plained by the fact that qualified chemists, until the
passing of the Apothecaries Act of 1815, were generally
allowed to prescribe.
Mr. Garnett wag a very able musician, and acquired
considerable local fame as a musical amateur. He
composed many airs of a lyrical character, besides
setting to music several of the songs which occur in
the late Thomas Doubleday's dramas. When quite an
old man, compositions of a sacred character occupied
his attention, and he produced many hymn tunes and
chants that were then considered of no inconsiderable
merit.
A correspondent of the Newcastle Chronicle, speaking
of Mr. Garnett, says : — " He was a man of sterling
integrity, sincerely religious, but not bigoted. For
some time before his death, although he continued to
live above his shop, he left the business almost entirely
to Mr. John Dobson (now Mr. Alderman Dobson), and
interested himself chiefly in religious and benevolent
work. He contributed largely to the erection of Jesmond
Church ; he presented a complete service of books to
St. Nicholas' Church ; and he made a similar present to
Bath Lane Church (Dr. Rutherford's). The last public
appearance of the kind old man was at the casting of a
bell, which he gave to Christ Church, Shieldfield. He
was very rarely absent from worship in St. Nicholas"
Chuich, his seat being always in the organ box, and up to
the Sunday preceding his death he was there, and joined
in the service with his customary earnestness."
When Mr. Garnett died, he had reached the patriarchal
age of 90 years. Special permission was obtained for his
interment in All Saints' Church from the Home Secretary,
and his funeral was very largely attended, amongst the
mourners being Mr. John Sopwith, Mr. Thomas Sopwith,
Mr. John Dobson, and many other well-known local
'gentlemen. The church was crowded, and the choir of
St. Nicholas' Church took part in the musical portion
of the service. Mr. Garnett left amongst the various
medical and other charities of the town about £3,700 ; to
the British and Foreign Bible Society, £2,000 ; and to
the Church Missionary Society, £500. Like all philan-
thropists and generous donors, Mr, Garnett was much
plagued by begging-letter writers. As many as forty
such letters in a day were at one time no uncommon
number for him to receive, and it was almost comical to
see the look of distress and dismay with which the good
old man would view them, and exclaim, "Oh ! dear, what
am I to do with all these ? "
Mr. Garnett had a passion for collecting, and in the
course of his long life he had amassed treasures of
various kinds. The sale of his library, music, musical
instruments, paintings, surgical instruments, silver, and
antiquities attracted a large company, and most of the
articles brought high prices. We believe the sale
extended over seventeen days, and the books alone
realised about £500. Amongst the many rare editions
was an imperfect copy of the Psalter of David, of which
only two perfect copies are known to be in existence, and
which brought £6 9s.
We may add that Mr. Garnett, though a self taught
January X
1890. >
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
19
man, was no mean scholar. He was a very good Latinist,
and had an excellent knowledge of Hebrew, whilst his
mathematical attainments were of a very high order. He
and Mr. William Armstrong (afterwards Alderman
ArmMtrong, father of Lord Armstrong) took between
them nearly all the prizes which at one time were
given by the Gentleman's Magazine for mathematical
problems.
The portrait of Mr. Garnett which accompanies this
article is taken from a lithograph kindly lent by Mr.
T. S. Alder. W. W. W.
at
fe 'STtotyt
flieh.<trC) SSMfori).
AI-DF.RMAN OP NEWCASTLE.
HIN and scattered are
1-ical records of the life of
John Cosyn, one of the alder-
men of Newcastle during
the exciting period of the
Commonwealth. His name
appears occasionally in the
annals of his time ; the
house that he owned and
occupied in Newcastle is still
standing; some of his good
deeds survive, and, it is to
be hoped, bear fruit ; but
of the man himself, his sur-
roundings, his habits, his
daily walk and conversa-
tion among his contem-
poraries, we know nothing.
"COUSIN'S HOUSE" SDN DIAL. It would appear that he was
not a native of the town.
There is evidence that he was born at Bradford, in
Yorkshire, whence, probably, his father, Edward Cosyn,
came. The latter is found settling in Newcastle in the
early years of the seventeenth century, obtaining the
freedom of the Incorporated Company of Bakers and
Brewers soon afterwards, and dying in the parish of All
Saints at the beginning of the Civil War. Cosyns' own
calling was that of a draper, or merchant in woollen cloth,
and the first note of him that local history affords is to be
found in the Register of Marriages at All Saints, where
it is recorded that on the 20th of October, 1632, John
Cosyn was married to Jane Horsley — daughter, it is sup-
posed, of George Horsley, barber-surgeon. His name
occurs in the list of churchwardens of All Saints for the
year 1636, and in a series of charges preferred in 1642,
against Sir John Marley and other prominent supporters
of the Royal cause in Newcastle. From that time we
read no more of him till after the siege and capture of
Newcastle in the autumn of 1644. Under date Saturday,
June 12, 1647, Rushworth reports that
^A Letter from Newcastle, signed Jo. Cosens [in the
House of Commons Journals the name is concealed liy the
initials " J. C."], directed to Alderman Adams, and from
him delivered to a member of the House of Commons,
was this Day presented to the House, and read, inti-
mating some design of a Party in the Town to secure
that Town against the present Government. The House,
upon Debate hereof, ordered to refer the Letter to a
Committee of Safety, and that a copy of this Letter
should be sent to Field Marshal Skippon, now with the
Army.
From these incidents it is evident that John Cosyn was
in strong sympathy with the Puritans, if he was not one
of their most active members. They made him an alder-
man of the town, and it is said that he was appointed
Comptroller of Customs, or, as another authority puts it,
head of the Excise, in Newcastle. Presuming these latter
statements to be correct, he must have been the Cosyn
who gave his name to the house at Wallsend, "Cousin's
House," and put up the Roman stones in the wall there, as
described by his grand-nephew, Horsley, in the " Britan-
nia. Romana." Cousin's House would be his suburban
residence — a place of refuge from plague and pestilence
BK^WISlsif
and a pleasant retreat at all times. His Newcastle
home, abutting upon the Custom House of his day,
fronted the Quay, near the Guildhall, in the centre of
business, and although the picturesque Bridge of Tyne,
with its ever-changing traffic, stretched across the river
20
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{January
1S9J.
in front, while over the town wall could be Been the
grassy elopes of Gateshead, it must have been a pleasant
relief to escape from the noise of the Quay and the
racket of the Sandhill to a calm retreat midway between
Newcastle and the sea. At one or other of these places
he lived through the Commonwealth and into the dawn
of the Restoration. With the return of the monarchy
he would probably lose his position and emolument.".
Whether that was so or not, he did not long survive. He
made his will on the 17th July, 1661, and on the 24th of
March following he was buried in the north aisle of his
parish church of All Saints.
By his marriage with Jane Horsley, Alderman Cosyn
left three daughters—Peace, Anne, and Rebecca. Peace
married (October 5, 1658) George Morton, a member of
the Drapers' Company, Sheriff of Newcastle 1673-74, and
Mayor 1679-80. Anne became the wife of Robert Kay,
or Cay, a partner in Elswick Colliery, and a member of a
well-known Newcastle and North Tyne family. Upon
the tombstone of the alderman in All Saints was written—
"John Cosyn, I)ra|jer and Alderman, died the 21st
March, Anno Dom. 1661. Here lyeth interr'd the Body
of George Morton, Draper, Alderman, and sometime
Maior of this Towne. He Departed this Life ye 26th of
Novr. Anno Dom. 1693." Then followed a couplet, which
Bourne introduces with a sarcastic quotation from the
Milbank MS. :—
This John Cosyn, as well as Mr. Rawlin (whose Monu-
ment is over against his in the South Corner) was an
Alderman in the Time of the Rebellion, of whom Sir
(Jeorge Baker said they were not truly Justices, tho' in
the 1'lace of Justices. This Cosyn was the first Excise-
man that ever was in this Town, and a Captain against
the King ; yet upon this Stone Mr. Pringle (as they say)
caused this tu be written —
A Conscience pure, unstained with Sin,
Is Brass without, and Gold within.
But some took offence and said thus :—
A Conscience Free he never had.
His Brass was naught, his Gold was bad.
"Mr. Pringle" of the foregoing paragraph — the Rev.
John Pringle, physician as well as pastor, a leader of
Nonconformity in Newcastle after his ejection from the
cure of Eglingham in the reign of Charles the Second — ap-
pears to have been one of Cosyn's intimate friends. From
him, we may assume, the alderman derived his love of
books, and the happy idea that, after his death, the
library which he had gathered together might be ren-
dered useful to the town. Accordingly, in his will, after
bequeathing to his wife the Quayside residence ; to his
daughter, Peace Morton, another house on the Quay (the
Fleece Tavern), " with the wine license thereunto belong-
ing"; to the poor of All Saints' parish two shillingsworth
of bread to be distributed weekly among those who went
to church on Sundays, and making various gifts to his
family and relations, he dictated the following clause : —
I do give and bequeath unto the Mayor and Burgesses
one hundred volumes of books, sixty whereof to be in
folio and the rest in quarto ; so many to be taken out of
my own as the ministers of the town shall think meet ;
the rest to be bought and provided by my executors, such
as the said ministers shall agree upon and appoint under
their hands ; which said books I will shall tie added to
the library of St. Nicholas' Church.
As might have been expected, the clergy did not relish
any of the alderman's books. They accepted the sum of
£90 as an equivalent, and with the money purchased such
volumes as they approved, and added them to the old
library in Cosyn's name. The churchwardens of All
Saints received the annuity for bread, " secured upon the
Fleece Tavern, situate by the Key," and put up in the
sacred edifice an escutcheon to commemorate the gift and
encourage others to imitate it. " Paid for a Schutcheon
and Coate of Armes in Memorial of Mr. John Cosyn, a
good Benefactor, £1 5s. Od." is the entry by which, in the
Church accounts for 1663, the transaction is recorded.
Upon the Quay (Nos. 1 and 2, Quayside) stands the
house in which Alderman Cosyn lived, and behind it the
Fleece Tavern, known to many generations of thirsty
Quaysiders as "The Old Custom House." The family
residence is in an excellent state of preservation. The
arms of Cosyn and the Drapers' Company shine above
the fireplace in one of the upper rooms, the stuccoed
ceilings are sharp and clear, and the outbayed windows
still give picturesque views up and down the river.
" Cousin's House" at Wallsend (transformed soon after the
alderman's death into Carville Hall) had until recently a
souvenir of its Cromwellian owner, placed there probably
by one of his sons-in-law — a sun-dial. The generosity of
Mr. Wighain Richardson has transferred the dial (figured
in the initial letter of this article) to the top of the old
Norman keep in Newcastle, where, restored to its pristine
use by the skill of Mr. J. R. Boyle, it stands, bearing the
date 1667, a shield of arms impaling those of Cosyn, and
a rhyming inscription : —
Time Tide
Doth haste
Therefore
Make haste
We shall
(And the dial itself completes the rhyme) — Die all.
dollingtooob,
TWICE KECORDKB OF NEWCASTLE.
The ancient name of Collingwood has been borne by
many honourable men distinguished in various branches
of the service of their country. It is not pretended that
they all belonged to one special family whose links of
relationship can be gathered together and centred in a
common ancestor. Like the names of Armstrong and
Grey, Fenwick and Carr, that of Collingwood has been
from immemorial time a common one in the North -
Country. Among those who bore it worthily were Border
chieftains who kept watch and ward in the Marches
against incursive Scots ; king's commissioners, county
sheriffs, and justices of the peace ; cavaliers who fell
during the Civil Wars fighting for the Stuarts ; participa-
January |
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
21
tors in the Jacobite insurrections of 1715 and 1745 ; com-
batants in the Peninsula and other scenes of conflict ; and
milder-mannered men who stayed at home with their
tenants, and fu!611ed the duties of the county gentry.
One of the Collingwoods, the most illustrious of them all,
fought his country's battles gloriously on the seas, and
was raised to the peerage ; another of them repre-
sented Morpeth in Parliament ; others occupied the
Shrievalty, the Mayoralty, and the Recordership of
Newcastle. It is with the occupant of this last-named
office that we have now to deal.
At the beginning of last century the representative of
one branch of the Northumberland Collingwoods, which
had long been settled at Ditchburn, in the parish of
Eglintfham, was Edward Collingwood, of Byker. Besides
the patrimonial estate of Ditchburn, Mr. Edward Col-
lingwood owned the adjoining township of Shipley ; an
estate at North Dissington, in the parish of Newburn
(which he had purchased of Sir R. Delaval in 1673, for
£3,800) ; the house in which he lived at Byker, with the
land attached to it ; and two rent charges from abbey
lands at Newminster and Morpeth. So we learn from
his will, dated April 8, 1701. In that document, after
providing for his daughter Dorothy, he bequeathed the
property at Byker, North Dissington, and Shipley, and
the rent charges at Newminster, to his son Edward, and
gave Ditchburn for life to his nephew, Cuthbert
Collingwood.
Edward Collingwood, the brother of Dorothy, died in
1721, and was buried beside his father in All Saints'
Church, Newcastle, leaving, by his marriage with Mary
Bigge, a son bearing his own and his father's name of
Edward. This son (Edward No. 3) was trained to the pro-
fession of the law, and in due time received his call to the
bar. He married Mary, co-heiress of John Roddam, an
-attorney in Newcastle, and with her received a moiety of
the estate of Chirton, near North Shields, where he re-
sided. In 1737, being then thirty-five years old, Edward
Collingwood No. 3 was elected Recorder of Newcastle.
The post of Recorder was one of honour rather than of
profit, and was not, like the majority of corporate offices
in Newcastle, matter of bargain and sale. The income,
including that of the judgeship of the local Court of
Admiralty, did not exceed £60 per annum, and under the
charter of James I. (1604-) the appointment was renewed
every year. Edward Collingwood had succeeded to the
office upon the death of John Isaacson, had received in
due course the honorary freedom of the town, and, being a
young man, had every prospect of retaining the appoint-
ment for a long time. But for some reason or other,
when he had filled the seat for a couple of years, he re-
signed it, and made way for William Cuthbert, son of
Sergeant Cuthbert, of Durham, the predecessor of John
Isaacson. Mr. Cuthbert held the Recordership till his
•death in 1746, when the office was conferred upon Chris-
topher Fawcett, son of John Fawcett, Recorder of
Durham, and nephew of Dr. Fawcett, Vicar of Newcastle
and Gateshead. Some indiscreet remarks made by Mr.
Fawcett respecting the alleged Jacobite tendencies of
three quondam friends — the Prince of Wales's tutor,
the Solicitor-General, and the Prime Minister's secre-
tary— led to his resignation, and in 1754, Edward Col-
lingwood, who had meanwhile been elected an alderman
of the town, was re-appointed to the post he had resigned
in 1739.
Shortly after the death of Edward Collingwood No. 1,
Cuthbert Collingwood, the nephew mentioned in his will,
had received an addition to his fortune by the death of
his cousin Dorothy. The young lady, making her will on
the 2nd December, 1701, only eight months after her
father signed his, bequeathed to Cuthbert a yearly rent
of £60 out of North Dissington and Shipley, and after
making numerous bequests of plate, linen, &c., to friends
and relatives, she made him her residuary legatee. Cuth-
bert went to reside at North Dissington, and there he
brought up a numerous family. Among them was a son
named after him, who in January, 1727, was bound appren-
tice to Christopher Dawson, merchant adventurer and
boothman in Newcastle. In the same year that Edward
Collingwood received the appointment of Recorder, this
young man, his second cousin, Cuthbert Collingwood No.
2, was petitioning the Merchants' Company for his free-
dom. When he obtained it he married Miluah, daughter
of Reginald Dobson, of Barwise, in Westmoreland, started
in business at the Head of the Side, near St. Nicholas'
Church, Newcastle, and, as is well known, became the
father of Admiral Lord Collingwood.
Shortly after Mr. Collingwood resigned the Recorder-
ship for the first time, Cuthbert's business at the Head of
the Side collapsed, and it became necessary to appoint
trustees to wind up his affairs. Mr. Collingwood accepted
the position on behalf of the family ; Mr. William Whar-
ton consented to act with him. By indenture dated Sep-
tember 29, 1744, the house near St. Nicholas', the estate of
Cuthbert's wife at Barwise, and all other property of the
bankrupt were assigned to them. Most of the creditors,
it may be noted, were wholesale firms in London, grocers,
distillers, oilmen, soapboilers, drysalters, sugarboilers,
and druggists ; the rest were Dutch merchants in Rotter-
dam, Dordt, and relatives and tradesmen on the Tyne.
By good management, Mr. Collingwood and his co-trustee
were able to pay 16s. 6d. in the pound, and to save out of
the wreck, with a light mortgage, the house in which
Cuthbert had commenced business, and where his illus-
trious son, the future admiral, was born.
For fifteen years Mr. Collingwood discharged the duties
appertaining to the office of Recorder, and then, having
lost his wife and brother-in-law, and finding the labours
of the court irksome, he resigned in favour of Mr.
Fawcett, whose indiscretions had long been forgiven.
Retiring to his home at Chirton, he lived a life of learned
ease till his death, which happened in 1783, at the ad-
22
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
J Januar y
1 1890.
vanced age of 81 years. In St. Nicholas' Church is a
mural monument to his memory, and below it an inscrip-
tion which, in elegant Latin, commemorates his eldest
son, Edward Collingwood, who, "ably filling each ot the
offices that belonged to a gentleman, and were becoming
to an. honourable man, prudent in the transaction of
public business, fortunate in adorning and enlarging his
patrimony, courteous in manner, simple in mind, ex-
ceedingly dear to all his friends, after a life not dis-
honourably or uselessly spent, died unmarried in the year
of salvation 1806, aged 62."
6torge (Cougljron,
A YOUTHFUL MATHEMATICIAN.
C.norge Coughron was born August 24-, 1752, at Wreigh-
hill, near Rothbury, the youngest of three sons of John
Coughron, a respectable farmer. Growing up among the
rest of the household, he was noted at a very early stage
of his boyhood for his attachment to books and his fond-
ness for study. His schoolmaster, it is said, gave him
up before the usual time ; there was no longer anything
that he was capable of imparting to him. His father had
intended to bring him up to the family calling, and with
that object he accompanied his brothers in their labours,
taking his share of toil at the plough, and assisting in the
barn and the byre. But his heart was not in the work,
and every hour that he could snatch from manual
labour and sleep was devoted to mental culture. The
study of mathematics was his favourite pursuit, and in
this abstruse department of learning he made such rapid
progress that while still a lad he solved problems which
puzzled the brains of matured students, and demonstrated
propositions that perplexed men of the highest attain-
ments. The first public display of his remarkable skill
was made in the columns of the Newcastle Ceurant. To
a mathematical question in that paper he sent an answer
which Mr. Saint printed as the clearest and best he had
received. Encouraeed by this flattering recognition of
his skill, he forwarded a problem of his own ; not, how-
ever, in his own name, but through a friend named
Wilkin. Other answers and other propositions followed,
some of which displayed such remarkable ability that
public curiosity was aroused as to the identity of the
ingenious stranger. It was soon known that these clever
problems were written and these intricate puzzles were
solved by a farmer's son, who was following the plough
under the shadow of Simonside. When, a few months
later, he won a silver medal given by the proprietors of
"The British Oracle," everybody in the kingdom who
was interested in mathematics became aware that a
genius had arisen, and that his name was George
Coughron.
Seeing the bent of his mind, and the impossibility of
attracting it permanently towards the pursuit of agricul-
ture, his father consented to his leaving the paternal roof
and trying his fortune in Newcastle. He began life upon
Tyneside as a clerk with Mr. George Brown, wine and
spirit merchant, at the Head of the Side, facing the well-
stocked shelves of Joseph Barber's far-famed library.
On the eve of his departure from Wreigh-hill, October 12,
1770, he penned a rhyming " Farewell to Coquetdale "—
a youthful effusion of over a hundred lines, in which his
native valley, his brothers, his friends and companions of
booh sexes, with tender regret and touching solicitude,
are separately and individually bidden adieu.
Adieu ! adieu ! thou ever famed Wreighill,
My native village and my favourite still !
But, hush ! I think I hear Tyne's murmurs say,
Welcome, O Coughron ! Welcome, come away !
Ne'er shalt thou rue ; I take thee as my son :
Thy Coquet nymphs forget ; thy sorrow's done !
At the time of Coughron's settlement in Newcastle,
another self taught genius, Charles Hutton, was teaching
in the town the whole circle of the mathematical sciences
and their various applications. Coughron became useful
to Hutton in some of his literary undertakings. It is
said that he compiled the greater part of the "Ladies'
Diary " which Hutton commenced to re-issue at this time,
and probably he assisted him in other directions. Un-
fortunately, the friendship did not last long. Whether
the breach originated from Hutton's jealousy of Cough-
ron's fame, or whether a difference arose out of some
financial misunderstanding, does not clearly appear.
Hutton left Newcastle in June, 1773, upon receiving the-
appointment of Professor of Mathematics at Woolwich,
and he saw neither Coughron nor Newcastle any more.
A curious anecdote respecting Coughron's attainments,
is told by local historians. The incident upon which it is
founded must have occurred shortly after the youth en-
tered Mr. Brown's office. Two eminent mathematicians,
Maskelyne, the Astronomer-Royal, and Heath, author of
"The British Palladium," fell into controversy, which,
terminated in an amicable agreement to refer the point
in dispute to some competent person possessing the con-
fidence of both. They were acquainted with Coughron's.
name and reputation, but apparently knew nothing of his
age or position. Upon him, however, they mutually fixed,
and Coughron, accepting the office of umpire, decided in
favour of Heath. Being told by a friend that his decision
had shut him off from all hope of promotion, he replied,
"Truth is my study, and demonstration my delight."
Soon after the decision was given, a gentleman from the
Royal Observatory at Greenwich came down to New-
castle, and inquiring at William Charnley's bookshop for
the great mathematician, was directed to the office of Mr.
Brown. There he was introduced to the object of his
search — a youth tall and slender, with light hair and fair
complexion. "Sir," he said, "be pleased to excuse my
intrusion, the name has misled me ; you cannot be the
gentleman I want." "Sir," answered Coughron, "my
assistance is at your service." "But I want Coughron,
the mathematician." "I sometimes amuse myself with
January 1
1890. j
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
23
that science, sir," said the other. The gentleman stood
astonished for a moment, and then exclaimed — "God
bless my soul — a child ! "
The result of this interview with the astonished gentle-
man from Woolwich was the engagement of Coughron to
make calculations for the Astronomer-Royal. Heath,
too, Maskelyne's quondam opponent, was not chary of
sounding the young man's praises. In an address to his
correspondents he wrote — "All those who wish to wear
laurels should win them like Mr. George Coughron, to
whom nothing appears too difficult for his penetration to
accomplish " — a compliment which Coughron justified
by challenging all the mathematicians of his time to
answer a most difficult question in the "Gentleman's
Diary " for 1772, and, upon their failure, giving the
solution himself. He won no fewer than ten prizes for
answering questions in Fluxions alone, and was so suc-
cessful in his demonstrations that the Rev. Charles
Wildbore, an adept, gave up competing with him.
Writing to Mr. Saint in December, 1773, the reverend
gentleman expressed himself thus : — " I have long con-
tended with Mr. Coughron for the superiority in this sub-
lime science; but the sapling sage soars so aloof with his
skilful scholiums, &c., that I am now under the necessity
of resigning to him the bays."
"Whom the gods love die young." Within three
weeks of the date when Mr. Wildbore resigned the bays,
" the sapling sage " had soared beyond the reach of mortal
ken. On the 1st of January, 1774, he sickened of the
small-pox, and on the ninth day he died, in the twenty-
second year of his age. From his lodgings in the Broad
Chare, near the great mathematical school of the Trinity
House, his remains were carried to St. Andrew's Church-
yard, and over them the Rev. John Brand, historian of
Newcastle, pronounced the last words of hope and bene-
diction. In the burial register of that ancient place of
sepulture appears the simple entry : —
"1774. January 10th. George Coughron, eent., an
eminent mathematician."
2£J,trfttocrrtft Cnotlc.
jlBOUT a mile from the mouth of the river
Coquet, on the crown of a rock of lofty
eminence, stand the ruins of the Castle of
Warkworth. The castle and moat occupied
upwards of five acres of ground; the keep or donjon, con-
taining a chapel and a variety of spacious apartments,
occupies the north side, and is elevated on an artificial
THE LION TOWER, WARKWORTH.
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
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1 1800.
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NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
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26
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
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\ 189U.
mount, from the centre of which rises a lofty observatory.
The area is enclosed by walls garnished with towers.
The principal gateway has been a stately edifice, but only
a few of its apartments now remain.
The castle and barony of Warkworth belonged, in the
reign of lle.iry II., to Kojer Fitz-Hichard, who held them
by the service of (, le knight's fee. John of Clavering
had them settled upon him by Edward I. They were
bestowed upon Henry Percy (the ancestor of the Earls of
Northumberland) by Edward III. After being several
times forfeited and recovered, they were finally restored,
in the twelfth year of Henry V., to Henry fourth Earl of
Northumberland, and have since continued in the posses-
sion of the House of Percy.
Wark\vorth was the favourite residence of the Percy
family, and in Leland's time was " well menteyned. " It
is not certainly known when it was built; the gateway
and outer walls are the work of a very
remote age, but the keep is more re-
cent, and was probably built by the
Percies. Unfortunately for Wark-
worth, the family became possessed
of the still richer, though not finer,
castle and park of Alnwick, and con-
sequently Warkworth sunk in in-
terest before its rival. And, by
and by, the buildings in the outer-
C'.nirt becoming partly ruinous for
want of repairs, a warrant was
granted to Mr. Whitehead, one of
the stewards of the then Earl of
Northumberland, dated the 24th of
June, 1608, " to take down the lead
that lieth upon the ruinous towers
and places of Warkworth, to way
it and lay it uppe, and to certify his
lordship of the quantity thereof, that
the places where the lead is taken off be covered againe
for the preservation of the timber." And in 1610 the
old timber of the building in the outer court was sold
for £28. In 1672, the donjon or keep of the castle
was unroofed, &c., at the instance of Joseph Clarke,
one of the auditors to the family, who obtained a
gift of the materials from the then Countess of Northum-
berland. The following is a copy of a letter from him to
one of the tenants : —
William Milbourne.
Beinge to take down the materials of Warkworth
Castle, which are given me by the Countess of North-
umberland to build a house at Chirton, I doe desire you
to speake to all her ladyship's tenants in Warkeworth,
Birlinge, Buston, Acklington, Shilbottle Lesbury, Long-
hauton, and Bilton, that they will assist me with their
draughts as soon as conveniently they can, to remove the
lead and tymber which shall be taken downe, and such
other materialls as shall be tit to be removed, and bringe
it to Chirton, which will be an obligation to theire and
your friend, Jo. CLARKE.
Now the roofless fabric is preserved with all the care
that can be extended to it, short of replacing the roof ;
and so admirable is the masonry that it will probably
endure for many centuries. The floors are covered with
a composition of pitch and sand, so as to defend them as
much as possible from the rain. In one of the lower
apartments, which was arched with stone, yet remains
the dungeon, a horrid testimony to the little feeling
which, in the feudal times, was exhibited towards a,
captive foe or a disobedient vassal. The access to it is by
a perpendicular hole in the floor of the room, through
which the prisoners were let down, and out of which they
were again hoisted by cords. Here they were, during
their confinement, in total darkness, and with all hope of
escape cut off, except in the event of the castle being car-
ried by their friends.
The tower to the right of the visitor as he leaves the
keep is called the Lion Tower. It is decorated with an
THE KKEP, WABKWOBTH.
January i
1890. J
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
27
original conception of that animal, and was built by
Hotspur's son.
Near the Lion Tower lies a huge blue atone, with a,
history which has been told by the Vicar of Warkworth
THE OOQUETT, WAHKWOKTH.
in a paper read to the Berwickshire Natural History
Society, The story has been thus summarised by
another writer :— "Many years ago, the custodian of the
castle dreamed thrice on the same night that, if he went to
a certain part of the castle which was shown
him in his dream, he would find a blue stone,
beneath which a vast treasure lay buried. The
vividness and frequent repetition of this dream
impressed him so much that he resolved to test
it, but he waited a day or two, and in the
meantime told it to a neighbour. When at last,
spade in hand, he went to the place, he found
that a deep hole had been made on the very spot
which he had beheld in his dreams, a blue stone
was lying by it, and soon afterwards he had the
bitter mortification of seeing his neighbour become
suddenly rich. Years afterwards, a great iron
coffer was found in the river, which was supposed
to have contained the wealth which the unhappy
custodian had lost by his imprudence."
The church, which is situated at the lower end
of the village, occupies the site of an older
structure. This older structure was the scene
of a terrible tragedy in 1173. William the Lion
was besieging Alnwick with an army composed of
Flemish soldiers and savage Galloway men, and
sent out bands in all directions with orders to
commit as much havoc as possible. Some of
these bands came to Warkworth, killed all the
WARKWORTH, FROM THE CROSS.
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
j January
\ 1890.
men they found there, broke open the church, and mur-
dered three hundred poor creatures who had taken
refuge inside it. " Alas ! " exlaims Benedict of Peter-
borough, who tells the story, " what sorrow ! Then
might you have heard the shrieks of women, the lamen-
tatious of the aged, and the groans of the dying; but
the Omnipresent God avenged on the self-same day the
injury done to the Church of the Martyr." (St.
Laurence.) William was captured and carried into
captivity. That there is no exaggeration in the account
of this massacre was proved in 1860, when the church
was restored, and such an immense number of human
bones were found lying beneath the pavement that the
vicar had the greatest difficulty in disposing of them.
The village consists of a double row of houses, far
apart from each other, with the highway in the middle.
The view, as shown in our illustration, is dignified by the
sight of the castle at the top of the hill. Morning and
evening, when the cows of the villagers are driven home
to be milked, the visitor is reminded of the precautions
that had to be taken against the Scots. Little troops of
cows are slowly driven up the hill by the cowherd, and
one by one they enter the houses of their owners, making
their way along the stony passages with all the precision
of long habit. There is actually no other access to the
byres at the back except through the front doors. And
this plan was adopted years ago, when no inhabitant of
Warkworth could have gone to bed in comfort if he had
not known that his cattle were safe under his own roof,
and could not be taken away without his having a chance
of making a light for them. When warning was given
that danger was imminent, the cows were driven with all
speed up the hill to the castle, where there was abundant
provision for sheltering them.
Ivtrftartr (Swinger, &uiUrer.
j]T is now upwards of fifty years since the
people of Newcastle found themselves, or
rather their town, grown famous through
the spirited and enterprising sjieculations of
one of their body, whose aspirations to become the
"architect of his own fortune" had developed themselves
in improving the internal features of his native place.
The man who accomplished this great work was Richard
Grainger, who, though not himself an architect in the
technical sense of the word, was fully sensible of the
value of architectural beauty as an element of success in
building, and who associating himself with professional
men like Mr. John Dobson, was enabled to erect edifices
which will bear comparison with any of their class in
England, or, indeed, any other country.
Richard was born in 1798, in High Friar Lane,
Newcastle. His father was a "porter pokeman gannin
on the quay," who died while his second son, Richard,
was yet a very little fellow. His mother, a native of
Gibraltar, and the daughter, we believe, of a private
soldier, was an excellent woman, honest, frugal,
industrious, clever, and neat-handed. She earned a
subsistence for herself and her three children, after her
husband's death, by clear-starching, glove-making, &c.
Living in a poor locality, in an upstairs tenement, she
kept herself, her children, her two small rooms, and
the narrow stairs that led up to them, clean and tidy.
She strove, we need not say with what success, in
Richard's obvious case at least, to make her children
worthy of such a mother.
From Richard's earliest years, he was comfortably
but frugally housed, clothed, and fed. He had a com-
plexion fair and ruddy, light brown hair, violet-blue
eyes, chubby cheeks, a good constitution, and a brave,
stout heart. Through the influence of his mother's
friends, he was sent to St. Andrew's Charity School,
founded by Sir William Blackett. During his stay in
this institution, he went through the usual course of
instruction in those days, comprising the Bible, Tin-
well's Arithmetic, Mavor's Spelling-book, and the
"History of Tom Thumb." And he duly received each
year, when Christmas came round, the regular green
coat and cap, leather breeches, shirts and bands, and
three pairs of shoes and stockings.
According to the regulations of the school of St.
Andrew's, he was, on completing his fourteenth year,
bound apprentice to a trade. His master was a house
carpenter and builder, named Brown, who was after-
wards, when the tables were turned, employed as a
journeyman in some of his pupil's erections. On leaving
school, Richard was presented, as all the boys were when
they left, with forty shillings in money, a Bible, a prayer-
book, and the "Whole Duty of Man." This was the
sum total of his worldly fortune, except his small stock of
clothes. All beyond that he was to owe to himself. He
soon won attention by the remarkable steadiness and easy
composure of his character, giving promise of success and
respectability in the world. He learned his business
thoroughly, and gave indications of power of mind and
comprehensiveness of understanding far above the com-
mon before he was out of his teens.
On the expiration of his apprenticeship, his elder
brother George, a bricklayer, engaged him to join in
an undertaking of his own, in pulling down and re-
building a house next that in which their mother lived
in High Friar Lane. George, however, was shortly
afterwards attacked by illness, became incapable of
transacting business, and died. Richard was thus left
to struggle against the natural difficulties of the situa-
tion, nearly without capital. His first undertaking
upon his own account was the building (for Mr. Wm.
Batson) of Higham Place — a range of substantial houses
branching northward from New Bridge Street, and so
Jannary 1
im. }
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
29-
called by the proprietor from his estate in Ponteland
parish.
Not long after finishing his first contract, Richard
Grainger married. His wife was Rachel, eldest daughter
of Mr. Joseph Arundale, tanner, Newcastls, and it was
currently said at the time that she brought him a for-
tune of £20,000— truly, we believe, only £5,000. How-
ever this may have been, it is certain that she made him
an excellent helpmate. She was a wife in every sense
of the word, assisting her husband by conducting his
correspondence, keeping his accounts, and in niany
other ways relieving him from care and anxiety. She
brought him fifteen children, ten of whom survived
their parents, six daughters and four sons. Mrs.
Grainger died in October, 1842, to the great grief of
her husband and family, towards whom she had been
most affectionate.
From the period of his marriage, Mr. Grainger's pro-
gress upwards was rapid. He built thirty-one houses
in Blackett Street, and then, in 1826, began his first
great enterprise, the erection of Eldon Square, com-
posed of handsome stone houses, of a solid, plain, and
uniform style, from which he is said to have realised
£20,000,
Mr. Grainger next projected Leazes Terrace and
Leazes Orescent, containing seventy first-class and
sixty second-class houses, with highly ornamented stone
fronts. He commenced building these on the 7th of
March, 1829, the day on which Jane Jameson was
hanged on the Town Moor, On the 17th October of
the same year, he laid the foundation stone of the
Music Hall in Blackett Street.
In June, 1831, he began building the Royal Arcade,
running back from Pilgrim .Street to the Manors, from
designs by Mr. Dobson. When this work, costing
£40,000, was finished, he had enriched the town with
property of the value of nearly £200,000, and was him-
self "passing rich." Shortly before this he had pro-
posed to the Corporation to build a covered market
for the accommodation of the corn trade in the Manor
Chare, on the site where he subsequently built the
Arcade. The scheme would have gone forward but for
the opposition of parties who were anxious to preserve
the advantages incidentally conferred upon them by the
removal of the market in May, 1812, from the foot of
Pilgrim Street to St. Nicholas' Square. These parties
offered to build a covered market in what was called the
Middle Street for £5,000, the offer was accepted by the
Council, and Mr. Grainger's plan fell to the ground.
But no sooner was it out of the field than the projectors
of the Middle Street scheme ceased to give themselves
any further trouble in the matter, and the prospect of a
covered corn market seemed as remote as ever. On the
30th July, 1833, a public dinner was given at the Assembly
Rooms for the purpose of presenting Mr. Grainger with a
handsome silver tureen and salver, and a full-length por-
trait by Miss Mackreth, as tokens of the donors' admira-
tion of his exertions in ornamenting and improving the
town. The Mayor, Mr. John Brandling, presided, sup-
ported by several of the local members of Parliament and
other influential gentlemen.
In the spring of 1834, Mr. Grainger entered into
arrangements for the purchase, for £50,000, from the
representatives of Major George Anderson, of the fine
old mansion and grounds called Anderson Place, occupy-
ing the whole space north of the High Bridge between
Pilgrim Street and Newgate Street. Great was the
public curiosity to learn his object ; but he kept it a.
secret for some time, matured his plans in his own
office, and not a particular was known outside until"
his arrangements were completed. It then turned out
that he had bought other old property to the amount
of £45,000, being enough to enable him to open com-
munications between some of the busy parts of the
town which were distant from each other, and which
before could only be reached by widely circuitous wavs.
Mr. Grainger's plans being too large for the individual
powers of one man, unless he had been as rich as
Crcesus, he associated with himself the Town Clerk of
Newcastle, Mr. John Clayton, and laid his designs and
proposals before the Common Council, with whom it was
necessary to deal, inasmuch as he proposed to remove the
Butcher and Vegetable Markets, then comparatively
new, and to build a magnificent street upon the site,
connecting Dean Street with Blackett Street. The
bold character of his propositions raised a loud clamour
on the part of certain property owners whose capital
was invested in other neighbourhoods. The inspection
of the public was, however, invited, and the plans
were exhibited in Mr. Small's sale-room in the Arcade.
There they met with such general approbation that five
thousand signatures were appended to a memorial in
their favour, while a counter-petition received only about
three hundred. At a meeting of the inhabitants, held
at the Commission Room in the Arcade — Mr. James
Losh in the chair — it was agreed, without a dissentient
voice, to present a petition to the Council, praying it to
give its support to Mr. Grainger's plan, and to offer him
the requisite facilities for carrying it into effect. The
plan included, besides the formation of several wide and
elegant streets, the houses to be built of polished stone,
the erection of an extensive and convenient covered
market in a central situation. Had the opportunity been
lost, there was reason to apprehend that the ground
might be sold in detached portions and applied
to purposes which, instead of being advantageous
to the town, would be directly the reverse. So,
at a meeting of the Common Council, held on the
12th of June, it was resolved, by a majority of 24
votes to 7, to treat with Mr. Grainger; and on the
15th July the sanction of the Corporation was formally
given, the old market which stood in the way being:
30
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
J January
1 1890.
given up for the sum of £15,000 in exchange for the new
one about to be built, for which it was agreed to give
£36,000. This result was welcomed with peals from
the church steeples, bonfires, and other rejoicings. On
the 30th of the same month, Mr. Grainger commenced
to lay out the new streets.
The levelling of the ground alone cost £21,500, ex-
clusive of the cost of deposit of the rubbish, nearly five
million cubic feet of earth being carted away at 2.«.
per load of 18 cubic feet, after filling up the valleys
and levelling the ridges. Six weeks later (September 12)
Mr. Grainger came to terms with the proprietors of the
Theatre Royal, in Mosley Street, engaging to erect a new
and elegant theatre and convey it to these eentlemen in
exchange for the old one, paying also any difference in
value which might be estimated by the arbitrators,
to the extent of £500. Some people wanted to put a
stop to the project of pulling down the old theatre,
and intended to apply for a legal injunction ; but
within three hours of the sealing of the contract the
chimneys were down, and before any message could have
reached London the whole building had disappeared. He
had in another instance an obstinate householder to
remove by force. In the case of a house which had
several owners, some of whom, occupying the cellars,
refused for a long time to treat, the purcnase was
at last effected at some little extra cost ; the same
evening the inhabitants were all removed to another
house ready prepared for them ; and before morn-
ing the house they had left had disappeared. Crowds
came to see it at breakfast time, and found it
not.
Mr. Grainger was eager to give the inhabitants new
houses for old ones, and yet, strange to say, he
encountered the most formidable difficulties in persuad-
ing self-satisfied or wilful people. For six years were
the corn-dealers exposed to wind and weather, in spite
of their own and Mr. Grainger's desire that they should
be comfortably sheltered and splendidly housed. At
last, with his usual spirit, Mr. Grainger stepped forward
and said : — "The town shall not be disappointed of a corn
market. I shall have one covered in and ready for the
accommodation of the trade in three months — a much
better one than is proposed to be built in the Middle
Street — and the Town Council may have it on their
own terms." According to a certain old minute of
Council, however, that body had bound and committed
itself to the Middle Street scheme; and the vested
interests at stake in that neighbourhood were, at any
rate, too powerful to permit of Mr. Grainger's offer being
closed with. The opposition prevailed, and this scheme
of Mr. Grainger's would have come to nothing had he
been an ordinary man with ordinary means. But
fortunately he was not. And when the Corporation
declined to accept his liberal offer, instead of being
discouraged, he went quietly on with his work, and the
result was the stately and massive Central Exchange
in Grey Street.
It would occupy a deal more space than can be spared
to notice all the details connected with Mr. Grainger'a
undertakings. One fact, however, must be stated, that
every building which he erected was of the most sub-
stantial character. Very few serious accidents occurred
during the progress of his works. But one fatal casualty
did take place. It was when one day in the month of
June, 1835, three houses on the south side of Market
Street, in course of erection and all but finished, fell with
a tremendous crash. Upwards of a hundred men were at
work upon and immediately round the premises at the
time. Of these, twenty-one were buried in the ruins, and
many others had narrow escapes from a like fate. As soon
as the alarm had somewhat subsided, Mr. Grainger's other
workmen, upwards of seven hundred in number, were
employed in removing the sufferers from the midst of
the wreck, while what remained of the building
threatened every moment to crush the bystanders. It
was not till half-past two o'clock next morning that the
whole of the missing persons were disinterred ; and
of these four were dead when found, and three soon
afterwards died, while thirteen others were greatly
injured. No satisfactory reason could be given for the
falling of the unfinished houses ; but it was strongly
suspected that the building had been struck by lightning
during a heavy thunderstorm which was then passing
overhead, and which did a deal of damage, and caused
some loss of life, in other places besides Newcastle. Mr.
Grainger had inspected the work only a few minutes
before, and at the time of the accident he was standing
upon the adjoining house.
Little more than a year afterwards the various new
streets were named by the Town Council. These were
Upper Dean Street (afterwards changed to Grey Street),
Shakspeare Street, Hood Street, Market Street, Grainger
Street, Clayton Street, Clayton Street West, Nun
Street, and Nelson Street. Thus there were nine
princely streets added to the town, and nearly one
million sterling's worth of property was added to the rate-
able value, in the course of five years. Meanwhile, Mr.
Grainger became the possessor of the Elswick estate,
from whence nearly the whole of the stone and bricks
used in the new buildings were procured.
In November, 1838, Mr. Grainger offered to build, at
the upper end of Grey Street, new assize courts and
corporation buildings, for the sum of £20,000, taking in
payment a plot of ground in Forth Field, and some old
buildings near the Cattle Market. But the offer not
meeting with the support of the Council, he withdrew it,
and erected a beautiful building, now used as Lambton's
Bank, on a portion of the site.
Mr. Grainger died on the 4-th of July, 1861, in the
affectionate regard of his fellow-townsmen, and was
buried in Benwell Churchyard.
January \
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
31
Some idea of the work Mr. Grainger did may be
gathered from his own statistics Examined before
the Cholera Commission in January, 1854, he
stated that he had erected 5 houses in New Bridge
Street, 2 in Carliol Street, 5 in Croft Street, 3 in Port-
land Pace, 1 in Northumberland Street, 31 in Blackett
Street, 22 in Eldon Square, 3 in Newgate Street, 9 in
Percy Street, 68 in Leazes Terrace, 80 in Leazes
Crescent and streets adjoining, 14 in St. James's Street
and Terrace, the whole of the Royal Arcade, the whole
of Grey Street (containing 81 houses), the whole of
Market Street (38 houses), Grainger Street (68), Nun
Street (26), Nelson Street (26), Clayton Street (107),
Clayton Street West (27), Hood Street (16), Shak-
speare Street (16), Pilgrim Street (14-), Nun's Gate
(6), Rye Hill (23), Elswick (19), and in Rail-
way Street (20 houses) — total, 737 houses. In the
course of a few years he had raised Newcastle from a
cluster of smoked-dyed brick and timber to a condition
exceeding anything to be seen elsewhere in Britain,
except in the best parts of Edinburgh and Glasgow, the
new streets, terraces, and crescents erected by him being
in a style vastly superior to Reeent Street, London, where
the fronts of the houses are only brick, faced with stucco-
When a stranger walks up Grey Street, and enters the
Central Exchange, or when he perambulates the Market,
or visits the Theatre Royal, or casts his eye towards
Leazes Terrace, and learns that they are all the creation
of one master-mind — the work of a man who began his
career as a poor mason's boy carrying a hod of mortar —
he cannot fail to be astonished at the industry, enterprise,
and genius of Richard Grainger.
It is clear that Mr. Grainger could not have effected
what he did without having first inspired his neighbours
with a strong confidence in his integrity. Gentlemen
who had to receive periodical payments from him
declared him to be the most regular payer they
ever had to deal with. His workmen regarded him
as something like the sun for punctuality, and
the unremitting character of his operations. They
occasionally tried him with strikes, but he was always
too much for them. Some may still remember the
excitement in the town, on one of the first of these
occasions, at the news that Grainger's men had struck,
and the curiosity to see what he would do. There
he was in the midst of his stone and timber, as serene
as a summer's morning, secure in his plans. Before the
evening he had sworn in six hundred apprentices. Being
asked what he would do with so many novices, be
answered that excavations were just then his chief ob-
ject, and the boys could excavate under his directions.
So they did, and the difficulty was over; for the men
offered themselves in crowds again presently. He then
picked and chose from amongst them, those whom he
rejected being left at leisure to bewail their strike. But
this policy could not have answered had Grainger been
a hard, unfeeling, unjust master. It succeeded because
he never lost his self-control, or showed the least ill-
temper, and always took care to do full justice to his
men. He was therefore very popular among them, as he
found leisure, at the busiest time, to consider their
interests, and took pleasure in extending his generosity
to their families.
When we consider how often his plans were thwarted —
what noble designs he was compelled to surrender — what
opposition and disparagement he encountered for years
from such of his townsmen as wrongly imagined that his
interests were incompatible with theirs— and that in the
conduct of such vast pecuniary concerns, through seasons
of commercial fluctuation and even panic, a thousand
difficulties and perils must have arisen — when, too, we
take into account the annoyances to which the master
of two thousand workmen, and the occasional servant
of several public bodies, must be subject day by day-
it is clear that he was indeed a world's worthy, a great
"Captain of Industry," pre-eminently entitled to wear
a civic crown, and far above many who chance to be
more widely famed
N eccentric character of this name lived some
years ago in the county of Durhani. He
owned the Seaton and Sharpley Hall farms.
The former was farmed by his brother, William Brough ;
the latter was also let, but, I believe, one room was
reserved for the landlord, who was very seldom there.
Jackey was always rambling about the country, cleaning
clocks, putting up sun dials, cutting headstones, 4c. He
wore a very old-fashioned coat — single-breasted, with
very wide skirts reaching below the knees, and very
capacious pockets. In them he carried his tools and his
food— bread, tea, coffee, sugar, &c.— and always knew
where to find some poor person who would supply hot
water, tea or coffee pot, &c., for his frugal meal, also a
night's lodging. He never went to bed — indeed, he kept
too much company to be a desirable tenant— all he asked
was leave to sleep by the fire. A wooden chair, turned
face down with the legs in the air, gave him a rest for
his back and head. I never knew him carry a bag or
parcel, and he never had any change of garments
with him. Once dressed, he was dressed for as long as
the clothes would hold together. He always spoke of
himself in the plural. It was always "we" and "us.'
He frequently called at my parents' house. One day he
came in a very dilapitated condition, and my mother
gave him a lecture, telling him how wrong it was
for a man with his ample means to be going about
like a beggar and hoarding up money from which he
32
MOKIHLTf CHRONICLE.
{January
189J
got no enjoyment, and reminding him that he could not
take it with him when he died. He quietly replied :—
"They winnot give us't — we would syun tak't." Passing
behind him, I observed his coat was much worn at the
back, there being a large hole four or five inches in
diameter on the right shoulder, and the sleeve half
loose. I said: — "Mr. Broiigh, there is a large hole
in your coat ; I can see your bare skin." He turned
round and said: — "We could have telled thou that,
if we'd bren as greet a blab wiv our tongue." Yet in
spite of all his miserable and parsimonious habits, there
must have been something of a better nature underneath.
I never heart! of his being insulted or annoyed, and he
always seemed a tolerated guest amongst the poor with
whom he mingled. It was said that many of the really
struggling and deserving occasionally got a bag of flour,
or a poke of potatoes, in some roundabout and mysterious
manner, and it was more than suspected that the gifts
came from Jackey. Q.
Cftttrrft aittr ttrigu.nl
HHEN Sir Walter Scott visited his friend
Morritt at Rokeby, he naturally inquired
about the traditions of the neighbourhood.
Being asked what subjects he particularly
required for the poem which it was known he was intend-
ing to write, he is alleged to have said that he must have
"an old church of the right sort, and a robbers' cave."
It was an easy matter to find both for him not far from
Rokeby. Eggleston Abbey was the church; the cave
was near the slate quarries ot Brignal, a village in the
most open and fertile part of the Vale of Greta, and
some four miles south-east of Barnard Castle.
This picturesque district has been brought into promi-
nence through the genius of Scott and Turner. The
former, as is well known, wrote a poem which he called
" Rokeby " ; the latter found here subjects for his pencil,
the skilful treatment of the landscapes be depicted
creating a sensation in the artistic world. Our reduced
drawing of Brignal Church represents a fair specimen of
BRIGNAL BANKS.
January >
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
33
Turner's method of enhancing the charms of a delightful
view. The sun has set behind the distant moorlands,
leaving a warm glow in the sky; and there is a
soothing half-light upon the middle distance,
where the village of Brignal is calmly reposing
beside the banks of the Greta. Our other draw-
ing, representing Brignal Banks, is not so ambitious
in design, the subject being adapted for the ordinary sun-
light effect of an afternoon in summer. Scott fully ap-
preciated the beauty of the scene, and described it with
his accustomed power in "Rokeby."
An insight into the poet's method of work is given by
Mr. Morritt, who accompanied Scott on his excursions
in the neighbourhood : — " I observed him noting down
even the peculiar little wild flowers and herbs that acci-
dentally grew round and on the side of a bold crag near
his intended cave of Guy Denzil, and could not help
saying that, as he was not upon oath in his work, daisies,
violets, and primroses would be just as poetical as any of
the humble plants he was examining. I laughed, in
short, at his scrupulousness ; but I understand him when
he replied that in nature herself no two scenes are exactly
alike, and that whoever copied truly what was before his
eyes, would possess the same variety in his descriptions,
and exhibit apparently an imagination as boundless as
the range of nature in the scenes he recorded ; whereas,
whoever trusted to imagination would soon find his mind
circumscribed and contracted to a few favourite images,
and repetition of these would, sooner or later, produce
that very monotony and barrenness which had always
haunted descriptive poetry in the hands of any but the
patient worshippers of truth. 'Besides,' he said, 'local
names and peculiarities make a story look so much better
in the face. ' In fact, from his boyish habits, he was but
half satisfied with the most beautiful scenery when he
could not connect it with some local legend ; and when I
was forced sometimes to confess that I had none to tell,
he would laugh, and say, ' Then let us make one ;
nothing so easy to make as a tradition.'"
The old church at Brignal is now a ruin. It was in-
convenient in many respects, and a new one has been
built on the top of the hill above, some of the materials
of the old edifice being used in erecting it.
gtatc atrty n?n-
RHE Stotes or Stotts were an old Newcastle
family, several members of which filled
responsible situations in the town during
the sixteenth century. They likewise long
held many leasehold possessions under the See of
Durham in the vill of Hedworth, in the parish of
J;xrrow, which then comprehended the whole extent of
BRIGNAL CHURCH.
3
34
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I January
1 1890.
country from that of Gateshead eastward to the sea.
Stote's House is mentioned in records in 1538 : and when
Surtees wrote (1820-3) there were still some slight vestiges
of it remaining in Hedworth township, being traces of
walls and enclosures, suitable, as the historian says, to ft
family of "yeomanly gentry." This part of their posses-
sions eventually passed out of their hands, and came into
those of the Lister family, who also held some freehold
property in the township.
The municipal records of Newcastle contain many re-
ferences to the Stotes. Richard Stote, who is repeatedly
mentioned, and who was probably the gentleman that
built Stote's House, seems to have been an attorney in
good practice, employed by the Master of the Trinity
House to conduct his official correspondence, and con-
sulted by him in difficult cases on points of law. In a,
muster-roll of the male inhabitants of Newcastle capable
of bearing arms, drawn up in the 30th year of Henry VIII.
(1539), Richard Stote appears with one servant, "with
jacks(buff jerkins), sallets(light helmets), and halberts, well
appointed." He paid 23s. 4d. per annum for two houses
which had belonged to the Nuns of St. Bartholomew
previous to the suppression of the monasteries. Thomas
Stote, probably Richard's son, held the office of Sheriff
of Newcastle in the year 1517-8. The Newcastle States
intermarried with some of the leading families in the
town and neighbourhood, such as the Andersons, Kllisons,
Carrs, &c. ; and one of them. Miss Dorothy Stote, sister
of the then head of the family, was married, in 1703, to
Mr. John Pemberton, of Hilton, South Moor, and Bain-
bridge Holme, the great-great-grandfather of Richard
Lawrence Psmberton, Esq., of Hawthorn Tower, Seaham,
one of the most extensive landholders in the county.
In the early part of last century, the family was repre-
sented by Mr. Robert Stote (born 1713), who, shifting his
residence from Hedworth, with his wife, Ann Watson,
built, in 1743, the mansion house of Horsley Hill, in the
township of Harton, about two and a quarter miles south-
by-east of South Shields. The estate of which he was
the owner was considered a valuable one, even at that
time, when landed property near towns did not bring
anything like the market price it does now ; and he got a
considerable addition to his worldly means at the death,
without issue, in 1777, of his connection by marriage,
Mr. James Donnison, of Sunderland, who, having realised
a large fortune in business in that town, invested the bulk
of it in land, and so became the owner of the freehold
estates of Farrington and High Ford, near Silksworth.
and also of a large tract of copyhold land in Wearmouth
South Moor, now all laid out in villas and country
houses, 8uch as Ashburne, Ashbrooke, &c. Mr. Donnison,
who was the second husband of Mrs. Elizabeth Donni-
son, previously Mrs. Guy, the benevolent foundress of the
Donnison School, in Church Walk, Sunderland, at which
thirty-six poor girls are taught and clothed, bequeathed
his property, or at least the bulk of it, to Mrs. Stote,
requesting her son, Watson Stote, to take the name of
Donnison. Robert Stote died on the 6th of March, 1796,
in the 83rd year of his age, and was buried in St. Hilda's
Churchyard, South Shields.
Robert Stote's son, Watson, who died in 1827, having,
for some reason or other, been disinherited by his father,
the Horsley Hill and West Hendon estates, and other
properties owned in Brancepeth, Herrington, and New-
bottle, also most of the property left by Mr. Donnison for
Wastson Stote, were left to his three surviving daugh-
ters. The eldest of these ladies married a gentleman
of the name of Wilkinson, to whom she bore a son, the
late Thomas Wilkinson, Esq., of Scots House (father of
Mr, R. T. Wilkinson, of Rosedene, Ashbrooke Range,
Bishopwearmouth), and a daughter, Mrs. Lotherington,
mother of the late John Stote Lotherington, barrister, of
South Moor House. The youngest sister became the wife
of Mr. Nicholas Crofton, of Barnston, and left an only
daughter, mother of Sir William Fox, and of the late
Rev. George Townsend Fox. Robert Stote had another
son named Robert, born in 1755, who died in 1811, un-
married.
The male line of the family was continued by the
Rev. Watson Stote Donnison, who was born in 1747,
became Rector of Feliskirk, near Thirsk, which living
he held for fifty-three years, and died in 1827, when
he was eighty years of age. His daughter, Elizabeth
Henrietta, was married to the Rev. Martin Stapyl-
ton, Rector of Balborough, Derbyshire, and her
second daughter, Jane Emma, became, in 1854, the first
wife of Richard Lawrence Pemberton, Esq., of Barnes
and Bainbridge Holme, to whom, besides other issue, she
bore a son, John Stapylton Grey Pemberton. This lady
having died, Mr. Pemberton married her cousin, the
daughter of the Rev. James Watson Stote Donnison
(son of the Rector of Feliskirk), now living, aged*81.
at the Dove House, Mendham, Harleston, Norfolk, an
acting magistrate for that county. Mr. Stote Donnison
is the last representative male of the Stote family ; but
the issue of his daughter, the present Mrs. Pemberton,
who has three sons, will prolong the female line after her
father's death.
Margery, the second of the three surviving daugh-
ters of Robert Stote, of Horsley Hill, was never married, .
and she it was who became so widely known all over the
country as Madam Stote. She continued to live after
her father's death at Horsley Hill, which to many people
is still known as "Madam Stote's." She is described
as having been a slender-made, or "smally" woman.
She had a neat way of dressing, always very plain, but her
clothes of the best materials. She generally wore black
dresses. She was a frequent and welcome guest at the
houses of her Sunderland friends, but seldom stayed over
night away from home. Madame Stote used to live
mostly in the kitchen at Horsley Hill, the floor of
which was nagged. At one end near the door was a
J-imiary I
J890. f
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
35
plain wooden dresser, on which stood a supply of a parti-
cular ointment which she understood how to make, and
which she used to distribute gratis to all who applied for
it. There was a chair at each end of the dresser for the
patients to sit on until they had related their stories
respecting their several complaints ; and after she had
patiently heard these, her habit was to give them sufficient
of the salve to serve them for a week or fourteen days,
directing them to come back to Horsley Hill and
get more of the stuff, if necessary, till their sores
were completely healed. There were frequently several
persons waiting for ointment at the same time ; and
in order to accommodate them, till she could get all
attended to, she had a form placed in the passage for
them to sit upon. On no account would she accept of any
recompense, other than thanks, from those whom she had
cured of their ailments. All she desired was that they
should come and let her know when they were cured, if
within a reasonable distance; or, if they had come from
afar, as they occasionally did, even from London, that
they should write to tell her the effect of her recipe and
treatment. Her medicines, it may be observed, were all
given in mussel-shells.
Many persons yet living can tell how Madam Stole
cured them of this or that sore, boil, or blain, by means of
her wonderful salve, and the wise counsel she gave them
as to diet and regimen and other things. Her general
directions were to have the ulcer washed every morning
with milk and lukewarm water, and then the ointment
was to be applied fresh. A green salve was first put on,
and then a black one on the top of it. How these salves
were made, or of what composed, she kept a profound
secret as long as she lived, and only communicated it at
last to her near relatives the Lotheringtons, and to her
trusty housekeeper, Jane Grey, requesting them to con-
tinue to give it gratis to all applicants, in the same
manner as she had done in her lifetime, which, for
some months at least, was accordingly done. But the
last of the Lotheringtons left the district many
years ago ; and Jane Grey has now been dead for
some time, but has left the secret, if we are not misin-
formed, as a legacy to her sister Ann, who now resides
at Blyth with a gentleman of the name of Johnson, a
metal-founder, formerly of South Shields, whose wife is
said to have the recipe.
Mr. Stote Donnison, of Mendham, writing to the
editor of the Weekly Chronicle in November, 1889, gives
the following account of the salve. He says : —
I have the receipt, and remember my father using it
extensively and successfully. The ingredients are nu-
merous ; indeed, several of both black and green are
obsolete, as I found on trying to find them with a drug-
gist's help in London some years ago. The druggist
supplied those which we could not hear of as near as his
.old-world lore suggested, and I still possess some speci-
mens, and occasionally employ it, and find it still service-
able. I once called upon Mrs. Burn (i.e.. Miss Jane
Lotheringtou), of Sunderland, who told me she found the
«ime difficulty ; but on my inquiring of a druggist in
Sunderland (who made up the old receipt for her). 1
found he substituted a preparation of diachylum as the
nearest drug he knew. The receipts were brought to
England by a confidential attendant of the Countess of
-Uerwentwater, who obtained it from the nuns or nursing
sisters of Germany, with whom the Countess of Uerweut-
water took refuge when her lord was beheaded after
being out " in 1715.
Only one thing can be said with truth, that in every case
known to our informants, the salves, whatever they might
have been made of, always effected a cure. This they
did with the most troublesome running sores in the
legs and arms, abscesses, varicose veins, women's chapped
or gathered breasts, and even, it is said, jaundice and
the yaws.
Mr. William Hurrell, of the Rectory Park Schools.
Bishopwearmouth, recollects his father taking him to see
Madam Stote, when he was a little lad, in very indifferent
health, indeed very weakly, and not supposed likely to
live long. The lady examined him carefully, and after
putting certain questions, no doubt pertinent, gave his
lather directions how he had best be treated, adding that
he was in a very critical state and would have to be dealt
with very gently, but that, if he only could be kept up till
he had reached his fifteenth year, he would probably live
to be an old man. This was sixty years ago. and Mr.
Hurrell, though a confirmed invalid, is still to thn fore.
We give the anecdote, as it goes so far to show that
Madam Stote was at least a shrewd guesser.
Madam Stote always partook of her food in the
kitchen, and was very fond of such maid-servants as she
found out to be good ones, and faithful and attentive to
their duties. She made a point of recognizing her old
servants when she happened to meet them anywhere; and
whenever she had an opportunity she would give them
good advice respecting their duties as girls and also as
mothers. Some of them who had been special favourites
she desired never to pass her house without calling to see
her ; and when they did, she invariably treated them
kindly, and repeated her wise instructions when she
thought it necessary.
Very few people indeed are without their weaknesses ;
and Madam Stote, though she might have been pointed
out as a perfect pattern otherwise, had one foible in which
she had many fellow-partakers. She often speculated in
lottery tickets, being tempted by T. Bish's flattering pro-
mises in the weekly newspapers of fifty thousand pounds
prizes to be won for a mere trifle. And she was fre-
quently a winner, but never, we conclude, of so large
a sum.
When Madam Stote died, which was on the 19th of
January, 1842, at the very advanced age of ninety-seven,
she left behind her a fortune of twenty thousand pounds,
which was divided amongst her relatives. W. B.
36
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{January
1890.
in tite
JiNE of the most noted deer parks in the
county of Durham was that of Stanhope,
and local names of places mark out the
extent of this enclosure, where hundreds of the red
deer were preserved for the sport of the princely pre-
lates of the rich See of St. Cuthbert, The village of
Eastgate, three miles above Stanhope, was the east gate
of Stanhope deer park ; the village of Westgate, three
miles further up into Weardale, was the west gate ; a
farmhouse called Northeate was the north gate ; and
a ruin, once a dwelling-house, and called Gate Castle,
was the south gate. Then the parish of Stanhope
is divided, for parochial purposes, into four quarters
or townships. Park Quarter covers the old deer park,
and Forest Quarter is that part of Weardale west of
Westgate, which extends to the limits of the county of
Durham. Leland described this park as being " rudely
enclosed with stone of 12 to 14 miles in compace." In the
year 1458, Stanhope Park contained 200 deer, and the
same number in 1575. Twenty years later, however, the
park only contained 40, and in 1647 it is recorded in
palatine documents that there was neither red nor fallow
deer in Weardale.
The park, however, existed before the year 1458, for in
1327 Edward III. encamped in Stanhope Park when
pursuing the Scots, and the steward's account for 1327 of
Bishop Auckland Manor records " 84 stones of lead, the
profit of Stanhope Park. " Long before the park existed
there were deer in Weardale, because in the year 1183
nearly all the land was held on forest service. No doubt
the bishops of Durham enjoyed the hunt, and also
enjoyed the venison in former times, for we find Bishop
Sever in 1503 requesting his chancellor to send him to
York " buks of the beste .... out of Aucklande ij ;
out of Hulsyngham (Wolsingham) ij ; in lyke wyse, and
from Stanhope iij." Bishop Hutton killed twelve deer
out of Stanhope Park every year during his episcopacy.
The wages of park keepers were not high. In 1542 Thos.
Marche and Nicholas Appleby were foresters of the old
park of Stanhope at 2d. per day.
In this exposed locality there were great losses amongst
the deer. We find that in Bishop Barnes's time no less
than 120 deer perished in Stanhope Park from rot and
want of proper attention ; and I might mention that 400
deer perished during a snowstorm in 1673 in the forest of
Teesdale. Grand hunts took place every year in the old
times among the Weardale hills. " There was doubt-
less," says Raine, "much of pleasurable excitement
in this great annual gathering, and even now, in re-
trospection, the animated scene may have its charms.
At its head the mitred earl of the palatinate in all
his state, surrounded by h« lords and commons, and
attended by hundreds of retainers in every grade
of life, enlivened by the pleasures of the chase, and
cheered by the echoes of hounds and horns reverberat-
ing from hill to hill, and rock to rock, in the valley of
the Wear. But it is well, perhaps, for humanity that
destruction of life, so conducted and upon such a scale,
is now happily of rare occurrence. The law of nature
gives to man dominion over the beasts of the field, but
the law of nature nowhere enjoins him to add cruelty
to cruelty in taking away life. The death of the Wear-
dale roe, the most timid and sensitive of animals, when at
last it came, must have been as nothing to the poor crea-
ture in the way of pain in comparison with the suffering
which it must have been previously compelled to undergo
for hours by the terror -inspiring shouts of its pursuers,
the goring of arrows, the tearing of dog*, and the hem-
ming in of cords." W. M. EGGLESTONE.
Besides Stanhope, there were of old in the Bishopric of
Durham many extensive parks and forests in which deer
were preserved for sport, long after the wolf and wild boar
—beasts of the chase indigenous in wooded Durham —
had been destroyed. Wild cattle were also preserved, so
late as the seventeenth century, in several parks in the
North-Country. Leland, writing of Auckland in the
previous century, says, "There is a fair park by the
castelle, having fallow deer, wild bulles, and kin." The
Broad Park and Colt Park of Barnard Castle likewise,
in 1626, held deer and wild cattle. Hutchinson, in his
" History," has reference to numerous parks belonging
nearly all to the bishops and priors of Durham. Among
them were the deer-parks of Auckland, Axwell, Aycliffe,
Barnard Castle, Bearpark (JSeaurepaire), Consett, Gates-
head, Greencroft, Heworth, Lumley, Marie, Muggles-
wick, Raby, Rainton, and Stanhope in Weardale.
The Bishop of Durham was " Lord of the Park and
Forest of Weardale," and there the bishops held their
great forest hunt (Magna Caza, or the Great Chase) for
centuries. There also, no doubt, the Chester-le-Street
prelates would find more exciting and nobler sport in
hunting some fiercer beast than the stag. Wolves, during
the era of the Chester bishops (882-995), were well-nigh
exterminated in the North, though in the twelfth century
they were again increasing in the forests of Durham. In
the meantime the clergy had been prohibited the diver-
sion of hunting. The prince-bishops, however, continued
to indulge in the royal pastime. The mighty prelate
Bek, when not fighting, was " perpetually either riding
from one manor to another, or hunting or hawking."
Richard Fox, circa 1500, walled in a large park for deer
near Durham (supposed to have been Auckland), and
about the same time he made Peter Castell master of the
bishop's game.
A few years later Leland was making notes of various
deer-parks in the North. " There [be] long 3 parkis to
Raby [Castle]," he writes, "wherof 2 be plenished with
dere. The middle park hath a lodge in it ; and thereby
January
1890.
\
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
37
is a cliace, bering the name of Langely, and hath fallow
dere ; it is a 3 miles in length." He says nothing here of
"wild bulles," or wild cattle, though the ancient breed,
one might conjecture, once roamed around Raby. Raby
and Auckland Parks were, and are perhaps still, the
finest in the county of Durham. N. E. R.
JlOREST and chase were terms as familiar to
our fathers of the olden time as field and
garden are to us, their descendants. The
old Northumbrian forests were, from the natural forma-
tion of the country, limited in extent. It is said that
Aydon Forest extended from Alnmouth to Ingram.
There is evidence, at the present day, that it ex-
tended along the Vale of the Aln to Alnham, and BO
round the southern base of the Tillington Hills to
Powburn.
Although wanting in the luxuriance of the forests of
Kent and Surrey, Northumbrian forests had their own
special features of beauty, hill and vale being interspersed
with deep ravines, where grew the hazel and alder trees
in dense thickets. Their decayed and fallen trunks were
festooned with ferns of luxuriant growth. Amongst them
the lady fern spread out its beautiful fronds like an
esoteric palm. During the scarcity of food in winter,
wild oxen and deer forced their way into these thickets to
eat the fallen ferns, and sank, occasionally, in the almost
bottomless peat, to rise no more. At the present day
many of their heads and horns are being dug up by
drainers all over the county. Along with these relics of
the forest fauna are found the fallen oaks of the old
forest— deeply imbedded in alluvial deposits of various
kinds. They are found in this district four and five feet
below th« present surface of the ground. But there are
still specimens of the old native oaks standing around
Linkemdene. In this dene the last remnant of a real
native Northumbrian oak forest fell beneath the axe in
the year 1857.
Linkemdene and Crawleydene are merely different
names for portions of the wooded ravine that runs south
from the Powburn to Shawdon. The branch line of the
North-Eastern Railway, from Alnwick to Cornhill, a few
yards beyond Glanton Station, crosses it upon an embank-
ment that cost enormous labour and material in its con-
struction. The material sunk rapidly in the almost
bottomless deposit that lay beneath. From this em-
bankment there is a charming view of Linkemdene and
Crawleydene, and many fine specimens of native oaks
may be seen on either hand.
One tree bears the name of " The King of the Forest. '>
As will be seen by the accompanying sketch, it stands
close to the railway. The line was altered several yards
to save this fine remnant of the old forest. In pirth, it
measures about twenty feet, and to all appearance the
girth is increasing every year, for the tree is quite sound
and vigorous. JAMES THOMSON.
I T was through Tommy Chilton (no connection
of the famed Dicky Chilton, whose eccen-
tricities have been described in the Monthly
'• — •• *
Chronicle, 1888, p. 367) that the nick-name " Nicky -
Nack " was given to a colliery at New Seahain,
county Durham. Tommy, about sixty years or so
back, held the windmill (now dismantled) and occupied
the Mill Inn (still flourishing), both situate at Seahain
Park Houses — miller and innkeeper being happily
united in the person of the jovial Chilton. But Mr.
Thomas Chilton was something beyond this : he was a
"bit of a genius" and a practical man to boot. He
contrived an electric machine, and drew crowds on
Sundays to the Mill Inn, and there and then " electri-
fied " them for nought— the " cakes and ale " of course
they had to pay for. He was famous also for repairing
the old women's spinning wheels. Seventy years ago,
and for some few years later, the revered spinning-
wheel was still in much request, and no household
was complete that had not some old mother or aunt
busy at her wheel. An improved machine was then
in use called the Knack-Reel, which seems to have been
somewhat complex in principle and liable to get " out of
gear." When in order and spinning, these patent wheels
at regular intervals gave a lively " nicky-nack "—precisely
nicky-nack, in sound— to denote, I understand, that a
skein had been spun. When they went wrong and failed
to repeat the signal, only Tommy Chilton in all the East
country had the knack of setting them agoing again and
38
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
J January
I 1890.
restoring the essential " nicky-nack " to the machine.
Consequently, Chilton's dwelling, the Mill Inn, became
the receptacle (like a cycling smithy of to-day) for
numerous disordered spinning-wheels, which were con-
stantly arriving from far and near to be "fettled"
by his cunning hand. His public-house from this cause
began soon to be better known as the Nicky-Nack.thau as
the Mill Inn ; the landlord himself was dubbed Tommy
Nicky-Nack; and later the colliery atNewSeaham, which
was sunk within bowshot of the inn, thus very simply
acquired the popular name of the Nicky-Nack. It should
be noted, however, that Seaham Colliery was, even within
my recollection, just as often called the Knack, or Nack,
as the Nicky-Nack, and you may yet hear old pitmen re-
ferring to the time when they put, hewed, or wrought
" doon the Nack. " N. E. R.
jjURING the past twenty-five years Mr.
William Brockie has written innumerable
articles on all kinds of subjects for the
Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, many of
which have been reprinted in the Monthly Chronicle.
It need not be said that he is specially conversant with
the lore and legend connected with the North of Eng-
and, and has probably as accurate and extensive a know-
Itdge uf the North-Country, its people, and its literature
as any person now living.
But to turn to Mr. Brockie's early career. On the 1st
of March. 1811, the subject of our sketch was born at
Lauder East Mains, his parents — Alexander and Janet
Brockie — being off -shoots of old Border yeoman families.
Being truly national as regards the education of their
children, William's father and mother sent him to the
parish schools at Smailhome, Mertoun, and Melrose,
where he received an English and commercial tuition,
wiih a little Latin interlarded. Having satisfied his
father with the progress he made at school, young
Brockie was articled in February, 1825, to Messrs. Curie
aud Erskine, solicitors, of Melrose. Here he was ex-
pected to work very hard, commencing business early in
the day, and very often, at nine o'clock in the evening,
called upon to write a number of letters at the dictation
of the principal, which frequently kept him employed
until the early hours of the next morning.
This drudgery, however, was not unaccompanied with
pleasure, for the young law student saw, almost daily, Sir
Walter Scott, and many of the characters depicted in the
" Waverley Novels," as well as James Hogg, the Ettrick
Shepherd, Sir David Brewster, and other notabilities.
After completing his engagement at Melrose, he pro-
ceeded to Edinburgh, where he had many opportunities
of visiting the Parliament House, and thereby added
greatly to his mental store. Here he saw and heard
Jeffrey, Cockburn, Skene, Moncrieff, and other famous
advocates ; while, on Sundays, Dr. Chalmers, Dr. Henry
Grey, and Dr. Andrew Thompson had in young Brockie
an ardent student and enthusiastic admirer.
At the conclusion of his servitude in the office of the
solicitors, the country was suffering from the effects of a
severe commercial panic, which prevented him from se-
curing an engagement or opening a business on his own
account. He thereupon went home and commenced
farming under his father, with whom he served several
years. A dishonourable rent transaction on the part of a
friend of the confiding Alexander Brookie brought the
farming career of William to an end.
In 1841, he found himself at Galashiels, doing duty as a
clerk, book-keeper, and traveller for a wholesale establish-
ment. He did not, however, find this a congenial employ-
ment : so in 1843 he accepted an offer to take charge of a
school at Kailzie, in Peebleshire, but here his pedagogic
career was brought to a close prematurely, through his
choosing to join the Free Church, then lately formed.
He was then offered and accepted the editorship of the
Border Watch, a Free Church paper published at Kelso.
After occupying the editorial chair for about three years,
Mr. Brockie joined the printer of the paper in the pur-
chase of the office plant ; and in 1846 the Watch was re-
moved to Galashiels, where it became fairly prosperous-
Eventually the concern was sold to a gentleman who-
changed the name of the paper to the Border ,idvcrtiserr
which is still to the fore.
January \
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
39
Mr. Brockie's next engagement was that of editor of
the North and South Shields Gazette, but ill-health com-
pelled him to relinquish the post in 1852. After recruit-
ing his strength, he opened a school in South Shields,
where he taught a thorough English education, besides
French, German, Latin, and Greek.
As in Galashiels, where he was a member of the Board
of Guardians, Mr. Brockie's talents, industry, and
literary labours were much appreciated in Shields. Here
he was elected to the To-.vn Council, being returned at
the top of the poll. The year he received municipal
honours, Mr. Brockie married Miss Mary Neil, daughter
of the Rev. Robert Neil, Presbyterian Minister at Walls-
end. After this happy event, Mr. Brockie removed to
Sunderland, where he still resides, and where he took the
editorship of the Sunderland Times. But in 1873 loss of
health again obliged him to vacate the editorial chair.
Nut only is Mr. Brockie a voluminous contributor to
the periodical press : he is also the author of numerous
books, including a history of Shields, "The Folks of
Shields," "Rythmical History of the British Empire,"
"The Confessional and other Poems," "Coldingham
Priory," "The Gypsies of Yetholm," "Legends and
Superstitions of the County of Durham," "Leaderside
Legends," "Indian Thought," &c. Even now, at the
advanced age of 78, he is constantly preparing articles
and works for the press, material for which
he mainly gleans from two hundred bound volumes
of scraps on all conceivable subjects, duly collected
and classified under distinct headings. In his
literary work he is greatly assisted by his com-
petent knowledge of the French, Spanish, Italian,
Portuguese, German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, and
Ancient and Modern Greek languages. He can also, by
the aid of the dictionary, make his way through Gaelic,
Welsh, and some half dozen other tongues. Besides being
an accomplished linguist, Mr. Brockie is an excellent
botanist ; and he possesses a large number of botanical
specimens gathered by himself, the whole being pasted
on large folio sheets, forming a very instructive and
interesting collection.
at tttc
Jung} a J?tuv|>
|JN the night of March 26th, 1833, one William
Buddie, a butcher of Newcastle, was journey.
ing, according to his weekly wont, to the
Morpeth market, then the largest in the Northern'
Counties. He had with him his dog. Don't let us think
this an unim]K>rtant detail; wait a bit, and it will be'
seen that this faithful animal deserves honourable men-
tion. Well, Buddie had accomplished some six miles
of his journey when four men came up. One of
them, John Macbeth, asked him the time. He re-
plied that it was nearly one o'clock. Then Macbeth
asked for money. Buddie answered that he had only
fourpence. Without doubt the men were satisfied
that he had a good deal more — he was going to market.
So Macbeth seized his victim by the leg, threw him
backwards, held him by the collar, and prevented his
cries with his hand. It was now the turn of the other
three marauders— John Slater, James Kelly, and James
Henry by name. They searched the pockets, anil
obtained about £13 in gold, silver, and notes. Neither
Buddie nor his dog was passive just then, but they were
helpless against four. The footpads ran away, pursue.!
by the man and the dog. The animal ran faster than his
master, came up to Macbeth, and bit him in such a way
that the scoundrel yelled for very pain. But all four
kept on their course, Buddie after them. They fired
pistols at him then, but the intrepid butcher was not
daunted ; and so Seaton Burn was reached. Here an
exciting scene occurred.
The first man got safely over the burn. Not so the
second and third ; they fell in, but managed to struggle
out again. Tne fourth, Macbeth, came to grief headfore-
most, and found himself up to his ears in mad. In
jumped our butcher after him. and found himself up to
his breast in water ; in, too, went his dog. Macbeth ex-
tricated himself from his mud-bath somewhat, only to get
a sound cudgelling from his victim's stick, laid on, we
may be sure, with right goodwill. Nor was the dog idle ;
wherever he saw his chance for a bite, he seized upon it
with promptitude. Between the two, Macbeth had an
uncommonly bad ten minutes of it. Kelly now returned
with a stake, wherewith he dealt Buddie a couple of
severe blows on the head, and knocked him down in the
water. But he rose again, and gave Macbeth another
severe thrashing until he was nearly senseless. Mean-
while, another of the gang was beating Buddie with a
stake, until at last it broke over him. Macbeth took ad-
vantage of his opportunity, and got over the hedge,
after nearly transfixing himself on a sharp stake in the
effort.
The situation at this time stood thus : Macbeth, with the
help of two of his companions, got away some distance,
when he was fain to rest for about half-an-hour. Buddie
was, for a time, senseless ; but, soon recovering, he fol-
lowed three of the men. As for the fourth man, he was
off and away as fast as his legs could carry him ; he had
the money. Buddie, bleeding terribly, was forced to stop.
About two in the morning he knocked up the good people
of a public-house at the Six-Mile-Bridge. They bound up
his wounds, and be rested for awhile. But soon a party
of. butchers came in. He told them his story, and out
they all went in search of the robbers. The search w;is in
vain, and poor Buddie arrived home in sorry state. His
dog had kept up the chase on his own account after his
master had yielded by reason of his exhaustion ; but he,
40
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I January
\ 1890.
too, duly put in his appearance at bis old Newcastle
quarters.
The rest of the story is soon told. The three men were
all noticed on the road by the wayfarers whom they
passed as they made their way to Newcastle; but for the
time they eluded capture. Two of them, Macbeth and
Kelly, were apprehended at Durham. The other two.
Slater and Henry, were subsequently arrested as far off
as Leicestershire. On the 2nd of August they were
charged with no less than five robberies in Northumber-
land ; on the 3rd, sentence of death was recorded against
them, but in the end it was decided to transport them all
for life. The judge was Baron Bollard ; Newcastle the
scene of their trial. Many were the songs chanted
throughout Northumberland for many a long day after-
wards on the subject. Buddie himself, some two years
later, when Grainger's Market was opened, occupied one
of the small shops ; but he did not seem to drive a very
brisk business. The poor man never recovered the money
of which he had been so savagely robbed.
iHtmntstcr Cadtlt.
I UNO ASTER CASTLE, the old family seat
of the Fenningtons, occupies a lofty site
amidst well-grown woods, not far from the
mouth of the Esk, and about a mile from Kavenglass,
iu Cumberland. The edifice is principally modern,
all that ron-ains of the old Border fortress being the
great tower. The whole of the interior of the castle
underwent extensive alterations in 1865. The terrace
commands one of the noblest prospects in Cumberland,
embracing, as it does, both marine and land views.
Amongst the adornments of the castle are oak carvings,
sculptured marble chimney pieces, and pictures. In-
cluded amongst the latter are several historical canvases,
one of which represents Caxton presenting the first book
printed in England to Edward IV. Like Eden Hall in
the same county, Muncaster Castle has its "luck." This
is an enamelled glass vase that was presented to Sir John
Pennington by King Henry VI., who was entertained
at Muncaster Castle in 1463, after his flight from
Hexham. where his forces had been defeated. The king
was encountered by some shepherds in Eskdale, and they
accompanied him to the castle. The glass, which is known
as the "Luck of Muncaster," is carefully preserved.
According to tradition, the family will never fail of male
issue so long as it remains entire. In the park is an old
church, at the east end of which is a small turret. This
turret contains a massive bell, that was tolled on the occa-
sion of the elevation of the host, when the retainers within
hearing fell on their knees. Numerous monuments of the
Pennington family are in the church. In mediaeval times
a certain jester was popular amongst the dalespeople.
His memory is kept green by the children in the reigh-
bourhood, who still play a game called "Mad Tom o'
Muncaster. "
Jarmarj 1
1890. ;
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
41
Crrcfclato
HE accompanying sketch of the ruins of
Cocklaw Tower is taken from a water-colour
picture by Mr. Robert Wood. The tower
has so much fallen into decay as not to
admit of exploration above the ground storey, which,
when the building was entire, was used as a refuge
for cattle, in case of need, against the marauders then
common. The farmer on whose land it stands puts this
large room to its old use as a byre, only the cattle now go
in and out without such hot haste as used to be the case
when Jock o' the Side, Wat o' Harden, or Kinmont
Willie chanced to heave in sight. The tower is situated
in the township of the same name, in the parish of
St. John Lee, between five and six miles north
of Hexham, and about two miles from Chollerford
Railway Station. It was the principal seat of the
Errington family from 1372 to 1567. This family
derived its name from the village of Errington, in
the neighbouring township, which again took its name
from the Erring Burn.
The neighbourhood is rich in historical associations.
The Erring Burn is the same stream as that which
Bede calls Denise Burn. It was on its banks that
Oswald, King of Northumberland, afterwards canonized
as a saint, overcame a formidable host of heathen
warriors. The place was called Hefenfelth, or Heaven-
field, to signify that it was by celestial aid that the
-
,
COCKLAW TOWEK.
42
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I January
\ 1890.
pious king gained the day. The village of Halyton,
or Hallington, called in old writings Haledown, or
the Holy Hill, may mark the site where Oswald set
up his standard. Near it is a hill called the Mote
Law, or Beacon Hill, having a square entrenchment
upon it, in the centre of which is placed a hearth-
stone that was wont to be used for the need fire or
bale fire, in times of public danger, before the union
of the kingdoms, to alarm the country. There is a
mineral spring within a few yards of the Erring
Burn, in Bingtield township, the water of which is
said to have such peculiar properties that fish or
worms put into it immediately expire. Witling Street,
leading from the station of Corstopitum, Colchester, or
Corbridgc, towards Bremenium, now Rochester, and
the Scottish Border, passes through the township. The
position of Cocklaw Tower must once have been a very
important one, since it was along this great high road
that the communication between the two British king-
doms was usually effected, before the construction of
the turnpike road over Carter Koll.
.Mr. Wood describes the ruins of Cocklaw as in a
tolerable state of preservation. " In form," he says,
"the towur is a sort of oblong square, in height
probably about forty feet. The structure is built of
large chiselled stones. The walls are nearly eight feet
thick. Altogether it is a remarkable building, and
must have been a place of great strength in former
times. The view from it is extensive and beautiful."
jjKBBURN HALL, of which we give a small
sketch from a photograph kindly supplied by
Mr. J. H. Payne, of Jarrow, has been con-
verted into a vicarage and a couple of villa residences,
while the old capacious wing of kitchen, offices, and ser-
vants' dormitories has been converted into a church, and
the stables into schools, the plans and designs being
drawn by Mr. F. R. Wilson, Diocesan Surveyor for the
Archdeaconry of Lindisfarne. The ceremony of laying
the foundation stone of the chancel end of the church took
place on the llth of August, 1886, and the ceremony of
consecration by the Lord Bishop of Durham followed on
May 14th, 1887. Writing about the antiquity of the hall,
Mr. Wilson says that the manor of North Hebburn was
in 1532 in the possession of Ralph Grey, who conveyed it
to Edward Baxter. Four years after the accession of
Queen Elizabeth, John Baxter, we are told, granted it to
Richard Hodshon, an alderman of Newcastle. During
recent alterations, a carved stone panel and portions of
carved scroll work were found in the building, the panel
bearing the arms of Sir Robert Hodshon and his wife.
In 1650, the estate came by purchase into the possession
of the Ellisons, and in the last century a member of
this family built the spacious mansion depicted in our
sketch. It contained no fewer than eighty-five
chambers. Mr, Wilson informs us that the builder of the
mansion took down the old tower (with the exception ot
one length of massive walling four and a half feet thick),
as well as the Elizabethan additions that had been made
to it, and used up the materials in the new edifice. Some
of the mullions and the sills of the narrow windows of the
tower were found in the walls when the recent trans-
formations were made.
"<iutwca Jiufc."
iJHE Rev. Richard Wallis, Vicar of Seaham,
who died in 1827, was a man of exceptional
talents. Over the communion table in St.
Mary's Church, Seaham, there hangs a work of art
executed by Mr. Wallis, which is unique and mar-
vellous in execution. It represents Christ blessing the
wine at the Last Supper. Any visitor standing close
to the altar rails would mistake it for an old oil painting.
Indeed, some of the members of the Durham and North-
umberland Archaeological Society, when visiting the
church in 1880, did so mistake it. It is really an en-
graving on wood produced by means of hot irons. The
lighter shades are merely singed, while the darker ones
of brown and black are different degrees of burning.
Mr. Wallis, however, was not liked in the village.
Readers must distinguish between Seaham and Seaham
Harbour. Seaham Hall and the Vicarage alone stand
now where stood the ancient village of Seaham chartered
by King Athelstane. In Mr. Wallis's time the hall of
the Milbankes was not the stately mansion which occupies
the same site now. It was a building of much less pre-
tensions, with a public-house at one end and the village
smithy at the other. In the village lived the now famous
Joseph Blackett, poet and shoemaker, the prottye of Miss
Milbanke, who was then unknown to her future husband,
Lord Byron. The vicar and Blackett had a serious quar-
rel, and one which only death terminated. It used at
intervals to smoulder and burst into Same. Now, Mr.
January \
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
Wallis was looked upon as a very greedy, grasping man,
and a bad payer. And it was over a matter of business
that the two quarrelled ; the vicar applied an obnoxious
epithet to the shoemaker, and the latter retaliated in a
string of verses entitled "Guinea Dick." I am not sure,
but I think a copy of these verses is still extant, though
in capital hands for preventing them from ever seeing the
light.
Byron, in a letter to his wife, gives vent to the follow-
ing piece of sarcasm, intended as an epitaph on Blackett,
who died young from consumption :—
Stranger ! behold, interr'd together.
The souls of learning and of leather.
Poor Joe is gone, but left his all :
You'll find his relics in a stall.
His works were neat, and often found
Well stitch'd, and with morocco bound.
Tread lightly — where the bard is laid,
He cannot mend the shoe he made ;
Yet he is happy in his hole,
With verse immortal as his sole.
But still to business he held fast,
And stuck to Phcebus to the last :
Then who shall say so good a fellow
Was only leather and prunella?
For character — he did not lack it ;
And if he did, 'twere shame to " Black-it."
H. W. R.
atttf
BAEON HULLOCK.
Sir John Hullock, one of the Barons of the Court of
Exchequer, began life as an attorney in his native
town, Barnard Castle, but soon went to the bar, and
in 1792 published the "Law of Costs," which brought
him into recognition. He was supposed to have had the
regard of Lord Eldon, then Lord Chancellor. Hullock
was, however, a thorough lawyer. He became Serjeant-
at Law in 1816, a Baron of the Exchequer in 1823, and
was afterwards knighted. The writer spent about ten
days at Lancaster Spring Assizes in 1828, when the baron
presided in the Nisi Prius Court, being the leau ideal of
a judge. There were giants at the bar at that time.
Brougham, Pollock, John Williams, and Serjeant Cross
were on the front bench ; Alderson, James Parke,
Starkie, Coltman, Alexander, Wightman, and two score
of others (many who became eminent) on the back
benches. The deference paid the baron by the bar was
remarkable. He died the following year, 1829, when on
circuit at Abingdon Assizes, after four days' illness.
Independently of a large flat stone in Barnard Castle
Churchyard, and a fine monument in the church, there
used to be in the Barnard Castle Mechanics' Institute a
three-quarter length portrait of him in his judicial robes.
This portrait was presented by Serjeant Bain, late of the
Northern Circuit, a relative. Baron Hullock had a
large house and garden in Thorngate, Barnard Castle, now
occupied by Colonel W. Watson, chairman of the Local
Board. J. R., Newcastle.
THE HERMIT OF SKIDDAW.
George Smith, who was known in the neighbourhood of
Keswick as the Hermit of Skiddaw, was a native of
Banffshire. About twenty-six years since he resided, or
rather roosted, in a kind of gigantic bird's nest on one of
those two great protuberances from Skiddaw Mountain —
the farthest from Keswick— called the Dod. He was
known in the neighbourhood as the "Dod Man." His
house was constructed of sticks, branches, and withered
leaves ; it was slightly oval in form ; the entrance to it was
effected by climbing a rough stone wall, lifting a branch
from the roof and dropping through a hole. One small
room served him for "parlour, kitchen, and all." The
fire, which was of sticks, was made between two large flat
stones, one of which was his table ; at the opposite side
was his bed of leaves. He was about the middle height,
and slim; his dark hair stood "like quills upon the
fretful porcupine." He seldom wore a coat, and never
either hat or shoes ; his trousers were cut off short just
below the knees. (The accompanying portrait is from a
photograph by Mr. Whittaker, Penritb.) Smith was his
own laundress, and he always washed his shirt in the
nearest stream, and dried it on his back. He was
a fairly good artist in portraiture, most of his best pic-
tures being in oil ; but he did not refuse to sketch a rough
44
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
January
1890.
and ready portrait of a visitor in pencil or water colours
for a small consideration. His domestic habits were most
eccentric. He would sometimes cook a steak, or a herring,
over his rude fire ; at other times he would eat them raw.
I have often seen him eat raw potatoes. His house was
perched on a ledge of rock overlooking a yawning gulf.
He frequently went toKeswick to indulge in his favourite
beverage, Glenlivet. He was "unfortunate in the
infirmity," and frequently "taxed his weakness" with
too much liquor. The police were always ready to
get this oddity into their toils ; for he was locked
up more than once, and, as he always refused
to pay a fine, he was often sent to Carlisle Gaol. On
his release he returned to his old home on the Dod, only
to go through the same programme. As he persisted
in defying the authorities, they were equally resolved to
drive him from tlie Dod. He afterwards took up his
quarters at Mrs. Beetham's hotel at Millom, where for
some time he did a flourishing business with the artist's
pencil. The poor hermit is now said be an inmate of
Banffshire Lunatic Asylum.
J. LOJIAX, Rotherham.
BEACONS IX NORTHUMBERLAND.
The Rutland papers, lately brought to light by the
Historical Manuscript Commission, contain the following
quaint list of beacons in Northumberland : —
1549. — Theis be the naymes of the beakons within the
Shercifdom of Nortluunberlande the \vhiche wer accus-
tomed to give warning to all the holl country of the in\a-
sious of the Scottes in England.
First the beakon of Rosse Castell.
The beakon of Tytles howghe.
The beakon of Rymes Syde.
The beakon of Redde Syde.
The beakon of Symon Syde.
The beakon of Hedwen Lawes.
The beakon of Harlley Crag.
The beakon of Hemsholte.
The beakon of Snogon.
Added :— 22 May.— The becon of Muet Lawe appoynted
by lettres to Sir Roger Fenwick.
1549, May 24.— List of the beacons in Northumberland,
and of the gentlemen charged with them : —
Racheheugh. — Person Heryson, George Carr, of Les-
bury.
Warkeworth tower head.— John Shafto, constable, and
the bailiffs there.
Widdrington tower head.— Sir John Widdrington or
his deputy.
Newliijficn. — Oswald Carswell of Carswell ; Thomas
Grey, bailiff, of Ellington ; John Widdrington, of New-
biggen.
Hunt tower head.— George Ogle, Gerard Errington.
Scaton tower head. — John Mitford, of Sighill; Thomas
Cramlington, of Newsham.
Tynemouth. — Sir Thomas Hilton, or his lieutenant.
Shotton i"rf.7«.— John Ogle, of Ofrle Castle ; John Ogle,
of Twizel ; Lionel Fenwick, of Blagdon ; Gerard Lawson,
of Cramlington ; George Lawson, of West Horsforth.
ffetton Law.— Anthony Mitford, John Musgrave,
Anthony Herrington.
Harley Crag. — Thomas Care, Thomas Welden.
" Snogoo."— William Carnaby, John Swynbourne, Cuth-
bert Carnaby, David Carnaby.
Bemmet Hole.— Cuthbert Shafto. Geron Heron, Ralph
Widdrington, of Mickle Swinburne : Thomas Errineton,
of Bingfield.
Mute iow.— Sir Roger Fenwick, Roger Fenwick, of
Bitchfield ; Richard Dacre, of Belsay.
Rim&ide and Tytlesheugh. — Robert Colingwode, of Es-
lington ; Hery (sic) Collingwood, of Ryle ; Thomas
Clavering, of Callaly.
Bedside. — John Roddonson, constable, of Alnwick, and
the bailiffs.
Simonside. — Sir George Ratcliffe ; William Carr, of
Whitton ; Edward Gallow, of Trewhitt ; Hugh Parke, of
Wharton. H. D.
IN THE OTHER WORLD.
When the cattle market was held at Morpeth in the
early part of the century, a Shields butcher, returning
by way of Bedlington and Blyth, arrived at Hartley
Pans, where he got more drink than he could carry. At
that time the bottle works were in full operation, and one
of the workmen kindly took the butcher into the place, in
order that he might sleep off the effects of his debauch.
After sleeping some time, the butcher awoke. Looking
around him, he seemed utterly amazed at seeing the great
furnaces and the men with black faces running about
with the hot metal. At last one of the men approached
him with the question, " What are ye ? " The poor fellow
replied, " 0 hinny ! aa wes a Shields butcher in the other
warld, but aa divvent knaa what aa is in this ! "
ECONOMY.
The following conversation is said to have occurred
between two old bottlernakers at the Ship Inn, Seaton
Sluice, some years ago. Charley, sitting with his elbows
on the table, looking eagerly at his friend Joseph,
addressed him in the following manner :— " Aa say,
Joe, them thit knaas mair than ye may start a neet
schyul." "Hoo is that?" inquired Joe. "Wey,"
Charley went on, " it's aboot forty -five years sin' ye
and me started wark. We sarved wor times an' myed
bottles togither for twenty years. Then ye retired
iudipendint, wi' ships on the sea an' booses on the
land, an' here's me dorsint sup ma gill off for fear aa
cannot get it filled agyen." "Varry true, " said Joseph ;
"but if ye had myed yorsel' acquainted wiv economy as
aadid, ye wad been better off the day." "Economy!"
exclaimed Charley, in amazement : " wey, aa nivvor
knaa'd the man in ma life." "Hoots, hoots," said
Joseph: "economy means this — giving yer bairns a
penny te gan te bed wivoot thor suppers, tyekn't from
tnem when they get te sleep, an' settin' them off te
sebuyl the next morning wivoot thor breakfasts for
lossin' thor pennies." Charley gave vent to his astonish-
ment by exclaiming, "By gum, that's a crampor ! Ye
shud ha' tell'd us that when wor Bobby was little ! "
January 1
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
45
A GOOD SHOT.
A pitman at Heworth Colliery, who is a keen sports-
man, was out shooting one day. Seeing a flock of birds on
a hedge, he let drive at them ; but, instead of shooting any
of the birds, he shot the farmer's pig that was feeding on
the other side. On hearing the report the farmer came
and asked the reason for ehooting his pig. The pitman
replied : — " Wey, man, that's nowt ; aa've shutten a coo
afore th' day !"
A PITMAN'S DREAM. .
A pitman at Windy Nook, who is fond of telling his
dreams, was aaked by some quarrymen to relate his
latest. He began thus :—" Wey, lads, aa dreamt last
neet that a quarrymau an' me went up te the gates o'
hivven. When we raps, oot comes St. Peter, who says :
'What are ye? Can ye sing onny ?' 'Wey,' says aa, 'aa
can sing the " Aad Hundred " or " The Banner on High.'"
'Cum in,' says St. Peter ; ' yor the varry man we want.'
' But, ' says aa, ' aa hev a mate oot here.' 'Whatishe?'
says St. Peter. ' A quarryman, ' says aa. 'Wey, 'said
the saint, ' he'll ha' te gan back, there's oney yen quarry-
man here, an' he'll nythor sing nor ha'd the music !" :
THE PITMAN AND THK SPIRIT-LEVEL.
A pitman engaged in laying down a new flagstone to
the kitchen hearth of his house had noticed with some
interest on a previous occasion the use of a spirit-level by
a bricklayer ; and believing it to be a necessary part of
the work, he had borrowed one at the colliery. As his
work proceeded, declining daylight compelled him to
work in semi-darkness. The task completed, he placed
the spirit-level on the stone to assure himself that it was
"well and truly laid," but, not being able to distinguish
the position of the bead in the level, he took it up, and
carefully carrying it to the door, examined it, exclaiming
after he did so :— "Mally, woman, it's just the thing tiv
a hair's breeth !"
FAITH.
A keelman at Howdon was once giving a Sunday after-
noon address on the subject of faith. To illustrate his
arguments, he said, "Noo, dear children, supposing thor
wes a keel coming doon the river, and aa wes to tell ye
that thor wes a leg of mutton in that keel's huddick, wad
ye believe us ?" "Yes," shouted the children. "Well,"
he continued, " that is faith. Noo, dear children, what
is faith?" All the youngsters shouted at once, "a leg of
mutton in a keel's huddick ! "
A FUNEBAL TOAST.
Not many miles from Haswell, a working man's wife
died, and nearly everybody in the village was pitying his
loss. When the funeral took place, the bottle went
round, as is sometimes usual on such occasions ; and when
it came to the turn of the bereaved widower he filled his
glass, and gave the only convivial toast he remembered,
" Here's luck, lads," said he, "and may nivvor warse be
amang us ! "
Mr. Joseph Gordon, engineer to the London County
Council, and a native of Haltwhistle, Northumberland,
died very suddenly in an omnibus, in London, on the 9th
of November. 1889. The deceased gentleman, who was
53 years oE age, had carried out large works at Tyne-
moutb. (See vol. iii., page 4-28.)
Mr. William Duncan, a native of Dundee, but who had
been upwards of thirty-four years engaged as a teacher in
connection with the Presbyterian schools at Wooler,
Northumberland, died in that village on the 9th of
November.
On the 16th of November, Mr. Thomas Walker, J.P.
of Staincliffe House, Seaton Carew, West Hartlepool,
died there in the 63rd year of his age. He was, for many
years, head of the firm of Thomas Walker and Company,
timber merchants.
Corporal George Robinson, a Chinese and Crimean
veteran, who, after his retirement from the army, was
employed in the orchestras of some of the leading theatres
and music halls in the North of England, died in Sunder-
land Infirmary, from the effects of an accident, on the 16th
of November.
On the 18th of November news was published of the
death of Mr. li. Brough Smyth, a native of Newcastle,
who emigrated to Australia in 1852, and subsequently
attained the position of permanent head of the Mining
Department of that colony.
Mr. Walter Pringle, for nearly half a century a book-
seller in Newcastle, and a son of the late Rev. James
Pringle, long a leading Presbyterian minister in the same
town, died on the 19th of November, in the seventy-ninth
year of his age.
On the 24th of November, David Wilkinson, a sinker
at Cambois, and one of the heroes of the catastrophe at
Hartley Colliery in Janury, 1862, was found drowned on
the sea-beach between Newbiggin and Cambois. The
deceased was one of the first to head the exploring party
on the occasion of the memorable accident at Hartley,
and in recognition of his gallant conduct he was, with
others, awarded a silver medal, which he preserved with
the greatest care.
On the 1st of December, there were interred in the
Cemetery at Berwick, the remains of James Hunter, who
had died a few days previously. The deceased was for-
merly a soldier, who took part in the charge under
General Yorke Scarlet, on the 25th October, 1854, when
the Scots Greys (in which regiment Hunter served) and
the Inniskillings, numbering 300 sabres, attacked, rode
through, and afterwards, with the assistance of other
Dragoon regiments, drove between 2,500 and 3,000 Rus-
sian cavalry over the Balaclava heights in the Crimea.
On the 6th of December, Mr. John Hartley, proprietor
of the Wear Glass Works, and the second son of the late
Mr. James Hartley, died at his residence, Mowbray
Villa, Ryhope Road, Sunderland, from an attack of
paralysis. The deceased gentleman, who was also a
county magistrate, a trustee of the Hudson Charity, and
a governor of the Sunderland Infirmary, was 46 years of
°The Rev. Canon Richard Earnshaw Roberts, M.A.,
Rector of Richmond, and honorary canon and rural dean
of Ripon, died on the 10th of December.
46
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f January
I J89J
at
©ccurrentcji.
NOVEMBER, 1889.
11. — The Karl of Camperdown spoke at a political
meeting ia the Town Hall, Gateshead, and, on the follow-
ing day, took part in a similar meeting at South Shields.
12.— Mr. Wentworth C. B. Beaumont, eldest son of
Mr. \V. 15. Beaumont, M.P., was married in St. George's
Church, Hanover Square, London, to Lady Alexandrina
Vane Tempest, daughter of the late Marquis of London-
derry, and sister to the present Marquis, ex-Lord Lieu-
tenant of Ireland. The newly wedded couple took up
their residence at Dilston Castle.
— An exciting encounter took place about midnight at
the Railway Station, Hexhain, between a porter and a
young Russian bear, which had escaped from a circus in
the Market Place.
13. — An advance of 3s. per week in wages was granted
to the Newcastle and Gateshead lamplighters.
— The new chancel of St. Hilda's Church, Middles-
brough, was opened, the sermon being preached by the
Bishop of B-'verley.
14. — It was announced that a movement had been set
on foot to form the " Tyne Working Stevedores' Co-
operative Company, Limited, "the proposed capital being
£2,000, divided into 2,000 shares of £1 each.
— At Seaham Harbour, the Marquis of Londonderry.
ex-Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, was presented with com-
plimentary addresses from several Conservative Associa-
tions. On the following evening his lordship was enter-
tained at a banquet in the Assembly Rooms, Newcastle,
by the Northern Union of Conservative Associations,
whose annual meeting had been held in the city at an
early period of the day. The chair was occupied by Sir
M. W. Ridley, M.I'.
— A prisoner in Durham Gaol, named William Clark,
was engaged in the kitchen preparing soup, when he fell
head foremost into the boiling liquid, and died almost
immediately afterwards.
17. — Commander Cameron, R.N., lectured in the Tyne
Theatre, Newcastle, under the auspices of the Tyneside
Sunday Lecture Society, on "The Congo State: the
Ideal and the Real," the chair being occupied by Dr R
S. Watson.
—The Rev. Johnson Baily, M.A., Vicar of South
Shields, and the Rev. Reginald Thomas Talbot, M.A.,
Gaieshead, lecturer on Church History and Doctrine for
the dioceses of Durham, Ripon, and Newcastle, were
installed as Canons of Durham Cathedral.
— The Bishop of Newcastle dedicated a new Lych Gate
erected opposite the porch which leads to the nave of the
church at Mitford.
18.— It was stated that, as the result of operations by
Messrs. Thomas C. Hutchinson and Partners, salt had
lieen discovered on the reclaimed land near the Lackenby
Ironworks, Middlesbrough.
19.— The Rev. J. H. Jowett, H.A., was ordained as
minister of St. James's Congregational Church, Bath
Road, Newcastle.
— In reply to the demand of the servants in the employ-
ment of the North-Eastern Railway Company for shorter
working hours and increased wages, the directors,
through the secretary, stated that they could not see
their way to agree to establish uniformity of conditions in
relation to services which were not of the same character.
Several concessions, however, were subsequently made to
the men.
20.— The Rev. T. A. Wolfendale, B.A., was ordained
to the pastorate of the Durham Congregational Church.
— Lady Grey, wife of Sir Edward Grey, M.P., pre-
sented the prizes to the successful students of the Gates-
head School of Art.
— A new hall in connection with the Young Men's
Christian Association, to be called the Priestman
Memorial Hall, was inaugurated at Ashington.
21. — An exhibition in connection with the Borough of
Tynemouth Art Club was opened in the Free Library
Buildings, North Shields.
—The collection of the Delaval papers discovered by
Mr. John Robinson in the disused bottleworks at Seaton
Sluice, having been acquired by the Newcastle Society of
Antiquaries, was removed to the Museum of Antiquities
in the Old Castle,
—Sir Joseph Pease, M.P., was thrown from his horse
and seriously injured, while hunting with the Cleveland
hounds.
22. — The new Assembly Rooms erected at Barras
Bridge, Newcastle, were inaugurated by a conversazione
in aid of the Home for Destitute Crippled Children at
Wallseud, the use of the spacious building having been
granted by the proprietor for the occasion.
—Portions of the Earl uf Carlisle's Cumberland estates
were publicly sold at Carlisle.
23. — It was announced that the will of Mr. Joseph
Laing (director of Bolckow, Vaughan, and Co.), formerly
of Stockton-on-Tees, and late of Castlenan, Surrey, had
been proved, the net personalty being £38,339 4s. Id.
— Re-opening, after large extensions and decorations, of
the publishing office of the Newcastle Chronicle in West-
gate Road.
— Newcastle and Northumberland Assizes were opened
by Mr. Justice Manisty. The most serious case was that
of Henry Percy Mole, 20 years of age, who, convicted of
the manslaughter of his wife in Newcastle, was sentenced
to six months' imprisonment with hard labour.
24.— The Master and Brethren of Trinity House, New-
castle, attended morning service in All Saints' Church, in
celebration of the centenary of that place of worship, the
sermon being preached by the Vicar, the Rev. A. S.
Ward roper.
25. — At a meeting held in the Crown Hotel, Newcastle,
Mr. Richard Fynes, of Blyth, was presented with an
illuminated address and a purse of gold by his creditors, as
a mark of their appreciation of his conduct in paying his
debts to the full after his late financial troubles. The
presentation Was made by Mr. Thomas Burt, M.P.
— The ironmoulders ot Sunderland received an advance
of 2s. per week in their wages.
— Several men were injured by an explosion of gas at
Whitburn Colliery.
— The Pelorus, one of the five cruisers intended for the
Australasian Colonies, was launched at Elswick by Lady
Samuel, wife of the Agent-General in London for New
South Wales.
26.— At a meeting of the Middlesbrough Corporation
Park Committee, it was reported that a great proportion,
if not all, of the 1,500 Loch Leven yearling trout which
Janimry I
1890. )
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
47
-had been put into the lake about two years previously,
had been poisoned, and an analysis was ordered to be
made of a sample of the water.
27. — Intelligence reached Jarrow to the effect that the
tenders of Messrs. Palmer and Co., shipbuilders, for the
construction of two large battle ships had been accepted
by the Admiralty.
28. — Durham Assizes were opened by Mr. Justice
Manisty. There was an unusually heavy calendar. Of
the 24 prisoners for trial, 12 were charged with offences
upon women and children. There were also four charges
of manslaughter.
— A Gateshead tramcar, which had been temporarily
detached from the engine, suddenly started off down the
High Street. Leaving the line towards the bottom of that
thoroughfare, it dashed into a drapery establishment,
doing much damage, and so seriously injuring a young
lady named Laura Gent that her right leg had to be
amputated. The accident was made the subject of a
Board ot Trade inquiry.
— Considerable damage was done by fire to the premises
of Messrs. Giles and Robley, drysalters, Ridley Court,
Groat Market, Newcastle.
29.— It was announced that £3,000 left by the late Mr.
Christie, printer and lithographer, of Newcastle, in I860,
had become available for the promotion of instruction at
tht. School of Art in those branches of design and draw-
ing which relate to lithography.
30. — By a large majority, the Durham miners, as the
result of a ballot, decided to accept an advance of 10 per
cent, in wages offered by the masters, the number who
voted for acceptance being 29,910, and for rejection 8,843.
— The eighth annual meeting of the English Arbori-
cultural Society was held at Darlington.
— St. Andrew's Day was observed by Scottish concerts
in the Art Gallery and a dinner by the members of the
Newcastle Scottish Association.
DECEMBER.
1. — Prince Krapotkine, the Russian exile, lectured in
the Tyne Theatre, Newcastle, under the auspices of the
Tyneside Sunday Lecture Society, on " Problems of the
Century," the chair being occupied by Mr. Thomas Burt,
M.P.
2. — It was announced that the will of Sir Daniel
Gooch, late chairman of the Great Western Railway, and
a native of Bedlington, Northumberland, had been
sworn, the value of the personalty being £653,492. (See
vol. iii., page 568.)
3.— The Rev. Henry Slater, of the Glebe, Riding
Mill, and the Rev. John Harrison Usher, Vicar of
Cambois, were instituted honorary canons of St.
Nicholas' Cathedral by the Bishop of Newcastle.
— The first meeting of the Morpeth Town Council, in
its reconstituted form, was held under the presidency of
the Mayor, Mr. Councillor Schofield.
— The annual bazaar in connection with the Newcastle
•City Mission was opened by the Sheriff, Mr. Edward
Culley. The amount realised by the sale of work was
£307 4s. Id., in addition to a cheque for £50.
4. — A deputation representing all the Christian bodies
in the city waited upon the City Council and presented a
memorial on the subject of the high death-rate. The
.memorial was referred to the Sanitary Committee.
— A new Wesleyan chapel was opened at Walker Gate.
—To-day was issued the first special Christmas number
of the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, which was a distinctly
new departure in provincial journalism. It consisted of
28 pages, illustrated, of the size of the Graphic, and was
accompanied by a splendid coloured plate, entitled
"Going Home," from a picture by Ralph Hedley, re-
presenting two Northern pitmen on their homeward
journey at the conclusion of their toil underground.
The demand for the paper and picture was such that it
was found quite impossible to meet it.
—An agreement was signed by the Newcastle City
Council, enabling two electric companies to proceed with
the laying of their underground cables.
5. — The annual sale of fat cattle and sheep bred by the
Marquis of Londonderry, Seaham Hall, took place. 101
head of cattle realised £2,407.
— Mrs. Wright, widow of Benjamin Wright, ex-police-
man, who fatally shot Superintendent Scott at Durham,
and then committed suicide, having died shortly after
her arrival in America, whither, with her family, she had
been sent by some friends, the three children, aged 10, 7,
and 5 years respectively, returned to Bishop Auckland.
6. — Under the auspices of the Tyneside Geographical
Society, Captain Wiggins, F.R.G.S., lectured in the
Northumberland Hall, Newcastle, on his arctic voyages
of exploration and journeys across Siberia, illustrating his
subject with numerous lime-light views.
— Between 500 and 600 of the various branches of
labourers in the goods departments of the North-Eastern
Railway Company's system in Newcastle and Gateshead
gave in their notices to cease work unless concessions
were made in the matter of hours. Besides these, about
80 men belonging to the Amalgamated Society of Railway
Servants also gave in their notices. The question was
subsequently referred to the arbitration of Dr. R. S
Watson.
7. — Large and commodious premises, purchased as
offices for the Northumberland and Durham Miners
Provident Relief Fund, in Queen's Square, Saville Row
Newcastle, u-ere formally opened by a dinner, provided
at the expense of two coalowners. The chair was occupied
by Mr. Thomas Weatherley, one of the originators of the
Fund, which was established shortly after the occurrence
of the Hartley Colliery catastrophe, in 1862.
— The Carl Rosa Opera Company concluded a successfu
six nights' engagement at the Tyne Theatre, Newcastle.
8. — The foundation stone of a new Roman Catholic
Church at Prudhoe Hall was laid by the Right Rev. Dr.
Wilkinson, Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle.
9.— Mr. Clement Stephenson, Newcastle, obtained
several valuable awards at the Smithfield Cattle Show.
10. — Mr. James Craig, M.P., presented the prizes to the
successful students at the School of Science and Art, Cor-
poration Street, Newcastle.
—At a public meeting in Newcastle, the Lord Bishop
presidine, a resolution was adopted in favour of co-opera-
tion between the medical and other local charities, with a
view to prevent overlapping and fraud by impostors.
— The Rev. George Candlish Chisholm was ordainrd
and inducted as pastor of the Erskine Presbyterian
Church, Ryehill, Newcastle.
— Speaking at the annual dinner of the York Gimcrack
Club, the Earl of Durham congratulated the company
on the fact that his speech of last year had done some-
thing to purge the turf of scandals which were calculated
to drive honourable men from it.
48
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
J January
1 1890.
—Mr. Chaplin, Minister of Agriculture, received at the
Board of Agriculture a deputation from the Corporation
of Newcastle and the County Council of Northumberland,
who urged with regard to losses from pleuro-pneumonia
the desirability of having inspectors acting from a central
authority, and that compensation should be paid from Im-
perial funds instead of from local rates. Mr. Chaplin
gave hope of a satisfactory solution.
11.— It was announced that, at the instigation of Cod-
rmgton College, Barb.idoes, which is affiliated to the
Universitj' of Durham, the authorities of the latter insti-
tution had decided to establish a Chair of Agriculture m
connection with the College of Science in Newcastle.
(Scneral ©ccnrrcnces.
NOVEMBER, 1889.
11. — The river Yangtse Kiang, in China, overflowed
its upper banks for a distance of about a hundred mile?,
causing the loss of more than a thousand lives.
14. — Eight people were killed and twenty-eight injured
by an explosion in the cartridge-room of the Royal
Powder Factory at Hanau, near Frankfort, Germany.
— A revolution took place at Rio de Janeiro, the
capital of Brazil, and a Republican Government was set
up. The utmost courtesy was shown to the Emperor,
Dom Pedro, who, with his family, left Brazil a few days
later for Europe. It was a remarkable fact that the revo-
lution was effected without the loss of a single life.
19. — A German, named Arnemann, who had lost a case
in the Nottingham County Court, attempted to assassi-
nate the judge, Mr. Samuel Boeteler Bristowe, by shoot-
ing him with a revolver. His Honour's injuries were of a
serious, but not fatal character.
20. — It was announced that Sir Edward Guinness had
given £250,000 for the erection of dwellings for the
labouring poor in London and Dublin.
22.— The Parnell Commission, which was begun on the
22nd of October, 1888, was closed.
26. — A great fire broke out at Lynn, Massachusetts,
United States, when a square mile of buildings was de-
stroyed, the damage amounting to five million dollars.
28. — Another fire took place in America. About two
acres of the business part of the city of Boston were
entirely destroyed, the damage being estimated at ten
million dollars.
29. — The death was reported of Mr. Martin Farquhar
Tupper, author of "Proverbial Philosophy," at the age
of 80. "Proverbial Philosophy," when it was first pub-
lished many years ago, met with enormous success.
Edition after edition was called for, and a second, a
third, and a fourth series were published, and taken up
with equal avidity. Altogether Mr. Tupper is said to have
realised £10,000 from the work. Had there been inter-
national copyright beetween England and America, his
receipts would have been vastly increased ; but the only
remuneration he received for something like a million
and a half of copies sold in the United States was some
£80, though he made money by readings from his works
which he gave on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1886, he
published his autobiography, "My Life as an Author,"
which revived public interest in a writer who had been
forgotten. Mr. Tupper, some years ago, contributed
original poems to the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle. Our
JIB. MARTIN F. TUPPKH.
portrait is reproduced from a photograph by Messrs.
Negretti and Zambra, Crystal Palace, Sydenham.
DECEMBER.
5.— William Dukes was found guilty of the murder of
George Gordon, at Bury, on September 25.
6. — After extraordinary experiences in the wilds of
Central Africa, Mr. H. M. Stanley, the explorer, and his
party, arrived safely at Zanzibar, having effected the ob-
ject of the great undertaking — the rescue of Emin Pasha.
Two days before Emin met with a strange misfortune.
Being near-sighted, he accidentally walked out of a
window at Bagamoyo, and fractured his skull.
— Mr. Jefferson Davis, who was President of the
Southern Confederacy during the War of Secession, died
at New Orleans, U.S.
9. — Henry Ernest Searle, the champion sculler of the
world, died of typhoid fever. He was 23 years of age.
— During the month of December, a remarkable epi-
demic, partaking of the nature of a severe form of
influenza, broke out in Russia, and affected thousands of
people, from the Czar and members of the Imperial
family, down to persons in the humblest ranks of life.
The epidemic afterwards spread to Germany, Austria,
and other parts of Europe.
Printed by WALTER SCOTT, Felling-on-Tyne.
tlbe
Chronicle
OF
NORTH-COUNTRY*LORE*AND*LEGEND
VOL. IV.— No. 36.
FEBRUARY, 1890.
PRICE GD.
33n*tocttttorttn* Jns'urmtioiT.
Part II.— eljc (Collapse.
JHE combined forces of Kenmure and Forster,
having been apprised that a detachment of
Mar's army had been sent across the Firth
of Forth to join them, crossed the Tweed,
and directed their march towards Kelso, which had been
appointed as the place of junction. The Earl of Mar,
commander-in-chief of the rebels in Scotland, sent upon
this mission towards the Borders a body of picked men,
to the number of 2,500, including the Mackintoshes, the
Farquharsons, and the greater part of the regiments of
Lords Strathmore and Nairn, Lord Charles Murray, and
Drummond of Logie Drummond — the whole under the
command of Brigadier Mackintosh of Borlum, a veteran
of zeal, experience, and intrepidity. After various bold
exploits, one of which was a threatened attack upon Edin-
burgh, which caused great alarm, Mackintosh marched
southward through the wilds of Lammermoor, and on the
22nd of October, 1715, joined the forces of Lord Kenmare
and Mr. Forster at Kelso, which had been hurriedly
evacuated by the Government militia and volunteers.
The combined forces of the insurgents, when mustered in
Kelso, were found to amount to 600 horse and 1,400 foot.
The day of their arrival was entirely spent in appro-
priate religious exercises. Orders were given by Viscount
Kenmure, who commanded when in Scotland, that the
troops should attend divine service in the magnificent
abbey of David I., then occupied as a Presbyterian place
of worship. Mr. Fatten, chaplain to the rebels, preached
a sermon on hereditary right, from Deut. xxi. 17 — " The
right of the first-born is bis." In the afternoon, Mr.
Irvine, an old Scottish Episcopalian clergyman and non-
juror, delivered a discourse full of earnest exhortation to
his hearers to be zealous and steady in the cause : which
discourse, by his own information to Mr. Patten, he had
preached in the Highlands to Lord Dundee and his army
when they rose against King William, a little before the
battle of Killiecrankie. " It was very agreeable," says
Patten, "to see how decently and reverently the very
common Highlanders behaved, and answered the responses
according to the rubric, to the shame of many that pretend
to more polite breeding."
The insurgents remained in Kelso from the 22nd to the
27th of October. Hearing that General Carpenter had
advanced as far as Wooler for the purpose of attacking
them, they held a council of war. One plan of operations
was advocated by the Scots, another by the English.
The Highlanders positively refused to enter England, and
the English were determined to advance no further into
Scotland. In the end they moved westward along the
Border. This foolish scheme was signally unsuccessful ;
for General Carpenter and his dragoons, falling into their
track and following in their rear, gave to their march the
appearance of a flight. Arriving at Jedburgh, where they
rested for a couple of days, the insurgents resolved to
cross the hills into North Tynedale, and accordingly
Captain Hunter, who was well acquainted with the
country, was despatched thither to provide quarters for
the army, but the Highlanders having still resolutely
refused to cross the Border, they were eventually obliged
to alter their intention and march towards Hawick.
While lying at Hawick the disputes between the High-
landers and the English respecting their final course came
almost to an open rupture. The former separated them-
selves from the horse, and, drawing up on a moor above
50
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I February
1 1890.
the town, declared that they would on no occasion go
into England to be kidnapped and enslaved, as their an-
cestors were in Cromwell's time. And when the horse,
exasperated at their obstinacy, threatened to surround
them and force them to march, they cocked their pieces,
and calmly observed that if they must needs be made a
sacrifice, they were determined at least that it should be
made in their own country. At length the Highlanders
consented to continue with the army as lung as it should
remain in Scotland.
On Sunday, October 30, the rebels entered Langholm.
Here they were informed by a gentleman, who had that
morning seen Carpenter's troops enter Jedburgh, that
they were so completely worn out with fatigue as to seem
almost incapable of resistance. But although this infor-
mation was laid before a council of war, it was found
impossible to come to any resolution to take advantage of
it. Eventually, it was determined to make an attack
upon Dumfries. An advanced party of 400 horse had
proceeded as far as Blacketridge, when they were met by
an express from their friends in Dumfries, informing
them of the preparations tlie citizens of the town had
made for its defence. Immediately on the arrival of this
message, the dispute was renewed between the Scots and
the English, the former insisting on forming a junction
with the Earl of Mar, while Mr. Forster and his friends
obstinately ad heied to their proposal of entering England,
affirming that, upon appearing there they would be joined
by 20,000 men. Lord Derwentwater strongly protested
against the proposed measure, as certain to end in their
ruin ; but his remonstrances were unheeded. The rest of
the English leaders urged the advantage of their plan
with such vehemence as to bear down all opposition.
After a long altercation, they finally resolved upon the
invasion of Lancashire, provided they could gain the con-
sent of Brigadier Mackintosh, who was not present at the
consultation, and who had all along strenuously opposed
the measure. Mackintosh's opinion, however, had under-
gone a change on the subject, and he accordingly exerted
himself to prevail upon his men to obey the orders of the
council. He succeeded with the greater part ; but a de-
tachment of about 500 resisted all his arguments, and,
disregarding his orders, broke away entirely from their
companions, with the purpose of returning homo through
the western districts and by the heads of the Forth. The
difficulty of finding provisions, however, compelled them
to separate into small parties, and the greater part of
them were consequently captured by the peasantry about
the upper part of Clydesdale.
The main body of the insurgents, weakened by the de-
sertion of the 500 Highlanders, entered England on the
1st of November, and took up their quarters for that
night at Brampton, near Carlisle, where they seized the
money collected for the excise on malt and ale. Here
Mr. Forster opened his commission from the Earl of Mar
to act as General in England. The next day they
marched towards Penrith. The horse militia of West-
moreland and of the northern parts of Lancashire, having
been drawn out to oppose the insurgents, were joined at
Penrith by the posse comitatui of Cumberland, amount-
ing to 14,000 men, headed by Lord Lonsdale and the
Bishop of Carlisle. But this host was composed of igno-
rant and undisciplined rustics, ill armed and worse
arrayed, who bad formed so dreadful an idea of the
fierceness and irresistible valour of the rebel army, that
they were no sooner made aware of the approach of an
advanced party than they took to flight in all directions.
The insurgents collected a considerable quantity of arms
which the fugitives had thrown away in their night, and
took a number of prisoners, who, being of little value to
their captors, were immediately set at liberty — a kindness
which they repaid by shouting "God save King James,
and prosper his merciful army ! " Lord Lonsdale, de-
serted by all save about twenty of his own servants, found
shelter in the old castle of Appleby.
Entering Penrith, the principal inhabitants of which
treated them from the first with all manner of civility,
the insurgents marched next to Appleby. From Appleby
they proceeded to Kendal, and from Kendal to
Kirkby-Lonsdale, everywhere proclaiming King James.
Hitherto, they had seen nothing of that enthusiasm in
their cause which the English leaders had taught their
associates to expect. Most of the leading Catholics,
indeed, in Cumberland and Westmoreland, such as Mr.
Howard of Corby, and Mr. Curwen of Workington, had
been previously secured by the Government in Carlisle
Castle. Instead of increasing, the number of insurgents
rather diminished ; for at Penrith seventeen Teviotdale
gentlemen abandoned their cause, thinking it hopeless.
Their next remove was to Lancaster, and during the
march they learned from Charles Widdrington, brother to
Lord Widdrington, who had been sent forward to warn
their friends in Lancashire of their approach, that King
James had been proclaimed at Manchester. This cheer-
ing intelligence raised the spirits of the Highlanders, who
had loudly complained that all the specious promises held
out to them respecting the vast reinforcements by which
they were to be joined had, proved a delusion ; so, with the
confident expectation of success, they continued their
march to Lancaster. Colonel Charteris, who then occupied
the town, wished to defend the place by blowing up the
bridge over the Lune, in order to prevent the enemy's
passage ; but this being opposed by the inhabitants, he
retired, and, on the 7th of November, the insurgents
entered the town without hindrance. They remained
at Lancaster two days, and here, before leaving, the
noblemen and gentlemen prepared for the only gentle
episode in their campaign. "They dressed and trimmed
themselves up," says Peter Clarke in his journal, "and
went to drink tea with the ladies of Lancaster, who also
appeared in their best rigging, and had their tea tables
richly furnished to entertain their new suitors. Tea was
February X
1890. J_
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
51
then a novel and expensive luxury that was still but little
used even among the higher classes." After this episode,
they pushed forward to Preston, from which Stanhope's
regiment of dragoons and a body of militia thought it
prudent to retire on their approach,
On arriving at Preston, on the 10th November, the
insurgents were joined by nearly all the Roman Catholics
in the district, the augmentation of their numbers
amounting to 1,200. But they were badly armed, and
had no notion of discipline. Just as the insurgents had
taken possession of Preston, General Willis, commanding
the loyal forces of Lancashire, left Manchester for
Wigan with four regiments of cavalry and one of foot,
commanded by experienced officers. At Wigan he was
joined by Pitt's regiment of dragoons, which had been
quartered there, and also by Stanhope's, which had re'
tired from Preston on the approach of the insurgents
Having there learned that General Carpenter was ad
vancing from the opposite quarter, and would be ready to
take the rebel forces in the flank, Willis determined to
march straight upon Preston.
There were two plans of defence open to the choice of
the insurgent general — either to march out and dispute
with the Royal forces the passage of the River Ribble, by
which Preston is covered, or to remain within the town
and defend it by the assistance of such temporary fortifi-
cations and barricades as could be hastily constructed
before the enemy's approach. The first of these courses
had many obvious advantages. Between the bridge and
the town there extended a long and deep lane, bordered
with steep banks, surmounted by strong hedges. The
lane was in some places so narrow that two men could
not ride abreast. But Forster made no attempt to avail
himself of this advantageous pass. River, bridge, and
road were all left open to the assailants. Possessed with
the idea " that the body of the town was the security of
the army," the rebel general abandoned all exterior de-
fences, and commanded the guard of 100 chosen High_
landers, which the council had placed at the bridge under
Farquharson of Invercauld, to retire into the town. He
at the same time withdrew another detachment of fifty
Highlanders who had taken up a most advantageous post
in Sir Henry Haughton's house, near the extremity of the
town corresponding with the bridge.
Within the town, however, the insurgents had taken
judicious measures for their defence, and pursued them
with zeal and spirit. Four barricades were thrown up
across the principal streets : not, however, at their ex-
tremities towards the fields, but towards the centre of the
town. The danger was thus avoided of the enemy
coming through the numerous lanes at the termination of
the streets and attacking the insurgents in the rear of
their defences. Each barricade was protected by two
pieces of cannon, and troops were also posted in the
houses near.
General Willis, on reaching the bridge over the Ribble,
was surprised to find it undefended. As he approached
the town, however, he saw the barricades which Forster
had thrown up. Having taken a survey of the defences,
he prepared for an immediate onset ; and to make the
assault with more effect, he determined to attack only
two of the barricades at once. His troops were accord-
ingly divided into two parties, one under Brigadier
Honeyman, the other under Brigadier Dormer. But
their intrepid assault was met with equal courage ; and.
so destructive a fire was poured upon them, not only from
the barricades, but from the adjacent houses, that they
were beaten off with considerable loss.
Early on the morning of November 12, the same day
on which the Earl of Mar had fought the indecisive battle
of Sheriffmuir, General Carpenter arrived with a part of
his cavalry, accompanied by the Earl of Carlisle, Lord
Lumley, and a considerable number of the gentry of the
country. Various alterations were now made in the
disposition of the forces ; the town was completely in-
vested on all sides, and preparations were made for a
renewed assault.
The situation of the insurgents had now become despe-
rate. They had, it is true, succeeded in repulsing their
assailants in the previous attack ; but it was evident that,
cut off from all assistance, their fate was inevitable.
Every avenue of flight was closely guarded ; and of those
who made a desperate attempt to sally, the greater part
were cut in pieces, and only a very few escaped by hewing
their way through the enemy. "The English gentlemen, '
says Sir Walter Scott, "began to think upon the possi-
bility of saving their lives, and entertained the hope of
returning once more to the domestic enjoyment of their
homes and their estates ; whilst the Highlanders and
most of the Scottish insurgents, even of the higher classes,
declared for sallying out and dying like men of honour,
with sword in hand, rather than holding their lives on the
base tenure of submission." The only one of the English
leaders who seems to have joined the Scots in this opinion
was Charles Radcliffe, brother of Lord Derwentwater,
who, with his usual intrepidity, declared " he would
rather die sword in hand, like a man of honour, than
yield to be dragged like a felon to the gallows, and be
hanged like a dog." Forster, however, was completely
disheartened ; and at the instigation of Lord Widdring-
ton and a few others, Colonel Oxburgh, an Irish Catholic,
who had been Forster's principal adviser in military
matters, went out to ask terms of surrender.
Oxburgh's mission was coldly received by the English
general, who, irritated by the loss he had sustained,
seemed at first disposed to reject the proposition alto-
gether, and declared that he would not treat with rebels'
who had killed several of the king's subjects and must
expect to share the same fate. Oxburgh entreated him,
as a man of honour and an officer, to show mercy to
people who were willing to submit. Willis at last re-
lented so far as to say that if the rebels would lay
52
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
J February
1890.
down their arms, and surrender at discretion, he would
protect them from being cut to pieces by the soldiers,
until further orders from Government
When Oxburgh returned and reported the result of his
mission, Captain Dalzeil, brother to the Earl of Carnwath,
went out in the name of the Scots to ascertain what
terras would be granted to them ; but Willis refused to
offer any other terms than those which he had already
offered through Colonel Oxburgh. Dalzeil then requested
time to take the proposal into consideration, which was
granted by Willis, on condition that the insurgents should
give him hostages against their throwing up new entrench-
ments, or making any attempt to escape. Colonel Cotton
accompanied Dalzeil back to Preston for the purpose of
bringing out the hostages. He speedily returned to the
general's tent, bringing with him the Earl of Derwent-
water and Brigadier Mackintosh, who had been selected
for this service.
Next morning, November 14-, Forster sent a message
to General Willis, informing him that the insurgents
were willing to surrender on the terms proposed. The
Royal troo]>s then entered Preston in two detachments,
and, meeting in the Market Place, where the whole of
the insurgents were drawn up, they disarmed and for-
mally made them prisoners. By this final blow the rebel-
lion in England was effectually terminated.
BARBER'S NEWS, OR SHIELDS IN AN UPROAR.
j|HIS song was first published on a broadside
sheet in Newcastle, about 1805, and refers to
the circumstance of Stephen Kemble's cap-
sizing a sculler-boat in which he was crossing
the Tyne, in the dark age before there was any ferry,
direct or indirect, between North and South Shields.
Stephen was, as all the world knows, a very portly
gentleman, for his remarkable obesity enabled him to
personate Falstaff "without stuffing." He was the
brother of the celebrated John and Charles Kemble, and
of the equally celebrated Mrs. Siddons. No wonder that
he took kindly to the stage, instead of to the profession
of a barber-surgeon, for which his parents destined him,
he having been born on the very night in which his
mother had played Anne Boleyn in the play of "Henry
the Eighth." He was manager of the Theatre Koyal,
Newcastle, for about fourteen years, having succeeded
Messrs. Whitlock and Munden in 1792, and being suc-
ceeded in 1806 by Mr. William Macready, father of the
great Macready. He also had the chief interest and pro-
perty in the rest of the theatres of the circuit, as it was
termed, including North and South Shields, Sunderland,
and Durham, which he bought of Mr. Cawdell. His
wife, formerly Miss Satchell, was a good actress and a
prodigious favourite in Newcastle. Stephen himself was
only second-rate on the boards : but he was what is
styled a "chaste performer," a beautiful reader, a well-
informed and entertaining companion, and a right hearty
good fellow. Under his administration the legitimate
drama had a long and flourishing career in the North.
He died on June 2nd, 1822, in his 64-th year, at the Grove,
near Durham, and his remains were interred in the
Chapel of the Nine Altars at the east end of Durham
Cathedral, on the north side of the Shrine of St.
Cuthbert.
Of Mr. John Shield, the author of this song, and of
several other popular local lyrics, such as " My Lord
"Size," "Bob Cranky's Adieu," &c., an account is given
in the first volume of the Monthly Chronicle, p. 37.
The tune to which the song is directed to be sung— "0,
the Golden Days of Good Queen Bess " — is also known by
the names of "Unfortunate Miss Bailey," and of "Alley
Croaker.'' Under the latter title it usually appears in
collections of Irish melodies as a product of the sister isle.
It is, however, a purely English air, first known as "No
More, Fair Virgins, Boast Your Power," and was intro-
duced into the play of "Love in a Riddle," in 1729.
Great was the con - ster - na - tion, A-
both in North and South Shields Pre-
— *" * ^ •—
vail'd the o • ther day, Sir. Quite
"Have you heard the news, Sir?" "What
February \
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
53
J It \
W - '^ ^ J "^ -
1 -\ fc fc |
nev.-s, pray, Mis - ter
4 • 3 *
Bar -berr "Oh! a
ill > > V i
' y ^
ter - ri
Mous - ter Has
har - Dour !
Now, each honest man in Shields —
I mean both North and South, sir,
Delighting in occasion to
Expand their eyes and mouth, sir :
And fond of seeing marv'ious sights,
Ne'er stayed to get his beard off,
But ran to see the monster, its
Arrival when he heard of.
Oh. who could think of shaving,
When informed by the barber
That a terrible sea monster
Had got into the harbour ?
Each wife pursued her husband,
And every child its mother,
Lads and lasses, helter-skelter,
Scampered after one another ;
Shopkeepers and mechanics, too.
Forsook their daily labours,
And ran to gape and stare among
Their gaping, staring neighbours.
All crowded to the river side,
When told by the barber
That a terrible sea monster
Had got into the harbour.
It happens very frequently
That barbers' news is fiction, sir ;
But the wond'rous news this morning
Was truth, no contradiction, sir ;
A something sure enough was there,
Among the billows flouncing,
Now sinking in the deep profound,
Now on the surface bouncing :
True as Gazette or Gospel
Were the tidings of the barber,
That a terrible sea monster
Had got into the harbour.
Some thought it was a shark, sir,
A porpoise some conceived it ;
Some thought it was a grampus,
And some a whale believed it ;
Some swore it was a sea horse,
Then owned themselves mistaken,
For now they'd got a nearer view —
'Twas certainly a kraken.*
Each sported his opinion.
From the parson to the barber,
Of the terrible sea monster
They had got into the harbour.
"Belay, belay," a sailor cried,
"What, that, this thing, a kraken !
* As we do not believe any of our readers can ever have seen a
kraken, we may be pardoned for giving the following; account of
this Norse monster, abridged from Pontoppidan :— It is a mile and
a half in circumference ; and when part of it appears above the
water it resembles a number of small islands and sand-banks, on
which fishes sport and seaweeds grow. Upon his further emerging,
a number of pellucid anten ax, each about the height, size, and form
of a moderate mast, appear ; and by the action and re-action of
these he eathers his food, consisting of small fishes. When he
sinks, which he does gradually, a dangerous swell of the sea suc-
ceeds, and a kind of whirlpool is naturally formed. In 1680, we
are told, a young kraken perished upon the rocks in the parish of
Alsstahong ; and bis death was attended with such a stench that
the channel where he died was impassable.
'Tis no more like one, split my jib,
Than it is a flitch of bacon !
I've often seen a hundred such,
All sporting in the Nile, sir,
And you may trust a sailor's word,
It is a crocodile, sir."
Each straight to Jack knocks under,
From the parson to the barber,
And all agreed a crocodile
Had got into the harbour.
Yet greatly Jack's discovery
His audience did shock, sir,
For they dreaded that the salmon
Would be eat up by the croc., sir :
When presently the crocodile,
Their consternation crowning,
Rais'd its head above the waves and cried,
" Help, 0, Lord ! I'm drowning ! "
Heavens, how their hair, sir, stood on end,
From the parson to the barber,
To find a speaking crocodile
Had got into the harbour.
This dreadful exclamation
Appalled both young and old, sir.
In the very stoutest hearts, indeed,
It made the blood run cold, sir.
Even Jack, the hero of the Nile,
It caused to quake and tremble,
Until an old wife, sighing, cried,
"Alas ! 'tis Stephen Kemble ! "
Heavn's ! how they all astonish 'd were,
From the parson to the barber,
To find that Stephen Kemble
Was the monster in the harbour.
Straight crocodilish fears gave place
To manly, geu'rous strife, sir ;
Most willingly each lent a hand
To save poor Stephen's life, sir ;
They dragged him, gasping, to the shore,
Impatient for his history,
For how he came in that sad plight
To them was quite a mystery.
Tears glistened, sir, in every eye,
From the parson to the barber,
When, swol'n to thrice his natural size,
They dragged him from the harbour.
Now, having roll'd and rubbed him well
An hour upon the beach, sir,
He got upon his legs again,
And made a serious speech, sir.
Quoth he : " An ancient proverb says,
And true it will be found, sirs,
Those born to prove an airy doom
Will surely ne'er be drowned, sirs,
For fate has us all in tow,
From the monarch to the barber,
Or surely I had breathed my last
This morning in the harbour.
" Resolved to cross the river, sirs,
A sculler did I get into,
May Jonah's ill-luck be mine
Another when I step into !
Just when we reached the deepest part,
O, horror ! there it founders,
And down went poor Pill Garlicky
Amongst the crabs and flounders !
But fate, that keeps us all in tow.
From the monarch to the barber,
Ordained I should not breathe my last
This morning in the harbour.
" I've broke down many a stage coach.
And many a chaise and gig, sirs ;
Once in passing through a trap hole
I found myself too big, sirs ;
t An allusion to Stephen's two years' juvenile practice in Dr.
Gibb's surgery at Coventry.
54
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f February
I 1890.
I've been circumstanced most oddly,
Whilst contesting hard a race, sirs,
But ne'er was half so frightened
As among the crabs and plaice, sirs,
O, fate, sirs, keep us all in tow.
From the monarch to the barber,
Or certainly I'd breathed my last
This morning in thf harbour.
*' My friends, for your exertions,
My heart o'erflows with gratitude.
Oh. may it prove the last time
You find me in that latitude.
God knows with what mischances dire
The future may abound, sirs,
But hope and trust I'm one of those
Not fated to be be drown'd, sirs."
Thus ended his oration, sirs,
(I had it from the barber),
And, dripping like some river god,
He slowly left the harbour.
Ye men of North and South Shields, too,
(iod send ye all prosperity !
May your commerce ever flourish,
Your stately ships still crowd the sea !
I'nri vailed in the coal trade
Till doomsday may you stand, sirs,
And every hour fresh wonders
Your eyes and mouths expand, sirs.
And long may Stephen Kemble live,
And never may th'1 barber
Mistake him for a monster more,
Deep floundering in the harbour !
emmuumot.
[MONG worldly mortals it is & very thin parti-
tion that divides sanity from insanity. It is
commonly called Eccentricity, and sometimes
Genius. The eccentricity of Jos.-ph Cooke (some authori-
ties call him Thomas) certainly verged upon, perhaps
considerably overpassed, the bounds of sober sanity ; and
yet there was much transcendental philosophy in his
madness.
The son of a shoemaker at Ilexham, Mr. Cooko was
born in the year 1719. Destined for the Church, he got a
liberal education — first at the grammar school of his
native town, then taught by Thomas Bolton ; afterwards
at Durham, as a king's scholar, under the tuition of
Richard Dongworth, M.A., who had as his assistant
Thomas Randal, the indefatigable collector of the local
MSS. which bcre his name, and which he bequeathed
to George Allan, Esq., of Darlington, who gave Hutchin-
son, the county historian, the free use of them ; and
finally at Queen's College, Oxford, where he took the
degree of M.A. In due time he was ordained, and not
long after succeeded in obtaining a curacy at Kmbleton,
in Northumberland. Here a turn for mysteries led him
to study mystic writers, and he soon caught the same
enthusiastic flame which warmed them. His favourite
author was the Lusatian visionary, Jacob Boehme, who
had been a shoemaker, like his own father, but had been
called by an audible voice from heaven, as he verily
believed, to become an inspired teacher of his fellow-men,
and to open up to them the most profound celestial
mysteries that perplex the understanding. The humble
Northumbrian curate fancied he understood Boehme's
fundamental principle, and also the propositions and
corollaries based upon it. He comprehended "the forth-
coming of the creation out of the divine unity " — " the
evolution and manifestation of the creature out of God " ;
and he was in the habit of deeply meditating upon God
himself apart from creatures, or, to use some of Boehme'a
own synonyms, "the Groundless, the Eternal One, the
Silent Nothing, the Temperamentum." The Absolute,
from which the Phenomenal springs, and into which it is
received back, was no mystery to him, any more than it
had been to his master, among whose pupils, it may be
well to mention in passing, have been such great men
as Newton, Schelling, and Hegel, the last-named of
whom places Boehme at the head of modern philosophy,
while admitting that his terminology was fantastic. Mr
Cooke was accustomed to repeat to himself, and babble,
as others thought, to such as would listen to him as
to a man beside himseU : —
All things consist in Yes and No. The Yes is pure
power and life, the truth of God, or God himself. The
No is the reply to the Yes, or to the truth, and is
indispensable to the revelation of the truth. So, then,
the Silent Nothing becomes Something by entering into
Duality,
It is no great cause of wonder that the good people
of Embleton, and even the worthy vicar, thought there
must be a something wrong with the dreamy curate.
The natives of Northumberland are mathematically, not
metaphysically, inclined ; and comparatively few, even
in Scotland, the land by pre-eminence of metaphysics,
can understand Jacob Boehme. Besides, Mr. Cooke
superadded to the foreign visionary's theories some
notions peculiar to himself; for he publicly as well as
privately maintained that the Christian dispensation
did not abrogate one jot or tittle of the Law of Moses,
quoting in proof the express words of Christ himself, as
recorded by Saints Matthew and Luke. Of course, he
was told the words meant something else ; but he did
not believe it. He went so far as to undergo the initial
rite of Judaism, conceiving, as he did, that what was
good for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the Saviour
himself, could not be bad for modern believers. Reading
in the Apocalypse, or Book of Revelation, that a new
name was to be given to them that "overcame the
world," he assumed the names of Adam Moses Emanuel,
and ever afterwards signed himself A. M. E. Cooke.
He also made an attempt to follow the example of Jesus
in fasting forty days ; and, what is astonishing indeed,
had resolution and strength to fast seventeen days with-
out anything whatever, and for twelve days more allowed
himself each day only a trifling crust of bread and a
draught of water. Moreover, in obedience to the Leviti-
cal command — "Thou shalt not mar the corners of thy
February 1
iwu. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
55
beard " — he suffered his beard to grow to its natural
length, which, by itself, in an age when everybody not
a Jew shaved clean, was considered a sure mark of
mental derangement.
In short, so strange were the notions Mr. Cooke
broached, and so extravagant his behaviour, that he
incurred the displeasure and reprehension of his superiors
in the Church, and was by them soon discharged from
his curacy. Then, leaving the North, he found his way
to London, where he commenced as an author, and also
signalised himself by street preaching, which he did in
full canonicals, his flowing beard attracting special atten-
tion. Of his writings in divinity and politics we can
give no account. They are said, but we know not with
what amount of truth, to have been " pieces of unintelli-
gible jargon." Mr. Cooke wrote also two plays, of
which even the names are now forgotten. He likewise
published his ideas upon sundry practical matters, advo-
cating, for instance, the collection of all the metro-
politan markets into one grand subterraneous centre
under Fleet Street. Conceiving what was then
even more than now deemed the strange notion
that all the good things of this world should be
common, according to the doctrine and practice of
the primitive Church of Jerusalem, he was in the
habit, when in London, of going into a coffee-house in
the morning and taking to his own use the first muffin
and pot of coffee he saw set on any of the tables. A
writer to a local publication, who contributed an obituary
notice of him at the time of his death, says : —
The strangeness of his appearance, or the knowledge
of his character, used to screen him from the expostula-
tions on the part of the gentlemen for whom the break-
fast was intended, nor did he meet with interruption
from the waiters till he had finished, and, after saying
a short grace, was going towards the door without dis-
charging the reckoning. The coffee-house master would
then expostulate, while he could prove, by mode and
figure, that the good things of this world were common.
The bucks would then form a ring for the disputants,
till the one would be obliged to give up the contest,
•unable to make objection to the arguments brought by
the other from the Talmudists, and from Hebrew, Greek,
and Latin authors.
After he had conducted himself in this eccentric
manner for a while, some good-natured clergymen got
him sent to Bethlehem Hospital, where he stayed two
or three years. When discharged thence, he travelled
over the greater part of Scotland without a single farthing
in his pocket, subsisting, as he says in one of his
pamphlets, on the contributions of the well-disposed.
He then went to Ireland, which he perambulated on foot
in like manner. Arriving at Dublin in 1760, he was
kindly entertained for some time by the provost and
senior fellows of Trinity College, who admired his extra-
ordinary learning and his almost infantile simplicity.
Returning to England, he visited Oxford, where much
notice was taken of him for the same reasons by some
gentlemen of distinction, particularly by the head of
one of the colleges, with whom be lodged. We are told
by his biographer that, after hearing the University
sermon in St. Mary's, he went into the street, mounted
some improvised rostrum, and gave his own exposition
of the preacher's text, interlarded with long extracts
from the classics and the Hebrew Bible.
After living in London many years, he came down to
his native county to spend the rest of his days, which
he was enabled to do in comparative comfort, having
had a small pension allowed him by the Society of Sons
ol the Clergy. He lodged in Newcastle, in a house near
the Forth, and amused himself with writing odes,
epigrams, letters, and other trifles, some of which found
their way into the local papers, but never seem to have
been worth preserving.
Mr. Cooke died at his lodgings on the 15th November,
1783, aged sixty-four.
t »artlqp<Krt.
j]N the early days of Christianity in North-
umberland. a monastic house, founded by
St. Begu, and afterwards extended and
governed by St. Hilda, existed at Hartle-
pool. As early as 657, Hilda removed to Whitby, but the
monastery at Hartlepool seems to have been maintained
till the time of the Danish invasions. After that we
hear no more of it. Hilda's monastery had no connection
with the present church dedicated to her. And probably
for some centuries after her house had been destroyed by
the Danes, Hartlepool had no provision for the worship
of its people except the mother church of Hart, three
miles away. Its population during this period must have
been extremely small ; for we have evidence that the
town only sprung into existence after the Norman Con-
quest.
Hartlepool is first mentioned in 1171, when Hugh, Earl
of Bar, and nephew of Bishop Pudsey, brought his fleet,
together with a body of Flemings, into its haven. Pudsey
was a great builder. To him we owe the Galilee of Dur-
ham Cathedral and the Norman gallery of Durham Castle.
He built the church of Darlington, and to him, in some
measure at least, we must ascribe the church of St. Hilda
at Hartlepool. It is true that Hartlepool formed no part
of his lordship, and it is not included in his Boldon Buke.
But in his days it was the principal port in the county,
and was yearly increasing in wealth and importance.
The first church is the church which still remains.
Despite of all that has been done to rob it of its ancient
glory, it is still the finest of the parish churches of the
North ef England. No one possessed of any spirit of
reverence for ancient art can see this wonderful structure
without being deeply impressed. It is the most pic-
turesque building in the county. Its decayed and
crumbling details give it an aspect of wierd antiquity, of
56
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
j February
\ 1890.
which the mason's chisel has too often stripped more
ancient structures. And its massive tower, overlooking,
from a bold headland, a vast expanse of land and sea. and
exposed to the storms and tempests of centuries, gives us
that sense of endurance and permanence which we can
so seldom attach to the work of man, and which is so
grateful a contrast to the constant change and tantalizing
insecurity of most of our surroundings.
The church of Hartlepool differs from most ancient
churches in being throughout one design, carried out at
one time. It is not the work of many centuries, but of
one. The tower is the most striking and characteristic
part of the edifice. The enormous buttresses by which it is
supported, though forming no part of its original design,
were found to be necessary, and were added at an eariy
period, and certainly increase the picturesque effect of
this part of the building. Their date is determined by the
exceedingly beautiful though much decayed doorway in
the south buttress supporting the west side of the tower.
This doorway, and consequently the buttresses, may be
ascribed to about the year 1230, or forty years after the
church was built.
The early history of Hartlepool Church consists of
little more than a series of confirmations by successive
Bishops of Durham of the claims of the priory of Guis-
borotigh. In 1599 the Corporation of Hartlepool drew up
a number of statutes for the government of the church,
many of which are very curious. Amongst them are the
following : —
Item. Imprimis it is ordained that whosoever he or
they be of the twelve chief burgesses that upon any
Sabbath day and other holy day coming to the
church do not seat and place him or themselves in his or
their accustomed place shall pay for every time so doing,
12d.
It is ordained that whosoever of this town is found
throwing of any stones upon the church leads, shall pay
for every such offence to the use of the town, 2d.
It is ordained that whosoever of this town doth shoot at
or within the church or church steeple of this town, with
gun, crossbow, or any other shot, for the killing of any
dove, pigeon, or any other fowl, shall pay, &c., 12d.
It is ordained that the spouts of the church be used in
common in the time of rain, and the water to be parted
equally between party and party, only one spout to be
reserved for the mayor, upon pain for everyone so violating
this order to pay, &c., 4d.
Hartlepool church is not rich in monuments of the dead.
Outside the east end of the church is a large square tomb,
nine feet in length and four feet nine inches in
breadth. Before the ancient chancel was taken down,
this tomb was enclosed within its walls. The
top of it consists of an enormous slab of Stanhope
marble, destitute of any inscription or sculpture. Each
side, which is formed of the same kind of stone, bears a
shield on which is a lion rampant. During some re-erection
of the monument, all these shields have been placed up-
side down. This tomb is ascribed both by tradition and
by its heraldry to the early De Bruses, the ancient lords
of Hart and Hartness.
Near the pulpit is a small monumental brass, bearing
the effigy of a lady in the costume of the later years of
Elizabeth's reign. She is dressed in gown and cloak, the
former wrought over with needlework, and wears the ruff
and high-crowned and broad brimmed hat of the period.
February 1
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
57
Beneath the effigy is the following inscription, engraved
on the brasa : —
HERB VNDER THIS STOSK LYETH BVRTED THE
BOD1B OP TUB VERTVOVS GENTELLWOMAN
IANE BBLL. WHO DEP*TBD THIS LYPE THE VI
DATE OP 1ANVARIB 1593 BEINGE THE DOWdHTER
OF LAVERANCB THORNELL OF DARLINOTOS BEST &
LATE WYPE TO PARSAVEL BELL, NOWE UA1RE OF TUI3
TOWEN OF HARTINPOOELL MARCHANT.
Whos vertues if thou wilt beholde
Peruse this tabel hanginge bye JJIATIS svx
Which will the same to the unfold 40.
By her sood lyfe learne thou to die.
Beside the lady's mouth is a ribband bearing the
words, "Casta, Fides, Victrix," intended, doubtless, to
mean, "Chaste, Faithful, Victorious."
.1. R. BOTLE, F.S.A.
Castle Cfcttrrfr.
j|HE town of Barnard Castle, like that of
Alnwick, grew up under the shelter of a
great feudal stronghold. The castle of
Barnard or Bernard Baliol was founded early
in the twelfth century. The town seems to have enjoyed
the fostering care of Bernard himself, for we have a
charter of his son, the second Bernard, in which he con-
firms to his burgesses of Castle Bernard, and their heirs,
all those liberties and free customs which his father had
granted to them.
The earliest church of Barnard Castle has almost
entirely passed away. Very early in the twelfth century
Guy Baliol, the Norman grantee of the lordship to which
his successor gave his own name, amongst other gifts to
the abbot and convent of St. Mary of York, included the
church of Gainford. The modern parish of Barnard
Castle is part of the original parish of Gainford ; and as the
chapel of Barnard Castle is not mentioned in Guy's grant,
we are safe in assuming that it had then no existence.
But in 1131 or 1132, Godfrid, the then abbot of St. Mary's,
granted to Bernard, a priest, and the son of Hugh Baliol,
for the term of his life, " the church of Gainford with the
chapel of Bernard's Castle. " This is the earliest mention
we have of the church of Barnard Castle, and serves to
show how soon after the foundation of the castle itself a
town had sprung into existence, for which it was necessary
to provide ecclesiastical accommodation.
Of this, the original church of Barnard Castle, the only
existing portion is part of the north wall of the chancel,
with its two widely splayed, round-headed windows.
With this slight exception the oldest portions of the
present building belong to the latter half of the twelfth
century, or, to be more precise, about the years 1170 to
1180. Sufficient remains of the church of this period still
exist to show that it was from the first a large and im-
portant edifice. It consisted of a chancel and a nave,
with both north and south aisles. Of this church, part of
the north arcade of the nave, part of the outer walls at
the south-west corner, and the beautiful south doorway,
here engraved, still remain. The north arcade of the
nave consists of four arches, ot which only the two to-
wards the west are original. They are round-headed, con-
sisting of two square orders, and are extremely plain.
They rest on square abaci, under which, at every corner,
are volutes of a very peculiar type. The pillars are
cylinders which rest on round bases and square plinths.
The two eastern arches were rebuilt at the restoration of
*he church twenty years ago. The south doorway, which
58
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{February
1890.
was no doubt originally the principal entrance, ia one of
the most interesting features of the edifice. Its arch, which
is of three orders, is lavishly adorned with the chevron or
zig-zag moulding, and although the work is of the rudest
description, it is, on the whole, effective and pleasing.
The church appears to have undergone some alterations
during the first half of the thirteenth century. An en-
graving of the edifice as it appeared before the year 1815,
printed in Surtees's History of the County of Durham,
shows what appear to be two Early English windows in
the south wall of the chancel, as well as one round-headed
one similar to those in the north wall. But since the year
just named all these have been destroyed.
About the end of the thirteenth century the builders
were again at work in this church, and for some reason the
south arcade was at that time taken down and rebuilt. I
am inclined to think that at the same period a clerestory
was raised on the nave walls. The south arcade consists
of five pointed arches, each of two plain chamfered orders.
The arches rest on octagonal pillars, with octagonal
capitals and bases.
The transepts appear to have been built about the
middle of the fifteenth century. The vestry, in all
probability, is of the same date. The chancel arch, which
is a remarkable piece of work, may be dated about fifty
years later. The capitals of its responds are crested by a
miniature battlement, and the face of the arch itself is
ornamented by a series of large and rudely chiselled con-
ventional roses.
From Surtees's engraving of the church I am disposed
to assign the original tower to the first half of the fifteenth
century, or about the years 1430 to 1440. But of that
tower not a fragment now exists. It was taken down to its
foundations twenty years ago, and a new tower, profes-
sedly in the style of the old one, was built on the same site.
I may now proceed to describe what most people will
regard as the more curious and interesting features of the
church. In the north wall of the north transept there are
two arched recesses. These were intended for, and pro-
bably actually received, the tombs of benefactors to the
church. One of the recesses is now occupied by the
supulchral efligy of a priest. His head rests on a diapered
cvishion, and he holds the sacramental chalice in his left
hand. He is attired in chasuble, stole, dalmatic, alb, and
cassock. The chasuble is ornamented with cinquefoils,
and has a bird sculptured on the right shoulder. At the
priest's feel is a lion. The effigy has been much muti-
lated on its left side. Round the sides of the monument
a miniature arcade is sculptured, and above this is the
following inscription in Lombardic capitals : —
ORATE PRO AIA ROBERTI DE MORTHAM QNDAM
VICARII DE OAYNFORD.
(Pray for the soul of Robert de Mortham, at one time
vicar of Gaynford.) Of Robert de Mortham, fortunately,
we know something more than this inscription tells us.
He doubtless took his name from Mortham, near Rokeby,
two miles south-east of Barnard Castle, on the Yorkshire
side of the Tees. In 1339, he founded "a perpetual
chantry " in the chapel of the Blessed Mary at Bernard's
Castle, which he endowed with seven messuages, forty
acres of land, with their appurtenances, and an annual
rent of ten shillings, in the towns of Barnard's Castle and
Whittington. In 1345, he exchanged livings with Robert
de Horton, rector of Hunstanworth. The time of his
death is not known.
The font and its shaft and base are formed of Tees
marble. The basin, which is octagonal in shape, is a fine
piece of stone. Its internal diameter is 2 feet 10i inches,
and its depth in the centre is 1 foot 1£ inch. It has
evidently been designed to admit of the immersion of
infants. On its sides are eight shields. Four of these
bear a merchant's mark, which must be accepted as
an improved representation of the signature of the donor
of the font. Each of the alternate shields bears a
Lombardic capital. It seems impossible to determine
which of the letters should be read first, and equally im-
possible to ascribe any meaning to them. The four
letters are
A E M T
I hope some reader will be more successful in discovering
a meaning in them than I have been. The date of the
font is about 1480 to 1500. The merchant's mark is
repeated on the base of the font, and also occurs on the
upper right hand corner of a large marble grave slab now
in the churchyard, on the opposite corner of which is the
word
I O H N.
This John was possibly the donor of the font, but, except his
Christian name and " his mark," the whole inscription has
been erased, and a modern one substituted, which tells us
February \
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
59
that this is the burial place of "Sir John Hullock, Baron
of the Exchequer," a native of Barnard Castle, to whom
there is a monument by Westmacott inside the church.
I have already metioned tliat the church of Barnard
Castle, with its parent church of Gainford, was appro-
priated to the abbot and convent of St. Mary in York.
At a later period it seems to have been served by a series
of perpetual curates, the vicar probably confining himself
almost entirely to the requirements of the mother church.
In 1587, the curate seems to have been in many ways an un-
satisfactory personage. The wardens of the church were
summoned to the ecclesiastical court of Durham, and their
evidence as to the curate's proceedings was recorded. One
complaint against him was that when the corpse of a
child was brought from Whorlton he was not at home to
bury it. He had previously absented himself a whole
week, during which two bodies were brought for inter-
ment. In baptising infants he neglected to make the
sign of the cross on their foreheads. But, besides all this,
he seems to have made Barnard Castle a sort of Gretna
Green. He married one William Warton, of Eggleston,
and one Janet Sayer, of Startforth, "by three o'clock in
the morning," "about Candlemas last." The horses of
the runaway wedding party were brought into the
church, and remained there throughout the ceremony,
"and both the said married folks and their company were
ridden away long before day." The couple were " asked, "
that is, the banns of their marriage were published, in
their respective parish churches after they had been
married by this rival of the Border blacksmiths, and this
although they had both been previously " handfest " or be-
trothed to others. But the curate's misdeeds did not end
here. He had also married "an unknown tinker to a
girl of twelve years old, neither being of the parish of
Barnard Castle." For marrying the tinker he received
a fee of half-a-crown, "whereas the curate of Startforth
had refused to marry him" — at any price, I suppose.
J. R. BOYLE, F.S.A,
2&tr0v itt
j]X the suppression of the English monasteries,
a rude justice pensioned the evicted monks,
and made their pensions chargeable on the
forfeited lands. But the Crown advisers
soon bethought them of another plan, that of giving
benefices to the monks instead of pensions. Had Edward
VI. outlived these beneficiaries, their appointment to the
cure of souls under a Protestant regime would have mat-
tered less ; but his early death opened the way for the
restoration of the old religion. Cranmer and the Great
Council of the Regency were fully alive to the character
of the mistake that had been perpetrated, and resolved
to use extraordinary measures to abate the evil. A num-
ber of distinguished Protestant teachers were invited to
England, and appointed to professorships in the two
Universities, amongst them Peter Martyr and Martin
Bucer. But the full effect of this policy could not be
looked for immediately, and the case was urgent. It was
determined, then, to select a few of the foremost available
Protestant teachers, and to send them in a semi-missionary
capacity to those parts of the country which they con-
sidered to be most deeply sunk in superstition and ig-
norance.
For such a mission John Knox had every qualification.
He was learned, pious, earnest, thorough, and at the
same time equally gifted with eloquence and sound judg-
ment. Probably because of his nationality he was sent
first of all to the Borders, and at Berwick, for the space
of between two and three years, he laboured mightily in
word and doctrine. For a time his energetic ministry was
not interfered with by the chief spiritual authority of the
diocese. Tunstall, the then Bishop of Durham, was a
man not very likely to stir in such a matter, unless
strongly moved thereto by others. He was a man of much
learning, refinement, and general amiableness of disposi-
tion. In later days, when the old creeil trained a tempo-
rary re-ascendency, he exerted himself diligently to pre-
vent the sword of persecution or the fires of martyrdom
from being set in operation in his diocese ; and even
when an unquestionable recusant against Popery was
brought before him, he discharged him without examina-
tion, for fear he might be compelled to adjudge him to
suffer. Such a man might wince under the fulminations
of Knox ; for he himself was a temporizer in eternal
things and a trimmer between contending theologies.
At last, however, the utterances of Knox became so pro-
nounced, and so much in advance of the standard of
Cranmer's Protestations, that Tunstall could no longer
hesitate to cite him before his tribunal.
The reformer was summoned to appear in St. Nicholas'
Church, Newcastle, and there to defend himself from the
charge that he had proclaimed the sacrifice of the mass to
be idolatrous. It is more than probable that Tunstall
would have proceeded against him without giving him
this opportunity of answering for himself, but that the
Council of the North, svhich was a sort of sub-committee
of the Council of the Protector Somerset, insisted on this
right of the accused. On the other hand, Tunstall would
hardly have ventured to cite one who was known to be
the special servant of the Lord Protector and a favourite
with the young king, if he had not thought that Knox had
committed himself to extreme views which the Govern-
ment would regard with strong suspicion. At any rate,
on the 4th April, 1550, a large assembly of priests, State
dignitaries, local magnates, and the common people, in
addition to the bishop and his assessors, was gathered in
the sacred edifice. When the charge had been duly pre-
sented, John Knox rose to reply. The effect of his dis-
course was described on all sides as very great. That the
€0
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
J February
1 1890.
bishop and his party were "silenced " is not the testimony
of a prejudiced adherent, nor of one witness only. But if
confirmation were needed, it is abundantly forthcoming
in the sequel. Not only was Knox not further proceeded
against, but he was exalted higher than ever in the
favour of the Government ; and the first step in this
direction was his removal to Newcastle, a sphere of
greater prominence and usefulness than he had hitherto
enjoyed.
Before he removed to Newcastle he had contracted a
matrimonial engagement with Marjory Bowes, usually
styled Joan, though probably not christened by that name.
This lady was the daughter of Kichard Bowes, youngest
son of Sir Ralph Bowes, of Streatlam, whose wife was
Klizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Roger Aske, of
Aske, in Yorkshire. The father of Marjory was but a
lukewarm reformer, and entertained strong; opmions as to
the dignity of his family and the indignity of what he
deemed would be a mesalliance. Knox had to learn that
not even for a zealous reformer will the course of true
love run smoothly. He had a staunch friend in the
young lady's mother, and some of the most delightful of
his compositions are letters which he from time to time
addressed to this worthy woman. To him she was in
truth a mother, and he to her a faithful son, years before
the marriage bond brought them into actual relationship.
As might have been expected, his strong affection for this
mother furnished occasion to the foul-mouthed slander of
his enemies ; but a random glance through his letters to
her will suffice to show how preposterously wicked such
calumnies were.
In December, 1551, Knox was appointed one of the
chaplains to Edward VI., apparently with a view to
securing for him a certain measure of protection in the
exercise of his special mission. To this chaplaincy was
attached a stipend of £40 a year, which he continued to
receive until the year of the young king's premature
death. In Newcastle and the neighbourhood he pursued
his ministry with all, and more than all, the success which
had attended him at Berwick. He conducted contro-
versies with able polemics of the old Church, both lay and
clerical. But it is clear that he was often called away to
London. It is certain that he was consulted about the
Book of Common Prayer, and some of his suggestions were
embodied in the Prayer Book as authorised by Edward VL
Some time later Dr. Weston complained that "a runagate
Scot did take away the adoration or worshipping of
Christ in the Sacrament, by whose pronouncement that
heresy was put into the last communion book, so much
prevailed that one man's authority at that time." Knox
also, while at Newcastle, had to revise the Articles of
Religion previous to their ratification by Parliament— a
revision which has left permanent doctrinal traces not to
lie mistaken.
Bishop Tunstall, being accused of misprision of treason,
was deprived, in 1552, of his bishopric, and remained a
pr
Bi
prisoner in the Tower until Queen Mary came to the
throne. Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, proposed
that the see of Rochester should be given to Knox in
order that he might be settled far away from the North-
Country, and that the Bishopric of Durham should be
divided by creating a new see at Newcastle. Writing to
Secretary Cecil, he thus developed his ideas : —
I would to God it might please the King's Majesty to ap-
point Mr. Knox to the office of Rochester Bishopric, which,
for three purposes, would do very well. First, he would not
only be a whetsone to quicken and sharpen the Bishop of
Canterbury, whereof he hath need, but also he would be
a great commander of the Anabaptists lately sprung up
in Kent. Secondly : — He should not continue the minis-
trations in the North, contrary to this set forth here.
Thirdly : — The family of the Scots now inhabiting in New-
castle chiefly for his fellowship would not continue there ;
by colour thereof many resort unto them out of Scotland,
which is not requisite. Herein I pray you desire my
Lord Chamberlain and Mr. Vice-Chamberlain to help
towards this good act, both for God's service and the
King's. And then for the North, if his Majesty make
the Dean of Durham Bishop of that see, and appoint him
1,000 marks more to that which be hath in his deanery,
and the same house which he now has, as well in the city
as in the county, will serve him right honourably. So
may his Majesty reserve both the castle, which hath a
rincely site, and the other stately houses which the
ishop had in the country, to his highness, and the Chan-
cellor's living to be converted to the Deanery, and an
honest man to be placed in it, the Vice-Chancellor to be
turned into the Chancellor. The suffragan [Thomas
Spark], who is placed without the King's Majesty's
authority, and also hath a great living, not worthy of it,
may be removed, being neither preacher, learned, nor
honest man. And the same living, with a little more
to the value of a hundred marks, will serve for the erec-
tion of a Bishop within Newcastle. The said suffragan is
so perverse a man, and of so evil qualities, that the
country abhorreth him. He is most meetest to be re-
moved from that office and from those parts. Thus may
his Majesty place godly ministers in these offices, as is
aforesaid, and reserve to his crown £2,000 a year of the
best lands within the north parts of his realm ; yea, I do
not doubt it will be 4,000 marks a year of as good re-
venue as any is within the realm, and all places better
and more godly furnished than ever it was from the be-
ginning to this day.
The Duke of Northumberland returned to the sub-
ject again some time later : —
Master Knox being here [Chelsea] to speak with me,
saying that he was so willed by you, I do return him
again, because I love not to do with men which be neither
grateful nor pleasable. I assure you, I mind to have no
more to do with him, but wish him well. Neither also
with the Dean of Durham, because under the colour of a
self -conscience, he can prettily malign and judge of others
against good charity on a froward judgment ; and this
man, you might see in his letter, that he cannot tell
whether I be a dissembler in religion or nut, but I have
for twenty years stood to one kind of religion in the same
which I now profess, and I have, I thank the Lord, past
no small dangers for it.
Christmas Day fell on a Sunday in 1552, and John Knox
preached a sermon in Newcastle which gave great offence
to the friends of the old religion. He affirmed that what-
soever was enemy in his heart to Christ's gospel and
doctrine which then was preached in the realm was
enemy to God, and secret traitor to the crown and com-
monwealth. The freedom of this speech was immediately
laid hold of by his enemies, and transmitted, with many
aggravations, to some great men about the Court, who
February 1
1890. j
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
61
thereupon accused him of high misdemeanours before the
Privy Council.
Upon reaching London, Knox found that his enemies
had been uncommonly industrious in their endeavours to
excite prejudices against him. But the Council, after
hearing his defence, gave him an honourable acquittal.
He was employed to preach before the Court, and his
sermons gave great satisfaction to the king, who con-
tracted a favour for him, and was anxious to have him
promoted in the Church. The Council resolved that he
should preach in London and the Southern Counties
during the following year ; but they allowed him to
return for a short time to Newcastle, either that he might
settle his affairs in the North, or that a public testimony
might be borne to his innocence in the place where it had
been attacked.
A short time afterwards the see of Durham was
divided by a special Act of Parliament, and Newcastle
was made into a City, and the headquarters of a
Bishopric. No appointment was made under this Act.
It is said that Bishop Ridley (the Martyr) was to have
had Durham, and John Knox Newcastle, but Knox
refused to be made a bishop on the ground that the office
was destitute of Divine authority, and soon afterwards
the illness and death of the king put a stop to the
proceedings.
In the course of the same year Knox was repeatedly
prostrated with attacks of gravel, and his general health,
of course, suffered much ; but the undaunted spirit within
him bore him up in a fashion that reminds the reader of
his letters of a great man and great sufferer of very
recent days — the famous Robert Hall. In a letter to his
sister, written in Newcastle, he says : — "My daily labours
must now increase, and therefore spare me as much as
you may. My old malady troubles me sore, and nothing
is more contrarious to my health than writing. Think
not that I am weary to visit you : but unless my pain
shall cease, I will altogether become unprofitable. Work,
O Lord, even as pleaseth thy infinite goodness, and relax
the troubles at thy own pleasure, of such as seeketh thy
glory to shine. Amen." In another letter to the same
correspondent, he writes: "The pain of my head and
stomach troubles me greatly. Daily I find my body
decay ; but the providence of my God shall not be
frustrate. I am charged to be at \Viddrington upon
Sunday, where, I think, I shall also remain Monday.
The Spirit of the Lord Jesus rest with you. Desire such
faithful with whom ye communicate your mind to pray
that, at the pleasure of our good God, my dolour both of
body and spirit may be relieved somewhat ; for presently
it is very bitter."
Knox happened to be in London when King Edward
died, and he was one of the first to realise the
seriousness of that event to Protestant interests. He
remained there until the 19th of July, 1553, and then
returned to Newcastle, Shortly after his return he was
married to Marjory Bowes. Her father was wealthy
enough to have secured him from anxiety ; but Knox was
as proud in his way as any Bowes of them all. It was
therefore natural that he should have an anxious time
of it after his salary as chaplain was taken away by
Queen Mary. In weariness of mind, and often in great
physical anguish, he preached day after day during the
autumn of that year. The new Parliament had repealed
all the Acts on which the Reformation rested. Tunstall
was restored to Durham. The Protestants were allowed
till the end of the year to signify their conformity to the
new order of things, after which they stood exposed to
all the pains of law. With great reluctance Knox
yielded to the advice of friends in leaving Newcastle for
the less conspicuous sphere of Berwick ; but he never got
so far. He took refuge on the coast, and when pursuit
after him waxed hot he took ship for Dieppe. Thus he
disappeared from Newcastle.
nuts Jirr
j]F all the prophets and prophetesses that
Britain has produced, from the days of
Merlin and Thomas the Rhyn'er down-
ward*, none has had a wider and more
lasting reputation than Mother Shipton, the celebrated
Yorkshire witch, whose "strange and wonderful pro-
phecies " are contained in one of those popular chap-books,
"printed for the flying stationers, '' of which millions of
copies have been issued first and last, and of which early
editions now bring fabulous prices. The personal history
of this shrewd profrnosticator of remarkable events, as
related by her anonymous biographers, is manifestly
apocryphal. Only she appears to have lived at Clifton, a
village on the banks of the Ouse, just outside the walls of
York ; and, if any dependence could be placed on the
traditions regarding her, she must have lived to a quite
extraordinary age, having come into the world under King
Henry VII., and not having left it until after the Great
Fire of London, so that her span of earthly existence must
have been lengthened out to upwards of two hundred and
sixty years, only forty years less than the patriarch
Enoch, who was three hundred years old when he was
translated to Heaven.
It is of her prophecies, however, and not of her length
or manner of life, that we intend here to speak. We are
told that it was shortly after her marriage that she set up
for a conjuror, or what would now be called a medium,
thought-reader, or psychognotist, informing people, for a
consideration, who had stolen this or that from them, and
how to recover their goods. She soon got a great name,
far and near, as a "cunning woman," or "woman of fore-
62
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{Fehrnary
1890.
eight," and her words were counted "lively oracles."
Nor did she meddle only with private persons, but was
"advised with by people of the greatest quality." The
most exalted personages in the realm were not above the
scope of her ken, or indifferent to the weight of her
words.
Thus, when the great Cardinal Wolsey fell into dis-
grace, about the year 1530, and got an order from the king
to remove from Kichmond-on-Thames to his see of York,
Mother Shipton publicly said he should never come there.
His eminence, so runs the story, being offended when he
heard of this, caused three lords to go to her to make
inquiries. They went in disguise to Dring- Houses, where
she then resided, and, leaving their horses and grooms
behind, knocked at the door of her house, which was
shown to them by a man named Bearly. "Come in,
Mr. Bearly, aud those noble lords with you," was her
immediate welcome from within; "whereat," says the
story-teller, " the lords were greatly amazed, not com-
prehending how the woman should know them." But as
soon as they entered, she saluted each of them by his
name, and, without asking their errand, set refreshments
before them. \Vhereupononeofthe lords said, "If you
knew our errand, you would not make so much of us. You
said the cardinal should never pee York. What warrant
had ye for that?" "No," replied the pythoness; "you
say not sooth ; I said he might see York, but never come
at it." "Well," rejoined the lord, " when he does come,
thou shalt be burnt." Then, taking her linen handkerchief
off her head, says she, "If this burn, then I may burn."
And she immediately flung it into the fire before their
eyes, and let it lie in the Hames for the space of a quar-
ter of an hour or more, which it did without being
even the least singed. The event justified her vaticina-
tion ; for the cardinal, having arrived on his journey
northwards at his magnificent palace or castle of Cawood,
between nine and ten miles south of York, and having
mounted to the top of one of the towers, and had the
Minster pointed out to him, is reported to have said : —
"There was a witch who would have it that I should
never see York." "Nay," said one present, "your
eminence is misinformed ; she said you should see it, but
not come at it." " Well, " replied the cardinal, "I shall
have her burned as soon as I get there. " But that very
day he was arrested for high treason by the king's orders,
and carried back directly south, without being allowed to
revisit his archiepiscopal see, which he never again saw ;
for he died on his way to London, at Leicester Abbey,
of a violent attack of dysentery, brought on partly by
the fatigues of his journey and partly by distress of
mind.
It is related that on one occasion Mother Shipton had a
stolen visit from the Abbot of Beverley, who, seeing the
turn that things were taking under the renegade Defender
of the Faith, and dreading that the monastery he pre-
sided over might be included in the number of religious
houses to be summarily dealt with, put on counterfeit
clothes and went to cousult the wise woman, hoping she
might be able to clear up the dark future to him. But the
moment that he knocked at her door, she called out to
him and said : — " Come in, Sir Abbot, for you are not so
much disguised but that the fox may be seen through the
sheep's skin. Come, take a stool and sit down, and you
shall not go away unsatisfied. I am an old woman, who
will not flatter nor be flattered by any ; yet will answer
simple questions as fast as I may. So speak on." And,
in reply to his reverence's queries about the fate over-
hanging the monasteries, she poured forth her vaticination
in Itudibrastic verse as follows : —
When the Cow doth wive the Bull,
Then, priest, beware thy skull !
The mitred Peacock's lofty pride
Shall to his master be a guide ;
And when the lower shrubs do fall,
The great trees quickly follow shall.
The poor shall grieve to see that day,
And who did feast must fast and pray.
Riches bring pride, and pride brings woe,
And Fate decrees their overthrow.
Here by the cow was meant King Henry, who, as Earl
of Richmord, bore a cow on his escutcheon ; and the
bull betokened Anne Bulleyn, to whom her father gave
the black bull's head in his cognisance. When the king
married Anne, in the room of Queen Catherine, then was
fulfilled the second line of the prophecy, a number of
priests having lost their heads for offending against the
laws made to brine the matter to pass. Cardinal Wolsey,
who was intended by " the mitred Peacock," in the height
of his pride and the vastness of his undertakings, intended
to erect two colleges, one at Ipswich, where he was born,
the other at Oxford, where he was bred ; and, finding
himself unable to endow them at his own charge, he
obtained license of Pope Clement VIL to suppress forty
small monasteries in England, and to lay their old lands
to his new foundations, which was done accordingly, the
poor monks that lived in them being turned out of doors.
Then King Henry, seeing that the cardinal's power ex-
tended so far as to suppress these "lower shrubs, "thought
his prerogative might stretch so far as to fell down the
" great trees " ; and soon after he dissolved the priory of
Christ's Church, near Aldgate, in London, which was
the richest in lands and tenements of all the priories
in London and Middlesex. This was a forerunner
of the dissolution of the rest of the religious houses, which
was brought about in due course.
Another of Mother Shipton's prophecies was : —
A prince that shall never be born
Shall make the shaven heads forlorn.
This alluded to King Edward VI., who was brought
into the world by the Caesarian operation, his birth
having cost his mother, Jane Seymour, her life.
Again she foretold the accession of Queen Mary :—
A princess shall assume the crown,
And streams of blood shall Smithfield drown.
February I
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
63
The long reign of Mary's successor, Queen Elizabeth,
was predicted in the following couplet : —
A maiden queen full many a year
Shall England's warlike sceptre bear.
The destruction of the Spanish Armada in 1588 by the
English fleet under Sir Francis Drake was anticipated in
two significant lines : —
The Western Monarch's wooden horses
Shall be destroyed by the Drake's forces.
The Union of the Crowns under " bonny King
Jemmy," and the consequent cessation of the Border
wars, suggested the following learned quatrain : —
The Northern Lion from over Tweed
The Maiden Queen shall next succeed,
And join in one two mighty states ;
Then shall Janus shut his gates.
The marriage of Prince Charles with the Princess
Henrietta Maria of France, his accession to the throne
as Charles I., and the assassination of the Royal
favourite Buckingham, were summarised in the follow-
ing lines : —
The rose shall with the lily wed ;
The crown then fits the White King's head ;
Then shall a peasant's bloody knife
Deprive a great man of his life.
Buckingham was only great, however, in the sense of
being the greatest man in favour at Court ; and Charles
was called the White King merely because at the time of
his coronation he was clothed in white.
The next prophecy refers to the troubles commencing
in 1630, taking their rise in Scotland, and thence spread-
ing to Enpland : —
Forth from the North shall mischief blow,
And English Hob shall add thereto ;
Men shall rage as they were wood.
And earth shall darkened be with blood.
Then shall the counsellors assemble,
Who shall make great and small to tremble,
The White King then, O cruel fate !
Shall be murdered at his gate.
The Cromwellian Protectorship and the Restoration
were sung in the same doggerel strain : —
The White King dead, the Wolf shall then
With blood usurp the Lion's den ;
But death shall hurry him away,
Confusion shall awhile bear sway
Till fate to England shall restore
A king to reign as heretofore,
Who mercy and justice likewise
Shall in his empire exercise.
The great plague of London in 1665, and the great fire
in the following year, are tersely described in a couple of
lines : —
Grizly death shall ride London through,
And many houses shall be laid low.
Many other prophecies have been recorded of this re-
markable woman, most of them, doubtless, only placed to
her name. What we have quoted are interesting as
illustrative of the truth of what we read in " The Historic
of Philip de Commines, Knight, Lord of Argenton,"
that " the English are never unfurnished of a prophecy to
suit any great occasion. "
A stone was erected to the memory of this cunning
woman near Clifton, where she resided at the time of her
death, and on it the following epitaph was engraved :—
Here lies one who never lied,
Whose skill often has been tried ;
Her prophecies shall still survive.
And ever keep her name alive.
According to some accounts, Mother Shipton, whose
Christian name is said to have been Ursula, which means
"a she bear," was born in the reign of Henry VII.,
not at Clifton, but at Knaresborough, in a cottage
situated at the foot of the limestone rock out of which
the celebrated Dropping Well springs. There is in the
same neighbourhood a cavern (shown in our engraving)
which goes by the name of Mother Shipton 's Cave.
Crag.
Js>tj>foffrrffto
[ANY writers assert that Ullswater is the
grandest of the English Lakes. Undoubt-
edly the mountain masses around the head
of it are scarcely inferior in majesty and
impressiveness to those of Wastwater, while for variety
and sylvan charms it is quite equal to Windermere and
Derwentwati-r.
According to tradition, Ullswater derives its name
from Ulf, first Baron of Greystock or Greystoke.
Hutchinson, a writer on the English .Lakes, avers that
the lake was sometimes called Wolf's Water, in allusion,
as he supposes, to the wolves which used to frequent its
64
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
t February
I 1890.
shores. Wolf is the Anglo-Saxon form of Ulf. The
Norman form of the name was 1'Ulf, the wolf, which
name survives in Lyulph's Tower, a castellated shooting
box built by a Duke of Norfolk on the site of an old
castle, about halfway down the west side of Ullswater.
Ullswater is about seven and a half miles in length,
and is so narrow that it has been called the river-lake.
Portions of it have reminded some travellers of the
Rhine near Coblenz. Other travellers declare that it is
Lake Lucerne in miniature. The shape of the lake may
be roughly described as that of an elongated S. Ulls-
water is divided into three divisions or reaches. The
upper reach possesses superior attractions to the others.
Here the lake broadens to some extent, and three or
four diminutive islands add not a little to the interest
of the landscape. The view we give of the upper reach
is taken from a point at the foot of Place Fell, a noble
hill that occupies a conspicuous position to the south-
east of the lake. St. Sunday's Crag looms up in the
distance, and hides the mighty Helvellyn.
On the opposite shore of the lake is the precipitous
Stybarrow Crag, which blocks the way from the north-
east. But a narrow footpath at the foot has been
widened, and vehicles can now enter Patterdale from
the Penrith district. During the period when moss-
troopers made their raids into the Border Counties, a
desperate fight— so says tradition — took place at this
point. It was known in Patterdale that a predatory
band was ravaging the neighbourhood ; the peasantry
assembled to defend their homes, but they were without
a leader. One dalesman, more confident than the rest,
named Mounsey, offered his services ; being accepted
as the chief, he at once planted his followers in a secure
position at the Stybarrow Pass. When the marauders
arrived, they were attacked with so much energy that
they found it prudent to retreat, and did not return.
The delighted inhabitants of the peaceful vale at once
pronounced Mounsey the King of Patterdale — a title
which he enjoyed during his life, and which continued
with his descendants for many years. Perhaps it was
an empty title, but it was at all events evidence of the
goodwill of his neighbours. The view of Stybarrow Crag
shown in our engraving is taken from a promontory to
the south-east. This part of the lake is very romantic, the
combination of lofty cliff and varied foliage producing
a striking effect on the eye of the beholder. Whether we
UPPER REACH OF ULLSWATER.
February 1
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
65
look towards the head of Ullswater, or in any other
direction, the view from Stybarrow is enchanting, more
especially in the spring and autumn months.
Both our illustrations are reproduced from photographs
taken by Mr. Alfred Pettitt, Keswick.
at ^farft 'QTtoipt
antf
JUeljarb SMelforft.
$ol)tt of
A BRAVE " NORTHUMBRIAN SQUIRE."
N the 17th October, 1346. upon the Red
Hills, near Durham, was fought that
fierce battle between an army of Scottish
invaders led by King David II. and a body
of English troops commanded by Ralph, Lord Neville,
which historians designate as the Battle of Neville's
Cross. Already in these pages (vol. i., p. 256) has ap-
peared the etory of that terrible struggle ; it remains
now to tell of John of Coupland, the courageous squire
whose daring conduct gave the finishing stroke to the
conflict. .
The parentage of John of Coupland is involved in ob-
scurity. Harrison, in his " History of the Wapentake
of Gilling," constructs a pedigree of the family which
begins with " "Ulfkill, lord of Ooupland, co. Northumber-
land, temp. Hen. I." In this genealogy John appears as
the son of Richard, son of Alan de Coupland, and his
wife is said to be Johanna, daughter of Sir John Lilburn.
knight. Hodgson, in the " History of Northumberland,"
does not venture upon a Coupland pedigree, but he de-
scribes John of Coupland'a wife as Joan, sister of Alan
del Strother, of Wallington and Kirkharle— the same
Alan, probably, who was with Chaucer at Cambridge,
and one of the two scholars who tricked the miller of
Trumpington, as described in "The Reeve's Tale.'
Ritson states that "South Coupland," near Wooler, was
the place that gave the hero his name and habitation.
No "South" Coupland appears in Northumbrian topo-
graphy, and no trace can be found of his owning land
STYBARROW CRAG, ULLSWATER.
66
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
within the ancient manor of Coupland ; but we may give
the old chroniclers the benefit of the doubt, and for the
present purpose adopt their description of him as a
"Northumbrian squire," accepting at the same time
Hodgson's theory that he married a Northumbrian wife.
John of Coupland's first appearance in local history
gives an indication of his darinir and intrepid character.
Like others of the Northumbrian gentry, he had been
called upon to serve Edward III. against the Scots, and
in 1337 he was assisting Lord Salisbury to besiege Dunbar.
Failing to reduce the fortress by force of arms, Salisbury
resorted to stratagem ; he bribed the porter to open the
gate to him and his followers. The porter revealed the
plot to the garrison, and it was arranged that when
Salisbury had entered, the gate should be closed behind
him. But Coupland suspected treachery, and when
Salisbury was rushing in, he violently forced him back.
While they struggled, the portcullis came down between
them; Coupland had saved his lord and become a prisoner
himself.
How long he remained in captivity is unknown. Not
for any length of time, probably, for iu 1340 he assisted
to defeat an invading party of Scots under the Earls of
March and Sutherland. In the treaty which followed, he
received an appointment as one of the keepers of the
truce, and a substantial reward for his exertions. The
king gave him lands in Little Hoghton, which had been
John Heryng's ; in Prendwyk, Ryhill, Reveley. and
Alnwick, which had been taken from William Rodom ;
and in Hedreslawe, which had belonged to Richard of
Edmonston. As soon as the treaty came to an end, he
was appointed a commissioner for raising forces in the
North, and upon this work he was engaged when the
king cams to Berwick in 1344, and arranged another
truce to last for two years.
How this truce, like many others, was broken by the
Scots is well known. While Edward and his son, the
Black Prince, were away in France, winning Cressy and
besieging Calais, the French king prevailed upon David
of Scotland to help him in his straits by invading Eng-
land. David, nothing loth, drew together a numerous
army, and crossing the Border near Netherby, advanced
through Cumberland, wasted Lanercost, plundered Hex-
ham, captured Aydon Castle, and finally encamped at
Beaurepaire, near Durham. The battle of Neville's Cross
followed, and then John of Coupland did the deed which
has made his name famous through all subsequent time —
he took David King of Scots prisoner.
Froissart tells a very pretty story of Coupland's loyalty
to his sovereign at this juncture. According to his narra-
tive, Queen Philippa was at Newcastle while the armies
were contending, and, mounting her palfrey, rode to the
scene of action. Being informed that King David had been
taken by a squire named John of Coupland, she ordered
* letter to be written commanding him to bring the cap-
tive to her, and reproving him for carrying off his prisoner
without leave. When the letter was presented to Coup-
land, he answered that he would not give up the King of
Scots to man or woman except his own lord the King of
England, and that he would be answerable for guarding
him well. The queen, upon this, wrote to the king, who
ordered John of Coupland to come to him in France, and
Coupland, placing his prisoner " in a strong castle on the
borders of Northumberland," embarked at Dover, and in
due time landed near Calais. Froissart is able to tell us
exactly what took place— even to the very words that were
uttered, but grave doubts are thrown upon the accuracy
of the narrative. It is by no means certain that Queen
Philippa came northward at the time of the invasion ; it
is doubted if Coupland went to Calais. But this much
is clear — that the king marked his appreciation of Coup-
land's bravery by conferring upon him substantial rewards
and honours. He created him a banneret (a particular
mark of distinction for meritorious actions performed on
the field of battle, and generally bestowed there), ap-
pointed him, at various times, keeper of the royal forests
of Selkirk, Peebles, and Ettrick, and captain of Rox-
burgh Castle, and gave him half the manor of Byker,
" which was Robert of Byker's, a rebell " ; and various
unenumerated manors, lands, tenements, pastures, and
rents which formerly belonged to "divers attainted
persons." Coupland had also a moiety of the manor of
Wooler, three knights' fees in Kynnerston, and lands and
tenements in Hibburn and Holthall. In some of the
grants be is styled the king's " valettus," or Gentleman
of the Privy Chamber ; in other documents he appears as
one of the king's escheators. He was Sheriff of North-
umberland from 1349 to 1356, and at various times during
that period the Scottish monarch whom he had taken
captive, travelling between England and Scotland in
fruitless endeavours to negotiate a ransom, was committed
to his custody. Afterwards he became successively a
conservator of the truces, Governor of Berwick, Warden
of the East Marches, and Sheriff of Roxburghshire.
Such were the appointments and emoluments of the man
whom the king delighted to honour.
Mr. Robert White, who wrote a full account of the
Battle of Neville's Cross in the " Arcbseologia -flSliana, "
and the Rev. John Hodgson, in the " History of North-
umberland," suggest some doubt about the circumstances
which ended Coupland's life. Hodgson says he died at
Werk ; White, on the other hand, thinks there is truth in
Knyghton's statement that be was slain, or rather mur-
dered, in 1362, or the following year, and not by the
Scots, but by his own countrymen, "for in 1366 the
county of Northumberland obtained a pardon for his
death by payment of 1,000 marks." Now, there is no
manner of doubt whatsoever as to the way in which John
of Coupland lost his life. Hodgson and White both
must have overlooked the following entries in the Patent
Rolls of Edward III., quoted by Hodgson himself in the
February 1
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
67
"History of Northumberland," part iii., vol. 2, page
277:—
37 Edw. iii. (1363). Mem. 7. — An inquiry concerning
those who killed John of Coupland, one of the keepers [or
wardens] of the Scottish Marches and keeper of the
town, castle, and county of Roxburgh, killed at Bolton
More.
40 Edw. iii. (1366). Mem. 43.— The king grants to Joan
of Coupland in fee, all lands and tenements which be-
longed to John of Clifford, because he killed John of
Coupland, her husband, while in the service of the king,
&c. [This document is printed in full in the "Archseo-
logia ^Eliana," vol. iii., p. 71, old series.]
Mr. White, in quoting Knyghton as above, has not
quite accurately conveyed the meaning of the king's
pardon — for the royal rescript, so far from condonine
the offence, specially excepts it. The "Originalia,"
quoted by Hodgson on pages 330 and 331 of the same
volume, contains this entry : —
40 Ed. iii. (1366). Ro. 5.— The king for a thousand
marks, which the men of the county of Northumberland,
beyond the liberties of Durham, of Tynedale, and of
Hexham, have paid to him, has pardoned to them, and
each of them, the suit of his peace which belongs to him,
for murders, felonies, robberies, &c., except for the death
of John Coupland, the forfeitures of war, and the carriage
of wools without customary dues.
It is clear, therefore, that John of Coupland was killed
by John of Clifford at Bolton Moor (Bolton, near Glanton,
is probably meant), and that his widow obtained the
lands of the slayer as compensation for her loss. He was
buried in the church of Carham, from whence, by license
of Bishop Hatfield, his body was removed for final sepul-
ture to the Priory of Kirkham, in Yorkshire. His widow
entered into the possession of his extensive estates, which
had been granted for her life as well as his own, but, dying
soon afterwards, the greater part of the property passed
into the hands of Ingelram, Earl of Bedford, and Isabel
his wife, the king's daughter.
AN EARLY METHODIST PREACHER.
The great religious upheaval which the labours of the
brothers Wesley produced throughout England in the
middle of last century reached Tyneside at an early stage
of its progress. John Wesley came hither in the spring
of 1742, and found the people ignorant and wicked beyond
conception. " So much drunkenness, cursing, and swear-
ing, even from the mouths of little children, " he wrote,
"do I never remember to have seen or heard before."
Sending his brother Charles in the summer to prepare the
way for him, he returned to Newcastle in the autumn of
that year, and acquiring from an ancestor of Alderman
W. H. Stephenson a piece of land outside Pilgrim Street
Gate, he erected the third Methodist place of worship in
the kingdom. To this building (sketched in vol. ii.— 504)
he gave the name of " The Orphan House. " Chapel and
residence in one, the Orphan House was intended by its
founder to form a centre of evangelistic effort in the two
northernmost counties. In it he lived himself when he
visited Newcastle ; from it he sent his heralds among the
neglected people of Northumberland and Durham;
around it, as opportunity served, he built up societies,
and consolidated the work to which his life was devoted.
Shortly before he came to Newcastle, Mr. Wesley had
been preaching at Bath. Among his hearers was a young
man named Joseph Cownley, secretary to a West of
England magistrate. Under Mr. Wesley's impassioned
appeals Mr. Cownley was converted, and about the time
that the Orphan House was completed he began to teach
and to preach. His gifts were considerable, and Mr.
Wesley made him an itinerant minister. Sent to New-
castle, he took up his abode in the Orphan House in
March, 1747. Thence he proceeded to Ireland, where he
and his colleagues preached at the peril of their lives, for
the rnob broke up their meetings, and the grand jury of
Cork presented them as vagrants. After obeying a brief
call to his old duties in Newcastle, he returned to Ireland,
and married, in 1755, a Miss Massiot, of Cork. Shortly
after that event his health declined, and he came back
for the third time to the Orphan House. His disorder
rendered him incapable of sustaining the fatigue of in-
cessant travel, and Mr. Wesley, who was accustomed to
speak of him as " one of the best preachers in England,"
permitted him to settle in Newcastle. He officiated at
the Orphan House as, in some degree, a fixed minister
among the Methodists of the town and its suburbs, and
at the same time exercising a spiritual guardianship over
the outlying societies. "For nearly forty years," writes
one of his biographers, "he may be regarded as the
Orphan House minister, having delivered in that hallowed
spot several thousands of sermons. Every Tuesday and
Thursday evening he was wont to occupy the pulpit, and
frequently also on the Lord's Day morning ; yet it was
generally remarked, 'Mr. Cownley has always something
new.'" Outside the town his labours were equally earnest
and abundant. From Alnwick to Sunderland, from the
harbour of Shields to the valley of the Allen, there was
scarcely a village or hamlet in which his voice was not
heard.
At the Conference in 1788, Mr. Cownley was appointed
to take duty at Edinburgh, and, though quite unfit for
the task, he obeyed the call. His stay in Scotland was
brief. Increasing debility forced the veteran of the
Orphan House to return to his Tyneside home. He had
lost his wife in 1774 ; his eldest son, Massiot Cownley, a
surgeon in the army, died from a wound received while
fighting a duel in 1780 ; and now it was evident that the
hand of death was closing over him. In September, 1792,
returning from Hallington to Prudhoe, his old enemy
overtook him, and, though he preached there and at
Ovington, it was his last appearance in the pulpit. He
was brought to Newcastle, died on the 8th of October,
and was buried in the Nonconformist Cemetery at the
Ballast Hills.
68
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
\ February
1 1890.
tr drtjsjftocU
ONB OF HKB MAJESTY'S JUDGES.
This family has been seated from an early era in the
North of England, Robert de Cresswell having been (ac-
cording to n MS. taken from old writings) in possession
of the estate so far back as the reign of Richard I. —
Burke 'i "Landed Gentry."
Cresswell has its name from a spring of fresh water
at the east end of the village, the strand of which is
grown up with water cresses. — Hodgson's "History of
florth umberland. "
The long line of Cresswells of Cresswell ended towards
the close of last century in twin daughters, the offspring
of the marriage of '• Mad Jack Cresswell " with Kitty
Dyer, the accomplished daughter of the Rev. Thomas
Dyer, and niece of Dyer the poet. One of these ladies —
Frances Dorothea — was united to Francis Easterby, of
Blackheath, who, acquiring the moiety of the family
estates held by his wife's sister, assumed the name and
arms of Cresswell. The eldest son of this marriage,
Addison John, inherited the estates, married, and, re-
ceiving considerable properties from his wife's uncle, took
the name of Baker-Cresswcll. He was High Sheriff of
Northumberland in 1821 (in which year he commenced to
build the present magnificent residence of the family),
and sat for the Northern Division of the county in the
Parliament of 184147. The fourth son of Francis Eas-
terby Cresswell is the subject of this sketch.
Cresswell Cresswell was born in 1793, in the Bigg
Market, Newcastle, educated at the Charter House, en-
tered Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 1810, took his
degree of B.A. in 1814, and of M.A. in 1818, and then
pursuing his studies at the Inner Temple, was called to the
h»r in 1819, and joined the Northern Circuit. He re-
ceived the appointment of Recorder of Hull in 1830, ob-
tained the silk gown of King's Counsel in 1834, was
elected Conservative M.P. for Liverpool in 1837, became
a judge of the Common Pleas and was knighted in 1842,
and in 1858 assumed the office of judge of the new Court
for Probate, Divorce, and Matrimonial Causes, over which
he presided till his death.
The career, the character, and the abilities of Sir
Cresswell Cresswell have been pourtrayed by the masterly
hands of two local attorneys — Alderman W. Lockey
Harle and Wm. Wealands Robson. Alderman Harle
published his sketch in the defunct Northern Examiner
newspaper, in 1854, when the judge was in the fulness
of his prime ; Mr. Robson coontributed his to the New-
castle Chronicle twenty years later, when the subject of it
had passed over to the great majority. To reproduce, in
an abridged form, the observations of these piquant writers
will be more convenient, and certainly more interesting,
than to attempt the incorporation of the details which
they supply into ordinary biographical narrative. First,
then, selections from Mr. Harle 's playful delineation : —
Mr. Justice Cresswell was " wooden spoon " — last of the
junior optimes— at Cambridge ; attempted to unite the
fine gentleman with the student, and the wooden spoon
was the natural and proper result. He obtained early
distinction as an advocate in cases connected with the
navigation of ships. His early days were spent much
among sailors and fishermen on the rocky and stormy
coast of Northumberland. He alwavs knew where the
"binnacle " was, and he knew the "cathead " as well as
his own. " Halyards," "maintopsails," " weather bow,"
and "iron-knees" were to him familiar as household
words. Hence in the old days of " running down " cases,
when the Moot Hall was half filled with sailors and sea
captains, pilots and underwriters, we always found Mr.
Cresswell first favourite. He soon distanced all competi-
tors on the Northern Circuit. He laboured as a reporter
of law decisions with Mr. Barnewell ; and everybody
knows, in a lawyer's chambers, the numerous volumes
manufactured by "Barnewell and Cresswell." In man-
aging his cases Mr. Cresswell never declaimed. He was
always safe as an advocate — always clear. If his jokes
were not very good, or his humour very unctuous, his
law was rigid and severe, unquestionable and correct.
In 1837, Mr. Cresswell was returned member for
Liverpool with Lord Sandon. Liverpool, in those days,
delighted in Tories ; Mr. Cresswell was a Tory after
Liverpool's own heart. He spoke very little in the
House. He supported Sir Robert Peel steadily, and his
principal speech was one delivered on the old question of
the Danish claims. In 1841 he was again returned with
Lord Sandon for Liverpool. His brother defeated Lord
Howick that year in Northumberland. The Cresswell
interest was consequently strong when Sir Robert Peel
took the reins of government ; and in February, 1842,
Mr. Cresswell became a Justice of the Court of Common
Pleas. He was wise in time. The toil of his profession
as a leading barrister, and his labours as M.P. for Liver-
pool, were too much for his frame. He prudently sought
the repose of the Bench instead of pursuing, with shat-
tered health, the more uncertain flashes of political dis-
tinction.
We think Sir Cresswell Cresswell an admirable judge.
He is thought at times to be coldly supercilious. He is
merciless, it is true, upon men at the Bar who have no
law, and are proud of their speaking. He cares nothing
for rhetoric — he must have [common sense. Everybody
has a wholesome dread of Mr. Justice Cresswell. Still he
is a gentleman. Still he is a clever and accurate lawyer.
Still he is an Englishman, who can see through a dirty
business as soon as anybody. All honour then to the
distinguished lawyer born in the Bigg Market ! New-
castle has not many distinguished sons hung in frames of.
February 1
1S9J. I
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
pold on her walls. Let us have space for Mr. Justice
Cresswell.
Mr. Eobson's account is chiefly anecdotal, the most
interesting form in which biography can be written, but
requiring an intimate knowledge of the man, his friends
and surroundings : —
By far and a long way the best counsel I ever saw was
Mr. Cresswell Cresswell. He had all the advantages of a
good figure, a handsome face, and a pleasing voice. He
was wonderfully successful in gaining verdicts. The
secret of his success was obvious enough. He seemed
always studiously to put himself on a level with the jury
whom he was addressing, and to talk to them not so much
collectively as individually. He used to fix his eyes upon,
and, as it were, fascinate one juryman after another until
the whole lot were fairly within his net. He did not try
to compel conviction ; he got it by taking it for granted.
Cresswell used sometimes, in fine weather, to drive from
Cresswell to Newcastle in an open brake. Old Tommy
Hare then kept the Blue Bell in Bedlington, and besides
the excellence of his music Tommy was noted for the
excellence of his sherry. Above his mantelpiece Tommy
had printed on earthenware that text of the Old Testa-
ment which Burns profanely paraphrased about giving
wine to him that is heavy of heart. It is said that the
great Cresswell occasionally condescended to call, and
that he was wont to read the text aloud, ending by
quietly observing to Tommy : " Ah, Mr. Hare, it is said
the devil can quote Scripture for his own purpose ! "
As a judge, Cresswell came the Northern Circuit much
oftener than was universally agreeable. Being generally
the junior judge, he, of course, sat in the Nisi Prius
Court at Durham. There he appeared to take a particu-
lar malicious pleasure in snubbing his old rivals and asso-
ciates at the Bar. He carried his politics with him to the
Bench. He tried the Thornhill footpath case from
Bishopwearmouth with a vast deal of partiality to the
plaintiff and prejudice against the defendants. At New-
castle his conduct was still worse. He was said to have
chosen the Northern Circuit one assizes on purpose that
he might try the case of whipping a journalist. The
severe, or rather the savage, sentence shocked the people
of Newcastle ; their respected fellow-townsman did not
suffer one iota in their estimation, and he has since at-
tained the highest distinctions in their power to bestow.
But, putting aside personal animosities and political
prejudices, the ex-leader of the Northern Circuit was
» great judge amongst great judges. Like Campbell,
Crompton, and Alderson of his own day, and Blackburn
of a day later, he had been a law reporter, and the best
way to learn law is to write it. As the first judtre of the
new Divorce and Probate Court, he will go down to
posterity with his judgments in his hands. Nothing
could have shown his vast mind more signally, or more
strikingly, than his quickly learning, and completely
mastering, what to him was an entirely new branch of
law.
Mr. Robson's reference to the frequency of Sir Cress-
well Cresswell's travels northwards as circuit judge is
confirmed by official records. Raised to the Bench in
1842, he occurs in the list of judges at Newcastle Assizes
every year but two from that date till 1855, when he paid
his last judicial visit. After his appointment to the
judgeship of the Divorce Court the Northern Circuit saw
him no more. He presided over that court — a bachelor
settling intricate questions of matrimony — for six years.
His death occurred unexpectedly. Fond of exercise, it
was his custom in fine weather to ride home from the
Divorce Court upon horseback, and he was so riding
through St. James's Park in the second week of July,
1863, when Lord Aveland's carriage broke down, and the
affrighted horses came into collision with Sir Cresswell
Cresswell and knocked him from his seat. His injuries
were not considered serious, but ten days later, on the
29th of the month, as he was entertaining some friends,
he was seized with faintness and suddenly expired.
j]OR the better part of .half a century, ending
about the year 1808, William Ettrick, of the
High Barnes, Bishopwearmouth, commonly
known as Justice Ettrick, held the honour-
able position of chairman of the bench of magistrates for
Sunderland division of Easington Ward, in the county of
Durham. "He was, "says Burnett, in his history of that
town, " a man of an independent spirit and somewhat of
a humourist, in consequence of which he was both feared
and respected." Sunderland was then a comparatively
small place, separated from Bishopwearmouth by a con-
siderable interval of fields and gardens ; and Mr. Ettrick
might daily be seen riding down from his residence at
High Barnes to the George Inn, in High Street, where
the court was held, in all the plenitude of magisterial
dignity.
A number of amusing anecdotes are still in circulation
about him. He was reputed to be as impartial, strict,
and inflexible in his judgments as Rhadanianthus him-
self. On one occasion, at least, he sat in judgment on
his own case, and gave his decision against himself. A
neighbouring farmer had sent his carts to market without
having his name painted upon them as the law directed ;
he was brought up for the offence before the Bench, and
fined 7s. 6d. and costs, in spite of his having pleaded
ignorance of the law. After leaving the court, the man
happened to meet Mr. Ettrick's own dung-cart, which
was employed in leading manure from the Fish Quay up
to High Barnes farm, and he noticed that the cart, like
bin own, had either no name on it, or that the name was
illegible. So he turned back to the court room and gave
information against his worship, who, on hearing the
case, found he had no alternative but to mulct himself in
the same amount which the farmer had just had to
disburse.
One day when the Justice was riding down what was
then termed the Walk, between Bishopwearmouth and
Sunderland, he noticed a crowd of people gazing upon a
stranger, whom he found on inquiry to be a prize-fighter
just arrived. He immediately sent the man a challenge ;
but when the boxer found out who was his challenger— no
less than the chief magistrate of the place— be was seized
with affright and prepared to leave the town at once. In
returning home in the afternoon, Mr. Ettrick again per-
ceived a crowd, and, inquiring what was the matter
now, was told that it was the pugilist taking his leave.
70
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I February
t 1890.
"Oh ! oh!" cried the valiant Justice, " tell him from me
he is a great coward. I sent him a challenge and he
durst not accept it. If he is afraid to meet me, what
would he do if he was matched against Jackson ?"
Jackson was the champion of the prize ring in that day.
Mr. Ettrick was, during many years, a daily visitor at
the house and shop of Mr. James Graham, a highly
respected printer and bookseller, 185, High Street East.
For an hour or two every day (Sundays excepted), before
Mr. Graham's dinner time, it was his constant practice to
sit in that gentleman's parlour discussing and relating the
news and events of the day, until dinner was placed upon
the table, when he uniformly rose from his seat and
departed. To the invitation which Mr. Graham always,
as a mark not of common politeness and courtesy, put to
the worthy magistrate, " Won't you stop to dinner, sir?''
his reply was, " Oh, no, I cannot ; I have to go to such a
place " (naming it). And during the many years he
frequented Graham's house, he was never known either
to eat or drink in it. His frequenting Mr. Graham's
was so well known to his fellow-townsmen, that parties
wanting warrants, summonses, affidavits sworn for sea-
men's protection, or magisterial aid of any description,
used to go there to find him, when Mr. Graham's shop
was his justice room. Masters of ships wanting to slip
off (as they sometimes did) without paying fees for
swearing affidavits, were sharply asked by him, " Do you
think that Mr. Graham gets his pens, ink, and paper for
nothing?" All his fees were laid upon Mr. Graham's
counter, and remained untouched by any one until he
left the house, when, no doubt, as Mr. Ettrick intended,
Mr. Graham took them up and appropriated them to his
own use.
Once upon a time, says the late Jeremiah Summers in
his History of Sunderland, Mr. Ettrick had an old Scotch-
man doing something or other about his mansion-house,
and when his work was done he was told by the house-
keeper to hand in an account of his charge. As a matter
of course, the man did so ; but, unfortunately, in writing
the Justice's name, he spelled it Attrick, and on his
presenting it for payment he was told that no such person
lived at High Barnes. Some days elapsed before the
man got to know the reason why Mr. Ettrick refused to
discharge his account, and when at length he was told of
his mistake he tried to correct it to the best of his judg-
ment ; but. instead of making the matter right, he made
it worse, for he wrote it this time Etrick. After several
fruitless attempts to see the Justice, he succeeded in
getting an audience, when, to keep up the farce, Mr.
Ettrick still refused to pay the account, although, to his
honour be it stated, he was always very punctual in
money matters ; but, having learned that his honour was
exceedingly fond of a pun, the canny Scotchman pretended
to get into a great passion, and plainly told the dispenser
of the law that he did not care whether his name was
A — trick or E — trick, but if 4ie did not pay him im-
mediately he would play such a trick upon him as would
effectually do his trick. This witty reply, adds the
historian, had the desired effect; the account was dis-
charged forthwith ; and the man was moreover regaled
with the best the house afforded.
Amongst his other qualifications, Mr. Ettrick wrote
verses, although it would have been a misuse of terms ta
call him a poet. One of his metrical effusions was a
Hudibrastic epitaph, inscribed on a tombstone in Bishop-
wearmouth Churchyard, which he erected to the memory
of George Bee, a day labourer upon his estate at High
Barnes, whose death was caused by a man accidentally
riding over him. It runs as follows :—
Under this stone his friends may see
The last remains of poor George Bee.
Laborious Bee had oft earn'd money,
As oft hard winters eat the honey ;
Of all the Bees were in the hive,
None toil'd like him are now alive.
A man more cruel than a Turk
Destroy'd him coining from his wur.;.
Without a word, without a frown.
The horrid monster rode him down.
And thus, tho' shocking to relate.
Poor Bee, alas ! met with his fate —
Since life's uncertain, let us all
Prepare to meet Death's awful call.
On the 14th September, 1802, Mr. Ettrick made his
last will and testament, and, after giving certain
pecuniary legacies to his two servants, he went on to
say: — "I give unto Robert Allan, of Bishopwearmouth,
in the said county [of Durham], Esquire, the sum of one
thousand pounds, in trust, to apply the same in causing
a marble monument to be erected in the parish church of
Bishopwearmouth aforesaid, to commemorate my an-
cestors (that is to say), Walter, my great-grandfather,
Anthony, my grandfather, and William, my late father,
to their posterity, and with the most grateful acknow-
ledgments and thankful remembrance of their care of and
provision made for their posterity, and with such in-
scription as he, the said Robert Allan, shall judge proper
to be engraven thereon, and I direct that such monu-
ment shall be made and erected as soon after my decease
as the same can conveniently be done." As regarded his
funeral, the testator willed as follows : — " I desire that
my body may be buried in the burying place belonging to
the house and estate of High Barnes aforesaid, at or
about the hour of twelve of the clock at night; that it
may be carried in my dung-cart to the grave, and that if
I should not then have any, then in any other cart, and
not in a hearse ; that my coffin may be inch and half oak,
without any mouldings, plates, tackets, or ornaments of
any kind, without lining, and without covering, and may
be put into the grave by four paupers, without the date
of the year of my death, or number of years I have lived,
and that no mourning of any kind may be used at or
about my funeral." The will was proved in the Con-
sistory Court of Durham, on the 18th of June, 1808, by
the Rev. William Ettrick, the son and sole executor, an<i
the effects were sworn under £35,000.
February"!
1890. J
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
71
Mr. Ettrick died at his seat. High Barnes, on the 22nd
February, 1808, in the eighty-third year of his age. As
might be anticipated, the instructions contained in his
will regarding his funeral were not complied with. Mr.
Ettrick frequently told Mr. Richard Hutton during his
lifetime to make his coffin according to the directions
contained in his will, always concluding his orders with
"And you must take me to the church in a cart." Mr.
Hutton made the coffin of oak, one inch and a half thick,
according to the will, but with a brass plate upon the lid,
whereon was engraved the deceased gentleman's name,
the date of his death and his age. The funeral took place
on the afternoon of Sunday, the 27th of February, in
Bishopwearmouth Church, at the usual hour for inter-
ments. Among the mourners was Sir Charles Miles
Lambert Monck, of Belsay Castle.
WILLIAM BKOCKIE.
STfte
ilHE Countess's Pillar is situated about a
quarter of a mile from Brougham Castle,
in Westmoreland. An inscription records
the fact that the pillar was erected in 1656, by Anne,
Countess Dowager of Pembroke, "for a memorial of
her last parting in this place with her good and pious
mother, Margaret, Countess Dowager of Cumberland,
the 2nd of April, 1616, in memory whereof she also
left an annuity of four pounds to be distributed to
the poor of the parish of Brougham, every 2nd of
April for ever, upon the stone hereby." The pillar is
adorned with coats of arms, dials, and other embellish-
ments, and is terminated by a small obelisk. Words-
worth, Rogers, and Mrs. Hemans have each written
verses on this memorial of filial affection. The lines of
the last of these writers upon it begin : —
Mother and child ! whose blending tears
Have sanctified the place
Where, to the love of many years,
Was given one last embrace —
Oh, ye have shrined a spell of power
Deep in your record of that hour.
jjO write of Pandou Dene is like writing of
some departed friend. There is a tender
melancholy associated with the place like
that associated with the memory of the
dead. And when we think of it as it once was— gay with
foliage and blossom— and look upon its condition of
to-day, buried far beneath a mass of ever accumulating
rubbish, our melancholy is not unminpled with regret
that so splendid a site for a public park should have been
lost the city.
One of the old features of Newcastle, in which it
differed from the flat monotony of many towns, was the
number of its little valleys, each with its streamlet
flowing down the midst, which graced it with so pleasing
a variety of hill and dale, and added to the picturesque-
ness of its situation on the bold sloping banks of the
Tyne. Of these little valleys one of the most lovely was
that whose blotting out we now deplore. Through it
flowed the Pandon or Bailey Burn — rising near Chimney
Mills, running between the Leazes and the Moor down to
Barras Bridge — then, after receiving its little tributary,
Magdalene Burn, about opposite the end of Vine Lane,
merrily turning the wheels of the various water mills
which nestled down by its side amongst gardens and
trees, until it flowed under the Stock Bridge and Burn
Bank, and so joined old Father Tyne.
It would take a very big book to contain the history
of this little valley and its associations, and its historian
might linger long and lovingly over many a spot within
its watershed, of deepest interest to lovers of old New-
castle lore. He would have much to say of its two
bridges — now bridges only in name : of the Barras Bridge
and of the contiguous hospitals of St. James and Mary
Magdalene— of the New Bridge and its building. We
show in one of our illustrations a view of the former
bridge when it was in reality a bridge. The picture is
from a drawing made by the elder T. M. Richardson
about 1810 ; and, rude as it is, a sufficiently good idea of
the former beauty of the spot may be gathered from it.
Two of our views show the other, the New Bridge, grace-
fully spanning the Pandon valley. One is from the
north, taken from near the foot of the steps which used to
lead down from Shieldfield at the end of the lane called
72
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I February
1 1890.
February )
1890. l
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
73
74
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I February
1 1890.
"the Garden Tops." It was painted by John Lumsden
in 1821, and shows the old water corn mill, afterwards
the Pear Tree Inn, the town in the middle distance, and
the Windmill Hills at Gateshead beyond. The other
(from a painting by James Dewar about 1833) is from
the south, from near what was afterwards "New
Pandon," and gives us a view of the well-known Mustard
Mill in the foreground. The roof of Picton House (now
the Blyth and Tyne Piaihvay Station) is seen, on the left,
peeping over the parapet of the bridge.
The account of the mills of Pandon Dene would of itself
form a goodly chapter in our imnginary historian's book,
and would carry the reader far back into the mists of
antiquity ; for the waters of the burn have turned mill
wheels from time immemorial. As far back as 1460 we
have recorded the proposed erection of one of these
mills. On July 10th of the year named we find the
Mayor and community of Newcastle devising to John
Ward (formerly Mayor of the town, and founder of the
Charity in Manor Chare known afterwards as Ward's
Almshouses), along with other lands, "a certain other
parcel of waste land, of the trenches
called the King's Dykes outside the
(Town) Wall, and land within the wall
to the extent of forty-two ells in
length, from the aforesaid gate (Pan-
don Gate) and along the wall, and
in width the same as the King's
Dykes, to hold, etc., for the building
and construction upon the said parcel
of land, outside the wall, a dam for
the mill, &c." (Welford's "Newcastle
and Gateshead.")
With this part of Pandon Dene
is associated the memory of one of the
old worthies of Newcastle, the opu-
lent and munificent Roger Thornton,
whose memorial brass is still extant
and to be seen in All Saints' Church.
After his death in 1430, an inquisition
was held to take account of his pro-
perty, and in the record the name of
Pandon frequently occurs in connec-
tion with gardens and orchards pos-
sessed by him in the vicinity of the
Stock Bridge.
In our own times, besides the two
mills already mentioned, there was
the Oatmeal Mill, higher up the valley
on the left bank of the burn. It is
seen in Mr. Jobling's view on this
page, which shows some of the old
gardens in front of Lovaine Crescent,
with the little houses in which many
of the occupants lived, the mill house
in the middle distance, and St.
Thomas's Church behind. Close by the mill was the
cottage of Julia St. George, the famous actress, whose
career is sketched elsewhere. We give also another
very interesting view, showing Julia St. George's house
in the distance, with the footpath leading down by the
burn side from near the end of Vine Lane. It is from
a pencil drawing made by Mr. Ralph Hedley, after T.
M. Richardson, and gives some idea of the old-time
rural beauty of the Dene.
Some further idea of the charma of Pandon Dene may
be gathered from the following verses which they in-
spired, and which appeared over the signature of Rosa-
linda in the Newcastle Itfayazine, Sept. 18th, 1776 : —
When cooling zephyrs wanton play,
Then off to Pandon Dene I stray ;
When sore depressed with grief and woe,
Then from a busy world I go ;
My mind is calm, my soul serene,
Beneath the bank in Pandou Dene.
The feather'd race around me sing,
They make the hills and valleys ring ;
My sorrow flies, my grief is gone,
I warble with the tuneful throng :
VIEW IN PANDON DENE.
From Drawing 'by R. Jotting*
February 1
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
All, all things wear a pleasing mien
Beneath the'bank in Pandon Dene.
At distance stands an ancient tower,
Which ruin threatens every hour ;
I'm struck with reverence at the sight,
I pause and gaze in fond delight.
The antique walls do join the scene
And make more lovely Pandou Dene.
Above me stand the towering trees,
While here I feel the gentle breeze ;
The water flows by chance around,
And green enamels all the ground,
Which gives new splendour to the scene
And adds a grace to Pandon Dene.
And when I mount the rising hill,
And then survey the purling rill,
My eye's delighted ; but I mourn
To think of winter's quick return,
With withering winds and frost so keen,
I, sighing, leave the Pandon Dene.
O, spare for onre a female pen,
And lash licentious, wicked men,
Your conscious cheek need never glow
If you your talents thus bestow ;
Scare fifteen summers have I seen,
Yet dare to sing of Pandon Dene.
Alas, poor Rosalinda ! both you and the carping critics
of your generation, whose wrath you so modestly
deprecate, and whose "conscious cheek " you so tenderly
seek to spare, are now laid low in the dust. Not you
only, but even the sweet scenes which inspired your
muse. Henceforth, all thoughts and memories of Pandon
Dene shall be but as echoes from the depths of a buried
past, gradually, on each repetition, growing fainter and
more faint, until they die away into the utter silence of
forgetfulness. R. J- CHAIU.KTON.
76
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I February
\ 1890.
j]EW people who now pass by the front of
the Royal Arcade, Newcastle, are aware
of the dreadful story of crime with which
the building on the right hand side of
the entrance was connected half-a-century ago. That
building was then the Savings Bank: the victim of the
crime was Joseph Millie, a clerk in the bank ; and the
murderer, or supposed murderer, was Archibald Bolam,
•who held the important position of actuary.
The mystery in which the foul deed was enshrouded at
the time was but imperfectly dispelled at the trial of
Bolam ; but shortly afterwards circumstances transpired
winch cleared up the most serious of the difficulties that
judge and jury had had to contend with. It is now
known that Bolam was one of that dangerous class of
capable men that live a double life. To all outward seem-
ing, he was a trustworthy and straightforward man, a
professor of religious opinions, and a citizen who enjoyed
the distinguished honour of having, by sheer force of
ability and integrity, raised himself from a humble posi-
tion to one of great responsibility and liberal emolument.
In reality, he was a morbid and self-tormenting sensualist,
a hypocrite of a peculiarly vile kind, and one who at least
held communion with filthy and depraved characters.
Joseph Millie was about as different a person as can well
be imagined. An unfortunate business career had shown
him to be honourable and just to others, whilst he was
severe towards himself : and his nature was so amiable
and his manners so genial and pleasant as to lead persons
not thoroughly acquainted with him to infer a lack of
firmness in his nature which really did not exist.
Millie was born in North Shields, where be succeeded
his father in an old-established ironmongery business,
which he failed to carry on successfully. In order to pay
his creditors in full, he reduced himself to his last penny,
and for years afterwards he pursued a wandering and
uniformly unfortunate business career, until, at fifty-six
years of age, he found himself occupied as an occasional
clerk in the Newcastle Savings Bank.
Archibald Bolam was born at Harbottle, Coquetdale,
in 1797, and was thus forty-one at the time of the
murder. Early in life he was a schoolmaster at
Holystone. Before he reached the age of twenty years,
he drifted to Newcastle. There for some time he held a
position as usher in the Percy Street Academy, then kept
by Mr. Bruce, father of the venerable and respected Dr.
Bruce ; he became a member of the Presbyterian body, and
kept up for years a correspondence with his old pastor
at Harbottle ; and finally he secured the appointment of
actuary to the Savings Bank. Prosperity appears to have
had a bad effect upon him, for soon after he had floated
into easy circumstances he quarrelled with his Presby-
terian friends, and ceased his correspondence with the
pastor of the Harbottle congregation.
This was the state of affairs with him in the eventful year
1838. His residence at the time was No. 2, Sedgewick Place,
Union Lane, Gateshead, his house being kept by a woman
named Mary Ann Walker, about whom, afterwards, people
had a great deal to say. The first step in the path that
led directly to the commission of a great crime seems to
have teen taken early in the year named. Mr. George
Ridley, a gentleman highly esteemed in the town, had
been appointed assistant clerk to the actuary of the
Savings Bank. For a short time matters went smoothly
enough between them ; but suddenly Bolam turned round
upon his subordinate, and used every endeavour in his
power to procure his dismissal from the post. Still it
was not till the first days of December that he eventually
succeeded in his efforts. The fact was, that he was clear-
ing Ridley out of the way in order to secure the office for
Millie, whose employment as an occasional clerk at the
bank had dated from the month of March preceding.
Bolam had taken a strong fancy to Millie, and had
chosen the means referred to for bringing the poor man
nearer to him. On the 5th of December, Millie entered
upon the duties of his new appointment, and two days
afterwards he was murdered under circumstances of revolt-
ing brutality.
About two o'clock on the morning of the 7th December,
1838, a servant in the employment of Mr. Robson, lace
merchant, whose shop closely adjoined the Savings Bank,
discovered that the premises occupied by that institution
were on fire. Smoke was found to be pouring out of the
windows in volumes, and the police and the fire brigades
of the period were quickly summoned to the spot. The
engines arrived promptly — their quarters were only about
two hundred yards distant— and the fire, which was found
to be but a Sinall affair, was soon extinguished. When
the firemen entered the premises, they passed into the
waiting-room, and proceeded through to a door which
gave access to an apartment usually occupied by the
actuary and his assistant. One of the firemen attempted
to open this door, but found that it was held almost close,
apparently by the pressure of some one behind it. The
man desisted for a moment in order to summon assist-
ance ; but when he tried the door again he found that it
opened without any difficulty. Groping their way into the
inner room, the firemen stumbled over something lying
on the floor. The glimmering light of their lanterns was
brought to bear upon the object and its surroundings,
when a hideous sight was revealed.
The body of the grey-headed old man, Millie, was seen
to be lying face downwards on the hearth-rug, with
traces of a terrific death struggle surrounding it.
There were no less than twenty wounds on the
victim's skull, which had been smashed to pieces ;
his left jaw and cheek bone were broken ; the hearth-
rug was literally saturated with blood ; »ud blood,
February \
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
.77
brains, and hair bespattered the chairs, walls, and
wainscotting nearest to the spot. By the side of the
dead man lay the poker, which had evidently been the
instrument used by the murderer, for it was covered with
blood and hair. Close to the victim's feet were the tongs
belonging to the set of fire irons. They lay as if they
had dropped from the murdered man's hands, after being
used in an ineffectual attempt at self-defence. A cursory
examination of the body led to the belief that the firing
of the premises had been accomplished for the purpose of
hiding the evidence of murder, as the poor man's pockets
were found to have been stuffed with coals and paper.
After noting these details, the firemen continued their
search round the room, in a corner of which they found a
man lying, apparently, in a state of insensibility. The
man was Archibald Bolatn, who appeared to be suffering
partly from the effects of the smoke, which still almost
filled the room, and partly from a slight wound in his
throat. No blood was on the floor where he lay. When
he was discovered, he opened his eyes intelligently, and
then shut them without any reasonable cause for so doing,
creating an impression amongst the firemen that he was
shamming. There was a small quantity of blood on a
desk near the spot, together with a blood-stained desk-
knife, with which it seemed that the scratch wound on
his throat had been inflicted.
Bolam was conveyed to the house of Mr. Glenton,
chemist, close at hand, where he was attended by Dr.
Nesham and Dr. Walker, who found nothing serious the
matter with him. Here he was waited upon by two
magistrates, Mr. Alderman Dunn and Mr. Woods, to
whom he gave his version of the occurrence. The pur-
pose of Bolam's story was to fix the commission of the
crime upon some mysterious and unknown person, from
whom he declared he had received threatening lettei s as
recently as the previous day. In consequence of this, he
stated that he quitted the bank on the previous evening,
leaving no one on the premises, and proceeded to his
home in Gateshead. When he came back, he found the
bank door as he had left it ; but, upon entering the inner
room, he saw Millie lying on the hearth-rug. Believing
that Millie was asleep, he proceeded to his desk, but had
no sooner opened the lid than a man with a blackened
face struck him a blow on the right temple. Bolam ran
shouting to the windows, which looked out upon one of
the most frequented thoroughfares of the town ; but the
man threatened to kill him as he had done Millie, and
ultimately knocked him down and attempted to cut his
throat. Such was Bolam's story.
The inquest on the body of Millie was opened the same
afternoon — just twelve hours after the discovery of the
murder — at an old-fashioned hostelry, the Blue Posts,
Pilgrim Street. News of the tragedy had by that time
spread all over the town, and the street in front of tha
old inn was densely packed by excited crowds. Before
the coroner, Bolam repeated substantially the same story
that he had told the justices in tha morning ; but at the
adjournment of the inquest, three hours afterwards, he
was given into custody. Ultimately a verdict of " Wilful
murder against Archibald Bolam " was returned, and the
prisoner was remitted for trial to the Spring Assizes, due
to be held in the month of March succeeding.
Meanwhile, a strong feeling against Bolam had devel-
oped in the town. Metaphorically, he was arraigned at
the bar of public opinion, convicted of murder and crimes
yet more horrible, and sentenced to undergo the extreme
penalty of the law. Then an uneasy suspicion gained
possession of the public mind that Bolam was powerfully
befriended, and that in his case the ends of justice would
be defeated. Thus it became necessary to take strict pre-
cautions for his protection from the summary vengeance
of an infuriated mob when he journeyed between the gaol
and the courts.
A true bill was in due course found against him
at the March Assizes for the town ; but applications
to postpone the trial until the succeeding Midsummer
Assizes, and to transfer it to the court for the county of
Northumberland, were successfully made. The case was
eventually heard before Mr. Justice Maule, on July 30th,
1839. The evidence for the prosecution showed that the
bank porter left Bolam and Millie sitting together " like
brothers " at half-past three o'clock on the afternoon of
the murder. Millie, who lived with his wife in the Croft
Stairs, never reached his home again. Bolam, however,
was known to have visited his house in Gateshead later in
the day, and, from the evidence of a neighbour, who
heard a breaking of glass, it is supposed that he had en-
tered by a window from the rear. The evidence of his
housekeeper, Mary Ann Walker, furnished confirmation
of this visit : but her deposition was of such an unsatisfac-
tory character that it was under consideration for a time
to place her in the dock as an accessory, after the fact, to
the crime. She admitted that she had sponged the sleeve
of the coat Bolam was wearing, where a close examination
afterwards disclosed bloodstains and smears. The theory
of the prosecution was that a sudden quarrel had arisen be-
tween Bolam and Millie ; that the former had furiously
assailed the unfortunate clerk, and had beaten out his
brains ; that the murderer had then gone home, where
the marks left upon him by the struggle had been, with
the aid of Walker, as far as possible, obliterated ; and
that on his return to the bank he had resolved on firing
the place, hoping that he might escape whilst the body
was consumed, or desperately electing to take his chance
with the story of a disguised murderer. The prosecu-
tion stopped short at a theory of motive for the murder,
and no reference to the horrible stories current outside
was made in court. The prisoner's defence was conducted
by Mr. Dundas, who adhered pretty closely to the narra-
tive first given by Bolam. The jury accepted the theory
of a quarrel and probable affray, as propounded by the
prosecution, and Mr. Justice Maule, who was accused by
78
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f February
I 1890.
the excited people of summing up favourably for the
prisoner, sentenced Bolamto transportation for life.
What became of Bolam after he was transported does
not seem to have been generally known till 1889, when a
question on the subject in the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle
elicited some curious information. Mr. James Patterson,
residing in Tasmania, made inquiries which established
the fact that one Archibald Bolam presented a sun dial
to the Botanical Gardens, Sydney, New South Wales,
and that this Archibald Bolam was identical with the
person who was transported in 1839. A Sydney gentle-
man, Mr. Reynolds, sifted the matter thoroughly, and in
the course of a letter to Mr. Patterson stated : —
An old lady who was a neighbour told me that, two
hours before Mr. Bolam died, he said he had something io
Ray to her that was much disturbing his mind, as he felt
his death was near. He then said, as nearly as she can
remember: — "Mrs. R , both your family and your-
self have treated me for years as a friend and a pood
neighbour, as if I had never been a lag, and have hidden
ail the pains anrl sorrows that are generally attached to
such a name. Now, as I am about to go before my God,
I declare to you I am innocent of the crime for which
I was sent out here. I never committed the offence, and,
if I had been inclined to do such a deed, I never had any
cause to do so.'' He then asked her to hand him a small
brooch, with a frold wreath rim and crystal centre,
covering a lock of very fair hair. This he kissed ten-
ilerly, and handed it back to her, saying, "That is all
that remains of the only woman in this world whom I
ever loved." He also told her that, some time previously,
lie had saved up over £200. and invested that sum in the
purchase of an annuity, the tirst instalment of which
would be due in a few days or weeks, but that he feared
he should not live to enjoy much of it.
The following is a copy of the inscription on a tomb-
stone in the graveyard of St. Stephen's Church, Sydney : —
Sacred
to the memory of
ARUHIISALD B'OLAM,
who died 25th December, 1862,
aeed 67 years.
This modest stone, what few vain marbles can,
May truly say, " Here lies an honest man."
A. B. 70,793. 1862.
Bolam, however, must not be assumed to have been
innocent. Speaking of the motive of the crime as re-
vealed to him by a Newcastle resident of Sydney, Mr.
Reynolds says: — "It was a terrible story; if not the
worst I have heard, certainly the worst for many years,
and sufficiently sickening to bury."
Cite ^tcrrg at
an
j]OCIETY in the Northern Counties of Eng-
land was scandalised during the reign of
James the First by serious allegations
against a clergyman who held high office in
the diocese of Durham. The dignitary whose fame was
BO roughly handled was John Cradock, D.D., and he
occupied the exalted position of spiritual chancellor and
Vicar-General of the diocese. The narrative is not very
pleasant reading, but it is a bit of local history that
cannot properly be omitted from any representative
collection of North-Country episode and incident.
Surtees ("History of Durham," vol. iv.) prints a
pedigree of the Cradock family, from which it appears
that Dr. Cradock was a son of John Cradock, of New-
houses, in Baldersdale. Appointed vicar of Gainford,
"the Queen of Durham villages," in 159*, he acquired
property in the parish, and erected the mansion house of
Gainford Hall, a picturesque many-gabled building, over
the north door of which his name and arms, with the
date of erection (1600), may still be seen. His promotion
in the Church was rapid, and his preferments numerous
and valuable. Upon the death or removal of Michael
Colman, B.A., he obtained the living of Woodhorn, in
Northumberland, another rural retreat, combining views
of great beauty over both sea and land. Bishop Neile, in
1619, made him Archdeacon of Northumberland, but this
appointment he resigned a few months afterwards to
become the bishop's spiritual chancellor and Vicar-
General. To heighten his dignity he was collated pre-
bendary of the fifth stall in Durham Cathedral, and
made a Justice of the Peace ; to increase his emoluments
he was presented to the living of Northallerton.
Soon after Dr. Cradock's elevation to the spiritual
chancellorship charges of a serious nature began to
circulate in the diocese respecting the administration of
his office. There were reports against him of extortion
and abuse, if not of peculation and fraud. On the 28th
of May, 1621, his conduct, and that of a similar offender,
Dr. Lambe, were brought before the House of Commons.
The proceedings dragged on till May, 1624, when Sir
Henry Anderson, one of the members for Newcastle,
tendered another petition against him. Under date the
22nd of that month the Journals of the House contain a
portentous report, from which we learn the nature of the
offences with which Dr. Cradock was charged. Written
in the jerky style which the long-hand chronicler of the
proceedings usually adopted, the report reads as fol-
lows : —
Mr. Lenthall reporteth from the Committee for Cra-
docke. — That his [he is] a High Commissioner for Dur-
ham, a Justice of Peace, and a Chancellor : Found to be
a great Offender in all these : Confoundeth these several
Jurisdictions, making the one to help the other. — 1. A
Sequestration of one Ashen's Goods, worth 1000J which
very ordinary there. A Sequestration granted to Two
Strangers. They ransacked the House, seized upon
divers bags : This was done at the Funeral-sermon. The
Will being found, and Hawden Executor of it, could not
get the will proved. A second Sequestration granted.
Cradocke, breaking open the House, as a Justice of
Peace, ransacked it : Offered an Oath, ex-officio, to the
Executor ; and, upon that, asked him what he had
done with the Bags of Money. New Sequestrators again
appointed, his man Sompner, &c. These eate up all the
Provisions of the House : Took Hawden, and sent him to
the Gaol, for a Force : Could not be released till 20 Pieces
given ; and then fined him 502 to the Bishop of Durham.
This done out of any Sessions, tl Fees paid. No Act of
Sequestration in all this Time made. — Thus also did in
Rand's case.— A forged Excommunication, as Mr.
February
1890.
\
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
79
Richardson ofFereth to swear ; Bribes taken as a Justice
of Peace ; and all the Offences reported in Dr. Lambe.
That the Opinion of the Committee was, that this Man
deserved greater Punishment than Lambe.
What punishment Dr. Cradock received, if any, is not
recorded. Within a week from the presentation of this
report Parliament was dissolved, and it did not meet
again till the 21st of June, 1625, when Charles I. had
ascended the throne. The new Parliament had weightier
matters to attend to, and, perhaps, they left this business
to the ordinary tribunals. Dr. Cradock's sons, how-
ever, kept the scandal alive. Resenting the allegation of
Mr. Richardson (afterwards solicitor-general to Bishops
Mathew and James) about the forged excommunication,
they took a singular method of vindicating their father's
reputation. On the 22nd of December, 1625, these youths
and others, about nine o'clock at night, went, and kept
such a rapping at the doors and lower windows of Mr.
Richardson's house in the Bailey, Durham, as " frighted
his wife," and " one Rangel going out of the house with a
ruler in his hand to see what the matter was, the
defendants took his ruler from him, and struck him
therewith on the face, to the effusion of his blood,"
kicked him, spurned him, pursued him, and hit him
again, saying that "if he had not enough he should have
enough," &c. For this offence, three of the Cradocks
were committed to the Fleet, fined £50 a-piece, ami
bound to their good behaviour for a year.
A curious case, reported in the "Acts of the High
Commission Court of Durham," illustrates the feeling
entertained towards Dr. Cradock among his neighbours.
On the 19th January, 1627, as he was walking down the
middle aisle of Durham Cathedral in his surplice and
hood, with Charles Slingsby, Rector of Rothbury,
"whilest the Letanye was solemnlye in readinge and
singinge," there appeared before him his old accuser John
Richardson ; Thomas Gill, a well-known attorney ; Mr.
Timothy Comyn, under-sheriff of the county ; and
Matthew Vasie, Richardson's clerk ; and then and there
" in contempte of the place, the person, and the tyme, "
Gill delivered to the under-sheriff a writ of attachment
against the doctor and demanded his arrest, which the
under-sheriff promptly performed. At the same time
Vasie served him with " his Majesties writte of subpoena
forthe of the highe courte of Starre Chamber, which
Dr. Cradocke dewtifullye and quietlye receyved." Gill
was brought before the High Commission in October to
answer for this offence against the Church. The pro-
ceedings were continued till December, when a tragedy
occurred in the vicarage of Woodhorn which probably
put an end to them. Dr. Cradock died there three days
after Christmas, and upon investigation it was found
that he had been poisoned. Suspicion fell upon his wife,
Margaret, daughter of William Bateman, of Wensleydale,
and she was accused of the crime and tried, but was
acquitted. This is the last we hear of Dr. Cradock.
Hodgson, following Hutchinaon, states that he was buried
at Woodhorn; Surtees represents him to have been
buried at Durham. None of them mentions the erection
of any monument to his memory.
Dr. Cradock was the father of a numerous family.
Seven sons and three daughters came of the union which
ended so dismally. One of the former became Sir Joseph
Cradock, Knt., LL.D., Commissary of the Archdeaconry
of Richmond ; one of the latter, Margaret, married the
Rev. John Robson, M.A., Rector of Morpeth, whose
election, in 1620, as one of the members for the borough,
led to a memorable parliamentary discussion, ending in a
declaration that the clergy are ineligible for seats in the
House of Commons. RICHARD WKLFOED.
the great poet, Robert Browning,
wll° died in Ita'y °n December 12, 1889,
had no direct connection with the North of
England, there were two circumstances in
his career whicli were specially interesting to North-
Country people.
Mr. Browning was married many years ago to
Elizabeth Barrett, whose poetic gifts were as eminent as
those of her husband. For a very long time there was
considerable doubt and controversy as to the exact place
at which Mrs. Browning was born. It was known that
she first saw light in the county of Durham ; but many
residences were suggested as the locality of the event-
such as Burn Hall, Carltou Hall, &c. Mr. Browning
himself seems to have had no positive knowledge on the
subject. The discussion, however, induced the Rev.
Canon Burnet, vicar of Kelloe, to examine the registers
of that parish. The result of the reverend gentleman's
investigations was the discovery of the entry which
settled all dispute. The record in the register of Kelloe
Church, so far as it relates to Mrs. Browning's birth,
reads thus :— " Elizabeth Barrett Moulton Barrett, first
child of Edward Barrett Moulton Barrett, Esq., of
Coxhoe Hall, a native of St. Thomas's, Jamaica, by his
wife Mary, late Clarke, of Newcastle, born March 6th,
1806." A full account of the whole matter, including a
letter from Mr. Burnet himself, will be found in the
Monthly Chronicle for 1889, pp. 303, 378.
The second circumstance of interest has reference to
one of the dead poet's poems. Mr. Browning made
Charles Avison, a celebrated Newcastle organist of the
last century, a sort of peg on which to hang his
"Parleyings with Certain People of Importance in
Their Day. " It is of Avison that he thus sings : —
Of worthies who by help of pipe or wire
Expressed in sound rough rage or soft desire,
Thou whilome of Newcastle organist.
The biography of Avison appeared in the Monthly
Chronicle for 1888, p. 109, and a portrait in the volume
80
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f February
for 1889, p. 170. The great organist lies buried in St.
Andrew's Churchyard, where his tombstone is so much
decayed that the inscription is now illegible. It occurred
to Mr. John Robinson, who was instrumental in restoring
the tombstone of the poet Cunningham, that the tomb-
stone of Avison ought also to be restored. A proposition
to this effect was made in n, letter which was printed in
the Weekly Chronicle some time ago. Mr. Robinson
subsequently communicated with Mr. Browning on the
subject, and from him he received the following letter : —
Asolo, Venito, Italy, Sept. 30, 1889.
Dear Sir, — I am much obliged by your exceedingly
kind and interesting letter, and the information it gives
of the praiseworthy project of which you are author —
that of restoring the tombstone of a good old English
musician. Honour to Avison, and honour to you ! Pray
let me contribute in iny becomingly modest degree to so
proper an enterprise by engaging to send a small sub-
scription to the fund whenever I return to London, as I
am at a loss to know how I could conveniently do so from
this out-of-the-way place. And pray believe me, dear
sir, yours most sincerely, ROBERT BROWNING.
The last photograph for which Mr. Browning sat was
taken by Mr. Grove, 174, Brompton Road, London. It
is from this photograph that our portrait has been copied.
We have only to add that the mortal remains of the poet
have been deposited with those of the illustrious dead in
Westminster Abbey.
ROHERT DROWNING.
February
\
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
81
!3r. iligfttfcrut,
Uttrftam,
at
BARBER LIGHTFOOT, Bishop
of Durham, one of the greatest scholars and
most estimable men that ever occupied the
See of the Palatinate, died at Bournemouth,
whither he had gone for the benefit of his health, on
Saturday, December 21, 1889, The remains of the de-
ceased prelate were interred on December 27 in the
chapel at Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland.
The great Churchman was born in Liverpool in 1828.
Educated at Birmingham and Cambridge, he was
ordained by the Bishop of Manchester in 1854. But
while thus fully equipped for the sacred office he remained
for some time closely identified with h:s university. As
tutor of Trinity College, his influence was unrivalled. In
due course his ample powers and distinguished attain-
ments received recognition He was appointed a select
preacher at Cambridge and Oxford, University preacher
at Whitehall, honorary chaplain to the Queen, chaplain
to the Prince Consort, and canon of St. Paul's.
The first announcement of the appointment of Dr.
Lightfoot as Bishop of Durham, on the resignation of Dr.
DR. LIGHTFOOT, BISHOP OF DURHAM.
6
82
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
\
February
Baring, was made on the 28th of January, 1879. The
confirmation of the electfon took place in the parish
church of St. James's, Piccadilly, London, on the 10th of
ApriL Next came the consecration in Westminster
Abbey, on the 25th April, the ceremony being performed
by the Archbishop of York, assisted by the Bishops of
London, Winchester, Ely, Truro, Carlisle, Manchester,
and Sodor and Man. The preacher on the occasion was
the Rev. Canon Westcott, Regius Professor of Divinity
at Cambridge. There was an immense congregation,
hundreds being unable to obtain admission. On the 13th
of May, Dr. Litfhtfoot arrived at Durham, where he was
officially received by Dean Lake, and on the 15th of the
month the enthronement of his lordship took place in the
Cathedral. With few exceptions, the whole of the
clergy of the diocese were present, as well as many of the
most influential members of tlie laity.
On the 27th of May, the bishop performed his first
official act by consecrating the new church dedicated to
St. Edmund, at Bearpark, near Durham. The first
diocesan meeting at which he presided was that held in
Bishop Cosin's Hall, Durham, on the 6th of June, on
lielialf of the National Society for the Promotion of
Religious Education.
It was on the 14th of June that Dr. Lightfoot paid his
first official visit to Newcastle, when he preached a
sermon in St. Nicholas' Church, in aid of the Restoration
Fund, in connection with which a debt of £700 still
remained. The Mayor, the Sheriff, and a large number
of the magistrates, aldermen, and councillors of the
borough were present, with members of the consular
body of the town in their uniforms, and the church was
crowded to excess. Before commencing his discourse, his
lordship referred to the object of the service. For him-
self, he said, he held it a privilege that his first words in
that ancient town, and in that their venerable church,
should be an appeal on behalf of so good a cause. It
should be the endeavour and the prayer of all there — what-
ever might have been their opinion on the division of the
diocese in the first instance— that the creation of the new
See of Newcastle should take effect at the earliest date
possible. A state of transition was always unsatisfactory,
and could not with advantage be prolonged. That being
so, it was a matter of the highest moment that they
should hand over that time-honoured and beautiful fabric
to be the cathedral of the newly-created See, not only
duly restored and furnished, but free from the encum-
brance of debt.
To the creation of the new diocese of Newcastle his
lordship devoted himself with unflagging energy and
enthusiasm. Indeed, from his entrance upon the duties
of the diocese he evidently regarded it as a work of the
highest importance, and in furtherance of that object he
addressed a series of meetings in various parts of the
counties of Northumberland and Durham. One of the
largest and most influential of these gatherings was htld
in the Guildhall, Newcastle, on the 2nd of June, 1881.
In opening the proceedings on that occasion his lordship
stated that it had always been a satisfaction to him when
he came to preside at any meeting or to perform any
episcopal function in Newcastle to recollect that the name
by which he was known — the name of Joseph Barber — was
one which he had inherited through four generations
from a worthy citizen of Newcastle.* The success which
attended the Newcastle meeting was of a most en-
couraging character, and such was the favourable response
to the bishop's appeals in the various parts of the diocese
that about twelve months afterwards the new diocese was
practically formed. The bishop appointed, as is well
known, was the Right Rev. Dr. Wilberforce, the present
occupant of the See, whose enthronement took place in
August, 1882. Farewell addresses were upon the occasion
presented to Dr. Lightfoot by the members of the City
Council, the Master and Brethren of the Trinity House,
and a large number of the general public. In responding
to these tributes of cratitude and respect, Dr. Lightfoot
stated that he at least would carry away nothing but
bright memories of his connexion with Newcastle-on-
Tyne.
Tims released from the responsibilities of a large and
populous district, his lordship applied himself with all
the energy and vigour of which he was possessed
to the promotion of the moral, religious, and social
interests of that portion of the diocese contained
within the boundaries of the county of Durham. One
of the earliest movements in this direction was a scheme
of church extension. During Bishop Lightfoot's episco-
pate there was raised for this purpose a sum of £138,000,
while upwards of forty places of worship have been added
to the diocese. Dr. Lightfoot was himself a most muni-
ficent contributor to the work of church extension. In a
letter which he addressed to the Rev. Canon Mathie, of
Hendon, Sunderland, he intimated that at the close of
seven years of his episcopate he was desirous of
building a church as a thank-offering for the many
and great blessings which he had received since he
came to Durham, and that the parish of Hendon
had naturally occurred to him as the fittest locality.
It was by far the most populous in the diocese, while
at the same time, being inhabited chiefly by working
men, it could not be expected to contribute very
largely to such an object from its own resources. The
project was carried out with every possible expedition,
and the bishop had himself the satisfaction of con-
secrating the new church of St. Ignatius the Martyr on
the 2nd of July, 1889.
* Josenh Barber, bookseller. Amen Corner, Newcastle,
died on July 4, 1781, aged 74. (See Monthly Chronicle,
1888, pp. 158-455.) A few months after the above allu-
sion to his ancestors, his lordship caused to be erected in
old St. Nicholas' Churchyard a new monumental stone
in place of that which had previously covered their
remains.
February \
189J. f
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
83
To the various charitable and philanthropic institutions
of the two counties of Northumberland and Durham his
lordship was a most generous contributor. One of the
earliest associations of this description in which he ex-
hibited a practical interest was that of the Wellesley
Training Ship, at an annual meeting of which he presided
shortly after his arrival in the North. He also proved a
warm and "liberal supporter of the Northumberland and
Durham Miners' Permanent Relief Fund, and on the
occasion of the unfortunate accident at Seaham Colliery,
in 1880, he made a special appeal to the clergy and laity
on behalf of the society. As a resident in the palace at
Bishop Auckland, Dr. Lightfoot manifested a lively
interest in the welfare of the town and district, and soon
after his arrival there he generously built at his own
cost an institute for the Young Men's Christian Associa-
tion, the site for which he also provided.
Dr. Lightfoot's literary works were chiefly of a
theological character. Most of them have been so highly
appreciated that several have passed through no fewer
than nine editions. Of one of these productions — "St.
Ignatius and St. Polycarp "— the Times lately remarked
that it is "a monument of learning which can be
paralleled only by the works of the greatest scholars of
the past."
af 1740.
j]N the winter of 1739-40, emphatically styled
"The Hard Winter," intense frost lasted
for nine weeks, beginning at Christinas and
continuing till the latter end of February.
It was equally severe all over Northern Europe. In
Russia, the Empress Anne took advantage of it to cause a
palace of ice to be built on the bank of the Neva. This
edifice, constructed of huge quadrats of ice hewn in the
manner of freestone, was fifty-two feet in length, sixteen
in breadth, and twenty in height. The walls were three
feet thick. In the several apartments were tables, chairs,
beds, and all kinds of household furniture of ice. In
front of the palace, besides pyramids and statues, stood
six cannon, carrying balls of six pounds weight, and two
mortars, of ice. From one of the former, as a trial, an
iron ball, with only a quarter of a pound of powder, was
tired off ; the ball went through a two-inch board at sixty
paces from the mouth of the cannon, and the piece of ice
artillery, with its carriage, remained uninjured by the
explosion. The illumination of the ice-palace at night
had an astonishingly grand effect. In this country, of
course, there was neither the means nor the disposition
to construct any such ephemeral building; but festi vities
and diversions of all kinds took place upon the ice. The
river Thames was covered with such a thick crust that a
multitude of people dwelt upon it in tents, and a great
number of booths were erected for the entertainment of
pleasure-seekers.
The Tyne was hard frozen over for many weeks, to the
entire stoppage of trade. Tents were set up, shows
exhibited, and various games played on the glassy
surface. So intense was the cold that the air in some
of the coal pits could not be borne by the workmen
without a fire at the bottom. At Tanfield Colliery
one of these fires led to what might have been a
woeful catastrophe. The boys were ordered to put it
out after the men had left; but, instead of doing so,
they spread it abroad carelessly among some straw,
which immediately took fire. The flame caught two
cusks of oil standing near, and the oil set fire to the
coal, which burnt with such violence, and rarefied
the air to such a degree, that a strong draught set in
from the adjacent galleries and shafts, and changed
the pit into a bellowing volcano, thundering out
eruptions of hot cinders of considerable weight to an
incredible height and distance. One day in the month
of January, Mr. John Fenwick, of Bywell, had a tent
erected upon the river, and gave a grand entertainment
in it. on the occasion of his son's birthday. A large
sheep was roasted whole, over a fire made on the ice ;
cannons were tired with air-splitting huzzas; and barrels
of strong ale were broached and emptied ; while Mr.
Fenwick's coach and two horses drove up and down
and across the river with several ladies and gentlemen
in it. In the second week of February, the Tyne being
still frozen over, the principal coalfitters, headed by
Sir Henry Liddell, Bart., Mr. Edward Montagu, and
Mr. George Bowes, set two hundred men to work
to cut away the ice and open the channel from
below Newcastle to their staiths above bridge, a
distance of nearly a mile and a half. This work
was accomplished in about a week, without any fatal
accident having occurred ; but when an attempt was
made to clear away the ice from the staiths belonging
to some of the other coalowners, two men unfortunately
were drowned, which stopped the proceedings. The
gentlemen connected with the coal trade on the Wear
followed the example of their rivals on the sister river,
and with like partial success. The ice on the Wear at
Durham was so strong that carriages and horses daily
travelled on the surface. A foxhunt was moreover
improvised, a tame Reynard being cruelly used for the
purpose ; and the poor animal, we are told, " afforded
great diversion," after which "three tar barrels were
burnt below Framwellgate Bridge."
When the frost was at the keenest, the cold was so
intense, and coals and other fuel rose to such a price, that
many poor people throughout the country were chilled
to death. Out-door work of any kind was next to im-
possible, and thousands of handicraft men and labourers
were laid idle. All sorts of provisions, likewise, he-
84
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I February
1 1890.
came scarce and dear ; and it was even difficult to
get an adequate supply of water. During this time of
distress, many wretched families must have perished by
cold and hunger had not those in easier circumstances
been inspired with humanity and compassion. Among
the many gentlemen in Durham and Northumberland
who extended the hand of benevolence to the poor,
Walter Blackett, Esq., M.P. for Newcastle, was one of
the most conspicuous. He ordered £350 to be distributed
in the following parishes, viz., in Newcastle, St. Nicholas'
and St. John's, £40 eaeh ; All Saints' and St. An-
drew's, £60 each ; and in Gateshead, Hexham, &c.,
£50 each. The Corporation of Newcastle also gave £50
to each of the four parishes of the town ; and the senior
alderman and governor of the Merchants' Company,
Matthew Ridley, Esq., permitted the poor people to
carry away as much fuel as they pleased from his heaps
of small coal.
But corn, during the ensuing summer, became so dear
and scarce that an absolute famine seemed impending ;
and able-bodied men, with their wives and children sore
pinched for want of food, grew as savage and ferocious as
bull-dogs. No wonder, then, that the people assembled in
dangerous threatening mobs in many populous places
all over the kingdom. At Durham, on the weekly corn-
market day (June 14th) their leaders offered 8s. per boll
of two bushels for wheat, which was less than half the
price the farmers were asking. The farmers having re-
fused to accept the proffered sum, the people seized
the corn, on which blows ensued, and several on both
sides were wounded. A week later a great mob
assembled at Sunderland, seized all the wheat they could
lay their hands on, and sold it at 4s. a bushel.
At Newcastle a clamorous mob assembled on the 9th
of June ; but, upon a promise being given to them that,
if they would only remain quiet, they should have grain
at a much lower price than it had lately been, they were
pacified for that day and dispersed. Meanwhile, a sort
of volunteer local militia was organised at the instance of
Mr. Alderman Ridley. The associates, according to
Alderman Hornby, were mostly young men, several of
whom were merchants' apprentices, and on account of
their wearing white stockings they were called and long
afterwards remembered by the name of the "White
Stocking Regiment." Amongst them were "some
middle-aged gentlemen of different professions "; but Mr.
Ridley was their only officer. They were mustered in
imposing force on the 10th, and their commander gave
notice to the multitude that the corn factors had set a
price on their grain, and had declared that every one that
applied should have it at the fixed price. The factors
also made proclamation by the bellman that they would
sell at the following prices, viz.: — Wheat at 7s.. rye at 5s.,
oats at 2s. 6d., and meslin, or maselgem, a mixture of
wheat and rye, at 5s. 6d., per boll. This information was
received with satisfaction and applause, and the people
once more went quietly to their homes. But the Mayor,
Mr. Cuthbert Fenwick, imprudently ordered the volun-
teers to forbear assembling ; and the corn-factors,
regardless of their promise, kept their shops shut up,
most of them having absconded through fear. The pit-
men, keelmen, and poor of the town, finding that it was
no use to make application for corn at the reduced price,
determined they would have it, reason or none, by main
force. And so they made up their minds to break open
and rob the granaries.
As long as the volunteers were suffered to act, nothing
material happened. The mob, though gloomily threaten-
ing on four successive days, from the 21st to the
24th of June inclusive, proceeded to no absolute
violence. They only stopped a vessel which was
discovered surreptitiously going off down the river
with rye, and had some of the grain on board
sold to the poor at the stipulated price. But on
the 25th, the militia, as the volunteer force was-
called, were disbanded, and the mob, no longer awed by
their presence, grew every hour more and more unruly.
In the forenoon of the following day the people assembled
in immense numbers on the Sandhill, then the market-
place of Newcastle, while the Mayor and several alder-
men met at the Guildhall to consider what was best to
be done in so pressing an extremity. One of the volun-
teers ventured out to inform the multitude that it had
been agreed that the poor should be supplied with rye
out of a ship lying at the quay. The reception he got,
however, was most barbarous, for he was knocked down
and wounded. Upon this the rioters, "with more
justice than prudence," as Brand says, were fired upon
by the volunteers, who had hastened to the spot to
protect the magistrates. One of the people outside
having been killed and several dangerously wounded by
the unlucky shot, the crowd instantly fell upon the
gentlemen assembled in the hall, and proceeded to
outrages that threatened the destruction of the whole
town. They ransacked the town-courts and chamber;
they spoiled and tore down every part of the wood-work ;
and they destroyed all the paintings, except only the
faces of two portraits of Charles II, and James II., which
by some chance escaped. They broke into the town's
hutch, which served as the town's treasury, and plundered
it of nearly £1,200 (some authorities say £1,800), besides
destroying several royal charters, the guild records from
Christmas, 1721, to Michaelmas, 1738, and other books,
parchments, papers, and writings, the loss of which was
irreparable. After this wanton havoc, they patrolled the
streets, and, finding all the shops shut up, threatened to
burn the town.
There happened to be no military stationed in New-
castle at that critical juncture. So an express was sent
off to A In wick, travelling post-haste; and, in the evening,
three companies of Howard's regiment, under the com-
mand of Captain Marmaduke Sowle, marched into the
February 1
1S9J. I
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
85
town, and soon dispersed the rioters, forty of whom were
seized and committed to prison. At the ensuing assizes,
seven of the prisoners were sentenced to transportation
each for seven years, and were duly sent off to the
plantations in America.
This dreadful affray is said to have cost the Corporation
of Newcastle upwards of £4,000, besides the loss of their
original charters and other things. Those who withheld
any of the documents that had been carried off were
threatened with prosecution, and a generous gratuity was
offered for such information as might lead to their re-
covery; but nothing, we believe, of the slightest value
was ever brought back.
A few weeks after the riot, the mayor, aldermen, and
common council of Newcastle voted the freedom of the
Corporation to be presented to Captain Sowle, in a gold
box, value fifty guineas, as a compliment for his so
seasonably entering the town on the 26th of June and
putting a stop to the outrages. They likewise ordered :i
plate value forty guineas to be presented to Captain
Fielding ; one of thirty guineas to Ensign Hewitt ; and
ten guineas to each of the three companies'.
j]K. WILLIAM LYALL, the courteous libra-
rian of the Literary and Philosophical
Society of Newcastle, is the fortunate owner
of a very interesting volume relating to William Gill
Thompson, one of the minor poets of Tyneside. The
book has been most carefully collated and annotated by
Thompson's friend, Mr. George H. Gilchrist, and the
title page (a beautiful specimen of caligraphy) is executed
by Mr. Gilchrist's own pen. Facing the title is a portrait
of the poet, in water colours, by H. P. Parker, which is
considered a striking likeness. Our own sketch is taken
from it.
William Gill Thompson was born in Newcastle, and,
his parents being poor, he received but a scanty educa-
tion. He served his apprenticeship with William Andrew
Mitchell, of the Tyne Mercury, as a compositor, and,
while a very young man, taught himself shorthand— a
system of his own, it is said. He joined the staff of the
Newcastle Chronicle as a reporter in 1824, and his general
abilities, together with his pleasant, unassuming manners,
gained him the good-will of his employers, the Messrs.
Hodgson, then the proprietors of the paper, as well as
his coadjutors in the office. His friend Gilchrist thus
describes his personal appearance : — " He was rather
under the middle height, and neither slender nor stout,
had a round face, without much colour, and marked with
the small-pox, small, grey eyes, forehead very capacious
and bald. His habitual expression was that of mildness,
and his deportment modest and retiring. He was often
pJoomy and desponding, from constitutional causes ; and
although Thompson was not dissatisfied with the world
as it is, yet the manifest evils which pressed hard upon
his sensitive mind— a mind too noble and independent for
his station of life— rendered his existence a bitter one ;
and he often, I fear, sought relief in enjoyments which
brought sorrow only with the temporary pleasure."
It is to be feared that this method of finding relief from
his frequent fits of gloom and depression was the cause of
poor Thompson's downfall and tragical end. "As the
wine flowed," says Mr. Gilchrist, "he grew eloquent, and
his imagination glowed with poetical images. But, alas !
his morbid moments followed, and he was now the most
gloomy and desponding of men." His indulgent em-
ployers appreciated his great talents, and pardoned his
shortcomings. But a newspaper must be published, and
its readers naturally look for reports of matters of public
interest. Poor Thompson was sent to report the pro-
ceedings at a public dinner an the 19th of October, 1844 ;
but he indulged too freely at the banquet, and was unable
to supply his " copy " for the paper, which was published
on the following morning. This even the brothers
Hodgson could not overlook, and they discharged their
favourite reporter, although much attached to him, and
conscious of his value. Stricken with shame and remorse,
the poor, weak, sensitive poet committed suicide in a
closet at the Literary and Philosophical Society on the
21st October, 1844, and his body lay there undiscovered
until the 28th.
Thompson's more ambitious efforts, such as the " Coral
Wreath," "Tribute to the Memory of James Losb,"
"Erminia," &c., are marked by an easy, graceful flow of
language, and natural, pleasing imagery. He was well-
read in the poets of his time — Scott, Byron, Shelley, and
Kirke White — and he seems to have made "unhappy
White " the model for his smaller pieces. One of the
most pathetic and beautiful poems in Mr. Lyall's collec-
86
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I February
\ 1890.
tion— but too long to quote here— is the "Deserted
Infant." Of this, Mr. Gilchrist says : — " It is impossible
not to feel emotion while reading it. There is some im-
probability, perhaps, in the story of a mother leaving her
infant in the way described, but this takes nothing away
from the merit of the poetry."
In 1822, Mr. Thompson published the first of a series of
seven "Fishers' Garlands." To this song his friend Gil-
christ appends the following note :— " I am not sure but
the 'Fishers' Garland' was the offspring of jealousy —
perhaps emulation would be the juster word — and written
to vie with similar ' Garlands ' by the Coquetside men,
Doubleday and Roxby. W. A. Mitchell, W. Garret, and
the poet Thompson were the Tynesiders, and were, I
think, facetiously called the ' groundlings ' or ' minnow
fishers,' whilst the Coquetsiders fancied themselves a
sui«rior' class, pursuing nobler game, in a much sweeter
place, and could sing a note higher." From the "Gar-
land," which bears the title of "Tyneside," we extract a
single verse : —
The fisher may smile by his far-away stream.
As he marks his faint victim's last quiver ;
He may smile in contempt at the bard and his theme,
But still thou art dear, "shining river " ;
And gay are the tenants that people thy flood,
And elate are the bosoms that catch them.
Oh ! the hearts and the scenes where those light hearts
have stood,
Ye may walk the wide world ere ye match them !
Then hey for the fisher, the creel, and the gad,
And hey for the scenes of his pleasure ;
On Tyne's smiling sides, with a heart light and glad,
How he waves up the glittering treasure !
Under the title of "Sketches in Prose," Thompson
published, in 1829, a selection of stories, most of which
had apjjeared in magazines or Christmas annuals. They
all seem to have a sad and melancholy termination, and
to be marked by the author's gloomy disposition.
Poor Gill Thompson was nobody's enemy but his own.
There must have been much good in the man who was
able to attract so many firm friends— friends who in his
lifetime rallied round him, presented him with his bust
by R. S. Scott and a silver snuff-box, and when he was
dead raised a subscription for his family. Few but must
frel regret for his untimely fate, and pity for his want of
fortitude. \T. w. W.
3jF the interesting family of the Parades, or Tits,
we have seven British species, of which at
least five are residents in the two Northern
Counties, and are more or less common, namely, the Blue
Titmouse (Parui ccerulna); the Great Titmouse (P.
major); the Cole Titmouse (P. ater); the Marsh Tit-
mouse (P. palustris); and the Long-tailed Titmouse (P.
caudatus).
The Blue Titmouse is a permanent resident in Durham
and Northumberland. It is, says Mr. Hancock, "the
most abundant of the genus, and, like the great titmouse,
it seeks the haunts of man in the winter season when
pressed by severe weather." The bird is found in woods,
thickets, hedges, and in gardens and orchards, where
it frequently nests in decayed trees. As it flits among
the branches of the trees, its blue cap and sulphur and
green and black plumage is conspicuous. If not seen, it*
sharp notes can often be heard, sounding like the syllables
"chicka, chicka, chee, chee." It is a most pugnacious
little fellow, and he will often tackle and put to flight a
bird twice its own size. Even the robin, bold and fierce
as it is, has to make way for the pert little tit when food
is in question during the stormy days of winter. Among
its familiar names are the following : — Blue tit, blue bon-
net, nun, tomtit, blue mope, billy biter, hickmall, and
blue buffer.
The birds are quick and active in their movements, and
may often be seen hanging head downwards from the
branches of trees, like acrobats, all the while busily
searching for insect food. In the spring they are mostly
seen in pairs, in the summer in family parties, and in the
autumn occasionally in small flocks, while in severe winter
weather they frequent farmyards and the neighbourhood
of houses with other small birds. The blue tit sometimes
builds in curious situations. A nest has even been found
built within the jaws of a skeleton of a man who had been
executed and gibbetted for murder.
The male bird is under half an ounce in weight, and
four inches and a half in length. The plumage is bluish-
green on the back, and blue on the head, wings, and tail,
while the under part is yellow; a white line passes from
the brow to the nape, and a narrow bluish-black line di-
vides the white cheeks from the dark head ; the throat is
encircled by a blue band ; the quills are slate black, the
February 1
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
87
hinder ones sky-blue on the outer web, and white at the
tip ; the tail feathers are greyish blue. The female re-
sembles the male, but is a little smaller, and her plumage
is not so bright.
The Great Titmouse (Parut major) is the largest of all
the Paridce family. It is a resident, and generally com-
mon. "In winter," as Mr. Hancock tells us, "it fre-
quents the habitations of man along with the robin and
other birds." It has a variety of common names, some of
which seem to be derived from its notes and its plumage—
such as blackcap, oxeye, sit-ye-down, &c. The name sit-
ye-down has reference, Mr. Morris surmises, to its note
bearing a supposed resemblance to these words ; this is
so loud that it may be heard at the distance of half a
mile. The note has also been compared to the sound
produced by the sharpening of a saw, and in some
districts the great tit is occasionally called the saw-
sharpener.
The bird is most frequently found in woods and
thickets, near to gardens and cultivated lands. It is very
active in its movements while in search of food on trees
or old walls, and it is very often to be seen clinging to the
branches head downwards, and performing other acrobatic
feats. Mr. Hewitson, a most painstaking observer, re-
marks that the titmice are perfect mountebanks, and that
in their gambols and antics it makes no difference to them
whether their heads or their tails are uppermost.
The male bird is six and a quarter inches in length ;
bill, black ; the upper part has a broad festoon on the
edge — a characteristic of all the titmice; iris, dusky
brown ; head, black on the crown, white on the sides,
sometimes tipped with yellow; neck, bluish black in
front, and banded on the sides with the same, and be-
hind the white patch. The nape has a few white feathers
on it, making a spot; chin black, united to the black on
the nape ; throat black ; breast yellow, tinged with green,
divided all down the middle by a broad black line ; back
olive green, bluish-grey below. The wings expand to the
width of ten inches, and extend to one-third of the length
of the tail ; undermost they are bluish-grey ; greater wing
coverts bluish-black, edged with olive green, and tipped
with white, forming a bar across the wings.
The Cole Tit (Parua ater) resembles in its habits the
birds just described. The male weighs about two
drachms and a quarter ; length four inches and a quarter ;
bill, blackish or dark horn-colour, lighter at the edges
and tip ; iris, dusky ; head, white on the sides, black
glossed with blue on the crown ; neck, white on the sides,
black near the wing, with an oblong patch of white ; chin
and throat, black ; breast, dull white in the middle above,
below and on the sides light buff, with a tinge of green ;
back, bluish-grey above, varying to brownish-buff; the
feathers are singularly long, as is the case with most of
the other titmice. The wings, which are grey under-
ueath, expand to a width of rather over seven inches ;
greater and lesser wing coverts bluish grey, the feathers
tipped with white, forming two bars across the wing;
primaries, brownish grey, edged with greenish grey on
the outside, and on the inside with whitish. grey. The
tail, which is slightly forked at the tip, is brownish grey,
and extends a little beyond the wings, the feathers mar-
gined with greenish ; underneath grey, with white shafts ;
upper and under tail coverts, greenish buff ; legs, toes,
and claws, very deep lead-colour. The female closely re-
sembles the male.
The Marsh Tit (Parus palustris), as its name imports,
is most plentifully found in marsh places where reeds
and scrubby underwood prevail. Like its congeners, it
has a variety of common names, such as black-cap,
smaller ox-eye, willow-biter, and Joe Bent. The birds
prefer low trees and brushwood generally to hedgerows
and woods. "They dwell together," says Martin, "in
considerable numbers, and are perpetually in motion,
88
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
J February
1 1890.
going in and out of their nests, feeding their young,
flying off in search of food, or seeking for it in the
crevices of the neighbouring trees. It is truly gratify-
ing to witness their sprightly gambols, and the enter-
taining positions into which, as it were, in the very
exuberance of spirit, they are continually throwing
themselves." They are believed to pair for life, and, in
the nesting season especially, the male may often be
seen feeding his mute, while the latter flutters its wings
like a young bird. The male weighs less than three
drachms ; length, four inches and a half ; bill black ;
iris, dark brown ; head on the sides, greyish white, on
the crown black, slightly tinged with brown ; neck,
the same behind, greyish white on the sides, and
greyish black in front, the feathers tipped with greyish
white; chin, as the crown; throat the same as the
front of the neck ; breast, brownish white, with a tinge
of yellow ; back, greyish brown tinged with green ;
greater and lesser wing coverts as the back ; primaries,
dark brownish grey, margined with yellowish grey ;
secondaries the same, but margined with yellowish brown ;
tertiaries, the same ; larger and lesser under wing coverts,
brownish white ; tail as the primaries, the outer feathers
having the outer web paler ; underneath brownish white ;
upper tail coverts as the back ; legs, toes, and claws,
bluish black. The female only differs from her mate in
being more dull in colour, especially in the black parts,
which have a brownish tinge.
The Long-tailed Tit (Parus caudatus) is not the least
interesting of the tit family. It has quite a catalogue of
common names, such as pie, mag, muffin, bottle-tit, long
Tom, long pod, mum ruffin, poke pudding, feather poke,
&C. In the hedges on each side of the West Turnpike,
near Newcastle, parties of long-tailed tits may occasion-
ally be seen in autumn, almost invariably flying south.
In its habits the long-tailed tit resembles the rest of the
family, but is even more active and restless, if possible,
from the first peep of dawn till sunset. " Constantly in
motion," says Meyer, "from tree to tree, and flying in
a straight line with much rapidity, they remind the
spectator of the pictured representation of a flight of
arrows."
"The nest of this little bird, "observes Morris, "is a
hollow ball, generally nearly oval, with only one orifice ;
some have said two, to account for the location of the
tail, which is said to project through one of them." Mr.
Hewitson describes one that he saw which had two open-
ings, leaving the top of the nest like the handle of a
basket. Mr. Hancock, however, remarks: — "I have
seen nothing to lead to a suspicion that there is more
than one entrance to the nest of the long-tailed tit, and I
have seen a great number of those nests, and have six or
eight in my collection ; but I have an example, which I
took myself, and which might induce a careless observer
to assume that this nest had no orifice at all. The
specimen alluded to has a valvular flap or lid, which falls
over and completely closes the entrance. The bird must
have raised this lid every time it entered and left the
nest ; indeed, I discovered the entrance by the bird doing
so and passing out when I was searching for the hole.
The long-tailed titmouse erects its tail in the same manner
as most of the Fastens do, and of necessity must do,
when sitting on their eggs. "
The male, which is five and a half inches long, including
the long tail, weighs only two drachms. The short beak,
a mere speck, is glossy black, and almost hidden by the
feathers. The upper part of the head and throat are
light grey dappled with black, and a well-defined black
band runs from the eye and merges in a long black patch
at the back of the neck. The back is of a reddish tinge,
flecked with black. The greater wing coverts are
February 1
1830. j
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
89
blackish-brown, the lesser wing coverts tipped with
white, the under part shaded bluish grey. The tail,
which is three inches long, consists of eleven feathers,
which are black, the outside webs being tipped with
white. The female resembles the male in plumage, but
the black streak over the eye is wider.
Sir William Jardine describes a form of the long-tailed
tit which had the crown and underparts white, but all the
rest of the plumage black, tinged only on the scapulars
with rose-red ; Montague describes others as black on the
whole of the upper parts of the neck, and with an obscure
dusky band across the breast ; and Bewick mentions one
in which the black band through the eyes was wholly
wanting, the back of the neck black, and the sides
reddish brown, mixed with white.
jftiftHir antr Jrltmff of
THE MAYOR.
j]R. THOMAS BELL, the Mayor of New-
castle, is the senior partner in the firm
of Pyman, Bell, and Co., of Newcastle
and Hull, carrying on an extensive business as mer-
chants and steamship owners. Mr. Bell commenced
Pyman and Co., with whom he had been connected for
some years. The Mayor, who is a native of Yorkshire,
is 47 years of age. He was first returned to the New-
castle Council as a representative of East All Saints'
Ward, ou the 21st of June, 1878 ; and, on the recon-
struction of the wards, he became representative of All
Saints' North. Mr. Bell, with great acceptance, occupied
the office of Sheriff during the municipal year 1885-86.
One of the most interesting functions his worship has per-
formed since his elevation to the chief magistracy was
that of opening Uncle Toby's annual Exhibition of Toys
on December 20, 1889. Our portrait is from a photo-
graph by Mr. James Bacon, Northumberland Street ,
Newcastle
THE SHERIFF.
Mr. Edward Culley, the Sheriff of Newcastle, is a
native of Norwich, being the youngest son of the late
Richard Culley, merchant, of that city. Mr. Edward
Culley came to Newcastle about forty years ago,
and ever since, at first in partnership with his brother,
business in Newcastle in 1864, having come from West
Hartlepool to open a branch for the firm of George
Mr. Samuel Culley, and afterwards by himself, he has
been engaged in business as a corn merchant. Mr. Culley
was first returned to the Newcastle Council, as one of the
representatives of Elswick Ward, on March 19, 1879, and,
on the redistribution of seats, he was constituted one of
the members for Elswick North Ward. The portrait of
the Sheriff is also from aphotograph by Mr. Bacon.
90
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I February
I 1890.
aittr
THE SKIDDAW HERMIT.
This eccentric individual, whose portrait appears on
pnee 43 of the present volume, has been long since dead.
A letter published in the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle,
written by Mr. D. M. Cullock, of the Banffshire Lunatic
Asylum, explains that the poor fellow died in that insti-
tution from inflammation of the brain on September 23,
1876. EDITOR.
A WEARDALE KNITTING STICK.
There must be admitted into our North-
Country lore and legend the old knitting
stick, or sheath, around which has been
woven many a tale of love in the dales of
the North of England. It has been for
centuries, no doubt, a common practice
in these dales for young men to shape
and ornament, with their pocket knives,
knitting sticks intended for presents to
their sweethearts or female friends ;
hence it was a labimr of love, and occu-
pied untold numbers of leisure hours.
To make the stick as beautiful as pos-
sible, so that it would please the receiver,
was the aim of the plodding and pains-
taking carver, who followed no special
pattern, but by practised hands cut out
ornamentations strikingly like those
found on bows, quivers, spears, knives,
axes, clubs, and other implements, and
the handiwork of the natives of foreign
countries. The accompanying sketch of
a Weardale knitting stick represents a
good specimen which I picked up some
years ago. The four sides are all orna
mented. On one there is a fish, on
another a heart and shield, and the
letters R. L., undoubtedly the initials of
the giver or receiver, occupy the side
opposite to that shown in the illustra-
tion.
W. M. EGGLESTONE, Stanhope.
RICHARD GRAINGER.
From our school register for 1806-9, I can correct or
supplement the statement in the Monthly Chronicle about
the connection of Richard Grainger with St. Andrew's
School, Newcastle. He entered it in 1806, when his name
appears thirtieth on the roll as " Richard Grainger, son
of Thomas Grainger, porter." It stands eighteenth in
1807, and eighth in 1808, with no variation, except that
his age (9) is given in the first year, and that in each the
words "not free" are written against it. This implies
that he was not a free scholar, and as there is no addition
"dead " in the columns of parents' names, his father was
probably living in 1808. Richard Grainger left in 1809,
when he was ten or eleven, and not in his fourteenth year,
as the article in the Monthly Chronicle states. In the
disbursements for 1809 there is the entry, " Paid Kichard
Grainger's apprentice fee, bound to Jno. Brown, £2 0 0."
Of course, the forty shillings did not form part of Grain-
ger's worldly fortune, as the article states. It was, no
doubt, received by his master.
J. MOOKK LISTER, Vicar of St. Andrew's.
JOHN BIRD, MATHEMATICIAN.
John Bird, a celebrated mathematical instrument
maker in the last century, died March 31st, 1776, aged
sixty-seven. He was brought up as a cloth-weaver in the
county of Durham. What first led his thoughts to the
art in which he afterwards so much excelled was his
accidentally observing, in a clockmaker's shop, the coarse
and irregular divisions of the minutes and seconds on a
clock dial plate. He went to London in the year 1740,
and began his career by dividing astronomical instru-
ments both for Graham and Sisson, and afterwards
carried on business in the Strand. His celebrated Green-
wich quadrant was mounted February 16th, 1750.
Another instrument was erected in the Oxford Observa-
tory. His last work was the mural quadrant for the
Ecole Militaire at Paris, with which D'Agelet and the
two La Landes determined the declinations of 50,000
stars. In 1767, he received £500 from the Board of
Longitude, on condition that he should take an appren-
tice, instruct other persons as required, and furnish, upon
oath, descriptions and plates of his methods.
J. EPHGRAVK, Grangetown.
Hff rtft=€mmtvt> fcffiJit& ftutnmtr.
POTTED HEED.
Two Ryhope men took a trip to Sunderland a few
years ago, to see the monument to the late Mr. Candlish,
M.P., which is placed on a pedestal of Shap granite. As
they were returning, they were asked their opinion about
the monument and what it was like. One of them said,
"Wey, man, they've put poor Candlish on a block of
potted heed ! "
FLOATING PROPERTY.
Fifteen or twenty years ago, when there was a rush of
prosperity in steam shipping property, a Northumbrian
farmer was induced by some friends to invest a few hun-
dreds in a North Shields Shipping Company. For a
short time he shared in the large dividends that were then
paid ; but depression came, and for some months he heard
nothing about his dividends. Having occasion to visit
North Shields on business, he thought he would call at
February \
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
the company's office and inquire about the money he
made sure would be due to him. On entering the office,
he mentioned his object, when he was informed that cir-
culars had been sent out making a call upon him on
account of his sharess in the steamers. When he reached
home, he ordered his eldest son to get him his gim and
ammunition — at the same time telling him of his loss.
The son, after objecting to trust his irate father with so
dangerous a weapon, at length yielded to the parental
command, and the farmer, with the gun, &c., in his
hands, deliberately proceeded upstairs to a back window
which overlooked the duck pond. The son followed, ap-
prehensive of some dreadful rashness on his father's part,
which was intensified on hearing the report of the gun.
Hushing into the room, he was amazed to find his father
deliberately blazing away at the ducks in the pond,
crying out at the same time, " JSTe mair floatin' property
for me ! ne mair floatin' property for me ! "
" QUACK ! "
A local worthy, who was very desirous to have either a
goose or a duck for his family's Christmas dinner, but was
not provided with the wherewithal to buy either, rather
than be disappointed repaired to a neighbouring farm in
the early hours of the morning, and, effecting an entrance
into one of the outhouses, secured a fine duck. He was
hurrying away with the same through the yard gate,
when the duck gave vent to its feelings with a "Quack,
quack, quack ! " Instantly the marauder, addressing
his prize, said: "Had yor gob, ye fyul ; ye needn't
wauk — aa'll carry ye ! "
A TYNESIDEK'S FRENCH.
Two Newcastle youths were speaking about another
young man, who was known to them only by repute,
when one of them observed : — "Aa've hard it said that
he can taak French just like English!" "Wey," re-
turned his companion, " that's the way aa taak't it when
aa wes at the Paris Exhibition, and nebody knaa'd what
aa said !"
bert Bede. Mr. Bradley, who was born in 1827, was an
alumnus and graduate of Durham University, and to this
The Rev. T. Broadbent, superintendent minister of the
Shotley Bridge and Consett Wesleyan Circuit, died at
Conaett, on the llth of December, 1889. The deceased
had, for a number of years, acted as a missionary in
the West Indies.
On the llth December, the funeral took place at
Preston Cemetery, North Shields, of Mr. Thomas Has-
well, who had died a few days previously, and who for
nearly half a century was head-master of the Royal
Jubilee Schools in that town.
On the 12th of December, the death was announced of
the Rev. Edward Bradley, vicar of Lenton, Grantham,
who, as author of "Verdant Green, "and other literary
works, was better known under the pseudonym of Cuth-
"CCTHBERT BEDE."
fact appears to have been attributable the adoption of his
nom dc plume. The portrait of Mr. Bradley is copied
from a photograph by Messrs. Hill and Saunders, Cam-
bridge.
On the 14th of December,
_^_ __^ Mr. Bracey Robert Wilson,
who contributed to the
Newcastle Weekly Chronicle.
over the signature of Rob-
inson Crusoe, a series of in-
teresting "Recollections of
Sunderland Fifty Years
Ago," died at Stonehaven,
Scotland, at the age of 70.
Mr. Wilson, who was for-
merly British Vice-Consul
at Callao, had been for
some years totally blind.
Mr. Christian Bruce Reid,
of the Leazes Brewery, son
of the late Mr. Christian
Ker Reid, who founded the
well-known goldsmith's business in Newcastle, died at his
residence in that city, on the 16th of December, aged 85.
The deceased was a Knight of Leopold, one of the oldest
Freemen of the town, and one of the founders of Jesmond
Church.
On the 17th of December, Mr. Joseph Spence, alder-
man of North Shields, died at Tynemouth in his
70th year. The deceased gentleman was a borough
magistrate, a member of the Tynemouth Board of Guar-
MR. BKACEY K. WILSOX.
92
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
( February
1 1890.
dians, and had been Mayor of the borough of Tynemouth.
He was one of the first members of the Tynemouth School
Board, in connection with which he coutinued till the
beginning of 1889. He was also for some time a member of
the River Tyne Commission. At the last general election
he was a candidate for the representation of Tynemouth
in the House of Commons, but was defeated by Mr. R.
S. Donkin. At the time of the Hartley Colliery explo-
sion, Mr. Spence did good service in assisting to assuage
the sorrows of the suffering. In conjunction with his
Joseph S
ence.
brother, Mr. Alderman J. F. Spence, he was one of tlie
founders of the Tynemouth Volunteer Life-Brigade, and
he continued a member of the brigade until the time of his
death. Mr. Spence took an active part in every philan-
thropic movement in connection with the borough of
Tynemouth.
On the 18th of December, Mr. John Watson, post-
master of Easington, died there after a brief illness, at the
a^e of 80 years.
Saturday, the 21st of December, was a melancholy day,
in the di'ath of several men more or less prominently con-
nected with the North of England. A profound sensation
of sorrow was aroused by the announcement of the death
which had taken place that afternoon at Bournemouth of
the Right Rev. Joseph Barber Lightfoot, Bishop of
Durham. (See page 81.)
On the same day died Mr. John Slack, an old and well-
known bookseller in the city of Durham. He was a
member of the Durham School Board, of the Board of
Guardians, of the Framwelljrate Moor School Board, and
of the Durham Town Council. Mr. Slack was a native
of Arkengarthdale, in the North Riding, and was 51
years of age.
Another death which took place on the same date was
that of Mr. Edward Fletcher, of Osborne Avenue, New-
castle, who for many years had occupied the position of
locomotive superintendent in the works of the North-
Eastern Railway Company at Gateshead. He had served
his time at Messrs. Stephenson and Co.'s engineering estab-
lishment in Newcastle, and he was one of those em-
ployed in the construction of the "Rocket" engine,
which in 1829 won the prize of 500 guineas in the famous
competition at Liverpool. (See vol. hi., page 265.) Mr.
Fletcher, who had entered upon his 83rd year, was a
nati ve of Netherwitton, Northumberland.
Mr. William Sheridan, who for the past forty years
had filled the office of harbour master at Seaham Har-
bour, died there on the 21st of December, at the age of
74 years.
On the same day, at Hartlepool, and in the 35th year
of his age, died Mr. E. Bailey Bourne, editor of the
Northern Eveniny Mail.
Also, on the 21st of December, died, at the age of 70,
Mr. Joseph Lee, of Haltwhistle, a well-known farmer,
who, on the 17th, was overthrown by a bullock and
severely injured in the Christmas Cattle Market at New-
castle.
The death took place on the 22nd of December, after a
protracted illness, of Mr. George Wascoe, an alderman of
the borough of Tynemouth. A somewhat remarkable
incident in his life was that, in 1815, when he was em-
ployed in driving the stage coach between Shields and
Newcastle, he was the first person to carry the news of
the battle of Waterloo to the harbour borough. The de-
ceased had attained the ripe age of 88 years.
On the 23rd of December, Mr. David Holsgrove, an old
Sunderland worthy, died at his residence in that town, in
his 91st year.
On Christmas Day, the Rev. Thomas Rudd, M.A.,
Rector of Hetton-le-Hole, died at the Rectory, aged 51.
He graduated at London in 1869, and at Durham in 1884.
He became Rector of Hetton-le-Hole in 1877, previous to
which he was curate at St. Hilda's, South Shields, and
afterwards at the Abbey Church, Hexhain.
The Rev. George Strong, M.A., pastor of the Newport
Road Presbyterian Church, Middlesbrough, died on the
27th of December, at the age of 35 years.
The funeral took plack, on the 27th of December, at St.
Asaph, North Wales, of Mr. James Young, a native of
Durham, and formerly deputy-governor of Durham Gaol.
Mr. C. J. T. Poole, postmaster of Witton Park, was
accidently killed on the railway near that place, on the
28th of December.
On the same day, the Rev. James Hicks, formerly vicar
of Piddle-Trenthide, Dorset, died at Alnwick, in the
80th year of his age.
On the 1st of January, 1890, the Rev. J. Elphinstone
Elliot Bates, who from 1843 till 1880 was Rector of Whal-
ton, died at his residence, Milbourne Hall, near Ponte-
land.
Joseph Sadler, ex-champion sculler of the world, died
in Richmond Hospital on New Year's Day.
On the 4tli of January, the remains of Mrs. Ann Lan-
cheater, who had died at Bildershaw, near West Auck-
land, on the 31st of December, 1889, at the age of 107
years, were interred by the side of her husband, in Man-
field churchyard. The old lady, whose husband died
forty years ago, had been only four days in bed before
her death. Mrs. Lanchester was born at Gallow Hill,
Yorkshire, on May 29th, " Oak Apple Day, " 1783. Her
eldest surviving " child " is 80 years of age, and she had
a great-grandson of twenty-five. She could see without
February I
1890. f
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
glasses, her "second sight " having come to her about
eighteen years back. During the late harvest, she
MKS. ANN LANCHESTER, AGED 107 YEARS.
actually took part in the gleaning. She could not
" abide doctors," and had travelled by train only throe
times in her life.
Mr. John George Donkin, eldest son of the late Dr. A.
S. Donkin, of Newcastle, and grandson of the late Mr.
Samuel Donkin, the celbrated North-Country auctioneer,
came to a painful and melancholy end at Alnwick on the
4th of January. The deceased, who was a man of talent,
was educated for the medical profession ; but, being of a
roving disposition, he could not be advised to settle down
to work. Many years ago he went out to Spain, and saw
a considerable amount of service in the Carlist war. Re-
turning to England, he was not long in leaving the old
country for Manitoba. Joining the North-West Mounted
Police Force, he frequently contributed accounts of his
experiences to the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle. When he
returned home a few months ago, he wrote an interesting
volume entitled "Trooper and Redskin in the Far North-
West. " The deceased was 37 years of age.
On the 4th of January, Mr. John George Wild, chief
viewer of the East Hedleyhope Collieries, near Tow Law,
died at that place.
Dr. Arthur Wood, of Kirbymoorside, who for the past
thirteen years had been coroner for North Yorkshire,
died on the 5th of January, at the age of 75 years.
Mr. J. F. Leather, of Middleton Hall, Northumberland,
died there on the 7th of January. The deceased gentle-
man was a magistrate for the county, and succeeded to
the Middleton estate on the death of his father, Mr. J.
Towlerton Leather, in 1885. In 1886, Mr. Leather per-
sonally superintended the placing of a peal of three bells
in Belford Church, which were dedicated to the memory
of his late father.
On the 7th of January, the interment took place at
Arno's Vale Cemetery, Bristol, of Mr. William Mack,
who had died at Limpley Stoke, near Bath. The de-
ceased was formerly a reporter on the Newcastle Guardian,
but left the North of England about forty yeais ago,
entering upon business as a bookseller and publisher at
Bristol. Mr. Mack was the originator and first pub-
lisher of the " Birthday Scripture Text Book."
On the 5th of January, Mr. T. M. Richardson,
eldest son of the late Mr. T. M. Richardson ("Old
T. M."), whose ability as a painter is familiar to all
Novocastrians and to many lovers of art throughout
the country, died at his residence, Porchester Ter-
race, Hyde Park, London. The younger Richard-
son, who was also well known as an artist, was
closely approaching 80 years of age. He was a
native of Newcastle, but had resided for a great
number of years iu London.
The death of Mr. Thomas Watson, many years
chief manager of the Upper Teesdale mines at
Langdon Beck, and a recognised authority on
mining enterprise, was announced on the 9th of
January. The deceased was a member of an old
Wesleyan family in Weardale.
On the 8th of January, Mr. John Heskett, who
for many years occupied a leading position among
agriculturists in the North of England, died at
Plumpton Hall, Penrith, at the age of 40 years.
Mr. John Hetherington, for many years master
of the National Schools at Seaham Harbour, but
afterwards a successful shipowner, also died on
the 8th of January. Mr. Hetherington was about
74 years of age.
On the 9th of January, Mr. J. G. Brown, assistant sur-
veyor under the Sunderland Corporation, died at his resi-
dence, in Peel Street, Bishop-
wearmouth. The deceased,
who had been for many months
incapacitated from following
his occupation, owing to a
painful malady, was a man of
cultured tastes and literary
ability, many of his contribu-
tions appearing regularly in the
Newcastle Weekly Chronicle.
He was best known for his
biographies of local characters
and descriptions of well-known
North-Country scenes. Mr.
Brown was born in Newcastle,
but had been a resident in
the neighbouring borough of
Sunderland for nearly forty years.
SIR. J. G. BROWN.
at (Pfititte.
©ccurrences.
DECEMBER, 1889.
11.— It was announced that the authorities of Durham
University had resolved to establish a Chair of Agricul-
ture in Newcastle College of Science.
—Foundation stones were laid of Salvation Army Bar-
racks in Bath Lane, Newcastle, "General" Booth, the
head of the organisation, conducting the proceedings.
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I February
12. — The sale of the Marquis of Londonderry's fat
stock at Wynyard realised £4,293.
13. — Some sensation was caused by the discovery of a
woman's hand on board the barque Picton Castle, at
Middlesbrough, but on further investigation it was con-
cluded that the incident was devoid of any criminal asso-
ciation.
15.— St. Aidan's Church, Elswick, Newcastle, was
opened by Bishop Wilberforce.
— Under the auspices of the Tyneside Sunday Lecture
Society, Dr. Andrew Wilson lectured on "How and
Why we Eat our Dinner."
16.— The Rev. John M'Neill, of Regent Square Pres-
byterian Church, London, and generelly known as the
"Scottish Spurgeon," preached in the Victoria Hall,
Sunderland, and on the following evening in the Town
Hall, Newcastle.
— A meeting in Mill Lane Board School, Newcastle,
under the auspices of the Sunday Music League, decided
in favour of Sunday band performances in the public
parks and recreation grounds.
— The Earl of Durham's fat stock sale at Bowes House,
near Fence Houses, produced £4,947 9s.
17.— Colonel H. S. Olcott, president of the Theosophi-
cal Society, lectured in Bath Lane Hall, Newcastle, on
"Theosopliy. "
— At a meeting of the Newcastle Society of Antiquaries,
Dr. Bruce read an interesting paper as to the results of
some recent arch;eological discoveries on the estate of
Mr. John Clayton, at the Chesters (Cilurnum), amone the
objects found having been a quantity of millstones, spear-
heads, and iron daggers.
19.— The Rev. John W. Oman, M.A., was ordained
and inducted as colleague and successor to the Rev. W.
Limont in the pastorate of Clayport Presbyterian Church,
Alnwick.
— From the publication of the shipbuilding returns, it
appeared that the Tyne, standing second to the Clyde,
had produced 231,710 tons, or an increase of 68,000 tons
over 1888. The Wear was third on the list, with 217,336
tons, or an increase of 74,000 tons.
20. — The annual general meeting of the Newcastle Art
Union was held in the Bewick Club Rooms, Pilgrim
Street, in that city. The report showed that the total
amount subscribed had been £222, as against £181 in the
previous year.
—Sir C. M. Palmer, M.P., presided at the annual
dinner of the North of England Commercial Travellers'
Association, in the Assembly Rooms, Barras Bridge,
Newcastle. He advocated the establishment of a high
court, with working men and employers as assessors,
for the settlement of laliour disputes.
—The second Exhibition of Toys contributed and col-
lected by the members of the Dicky Bird Society, con-
ducted by Uncle Toby in the Newcastle Weekly Chrmiclc,
for distribution among poor and sick children, was
opened in the Academy of Arts, Blackett Street, New-
castle. The total number of articles received was 13,500,
or nearly double the quantity of last year. Mr. Davison
again kindly granted the use of his rooms free of charge
for the exhibition, and the shelves on which the toys
were displayed extended over a length of 1,250 feet, or
nearly a quarter of a mile. The inaugural address was
given by the Mayor of Newcastle (Mr. Thomas Bell),
and speeches were also delivered by his Honour Judge
Seymour, Q.C., LL.D. (first honorary captain of the
Dicky Bird Society), the Mayor of Gateshead (Mr.
Alderman Lucas), Mr. W. D. Stephens, Mr. Alderman
Youll, the Rev. Dr. Rutherford, Colonel Coulson, and the
Rev. Canon Franklin. During the two days of the ex-
hibition, constant streams of visitors passed in and out of
the place. So great was the crowd on Saturday (the
second day of the show) that large numbers had to go
away disappointed. Altogether it was estimated that
30,000 persons visited the exhibition. The closing ad-
dresses were delivered on the evening of Saturday, the
21st, by Mr. W. D. Stephens and Mr. Alderman Barkas.
The proceedings concluded with loud cheers for Uncle
Toby.
21. — The Christmas pantomime of " Bluebeard " was
publicly produced for the first time in the Theatre Royal,
and that of " Babes in the Wood " in the Tyne Theatre,
Newcastle.
— The completion was announced of a series of mosaic
decorations in the chancel of St. George's Church,
Osborne Road, Newcastle, the cost having been defrayed
by Mr. Charles Mitchell, of Jesmond Towers, the muni-
ficent founder of the edifice.
23. — It was announced that the Merrybent and Dar-
lington Railway had been purchased by the North-Eastern
Railway Company.
— Much damage was done by a fire which broke out at
Mr. John Marshall's brass foundry, Monkwearmouth,
Sunderland.
24. — An official intimation was received of the accept-
ance by the Northumberland miners of an advance of 10
per cent, in wages offered by the masters, with a con-
tinuance of existing working arrangements.
— Considerable sensation was created by the Midden
and mysterious disappearance of Mr. James Anderson,
one of the inspectors of the Tynemouth police force. His
cap and walking-stick were found on the lower part of the
New Quay, North Shields ; and it was feared that he
had been the victim of foul play.
25. — Fine and clear weather, without the slightest ap-
pearance of snow, prevailed on Christmas Day, and the
holiday was observed in the customary manner.
— A miner named William Newton was shot through
the eye by Michael McDermott, a companion, at Marley
Hill. The injured man was removed to the Infirmary at
Newcastle, where he died the same afternoon. The fire-
arm was believed to have gone off accidentally, but
McDermott gave himself up to the police. On being
subsequently brought before the magistrates, however, he
was discharged.
—At an early hour in the morning, the dead body o
a woman named Elizabeth Taylor, about 50 years of age.
was discovered in the back yard of a house in Hodgkinf
Street, Sunderland. The head was split open, and the
brains were protruding, death having, in the opinion of
the medical man who was summoned to the spot, been
the result of considerable violence. No clue was found to
the perpetrator of the outrage, and the coroner's jury
eventually returned an open verdict.
26. — A summary was published of the will of M •.
Edward F. Boyd, of Moorhouse, Leamside, Durham,
who died on the 31st of August, 1889, the personal estate
being sworn at £42,983 2s. 7d.
27. — It was announced that within the past few days a
new local institution had been opened in Newcastle in the
form of a Soldiers' Home, in Ancrum Street, Spital
Tongues.
February I
1890. f
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
95
— Tlie corpse of Thomas Birkett, 65 years of age, and a
pensioner of the North Eastern Railway Company, wax
discovered in a single-roomed tenement, at Carlisle, part '
of the face having been torn away and eaten by rats.
28.— The eight hours system of working was inaugu-
rated at the Redheugh and Elswick works of the New-
castle and Gateshead Gas Company.
29. — An eloquent funeral sermon on the late Bishop of
Durham was preached by Dr. Lake, Dean of Durham, in
Durham Cathedral.
30. — There were 39 prisoners for trial at Durham
Sessions.
— It was reported that during the removal of the walls
of the old Natural History Museum, in Westgate Road,
Newcastle, there had been discovered the memorial-tablet
which was affixed to the foundation stone. It was made
of earthenware, and contained a description of the pro-
ceedings, with a list of the officers of the society. The
ceremony of laying the foundation stone was performed
by the Mayor of Newcastle (Mr. John Brandling), on the
5th of August, 1833. The interesting relic was presented
by Mr. C. A. Harrison, C.E., to the Natural History
Society.
31. — Mr. Raylton Dixon, J.P., D.L., of Gunnergate
Hall, Middlesbrough, and ex-Mayor of that town, re-
ceived a communication from the Premier, the Marquis of
Salisbury, informing him that her Majesty had been
graciously pleased to confer the honour of knighthood
upon him. Sir Raylton Dixon is a native of Newcastle,
where he was born in 1838. For portrait, &c., see
Monthly Chronicle, 1889, pp. 110-112. Mr. Joseph Hick-
son, manager of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada,
another of the gentlemen on whom the honour of knight-
hood was conferred at the same time, is a native of
Otterburn, in the county of Northumberland.
— An abstract was published of the will of the late Dr.
Lightfoot, Bishop of Durham. It stated that the library
of his lordship was to be divided between the Selwyn
Divinity -School, Cambridge, and the library of the Uni-
versity of Durham. The proportion in which the dis-
tribution was to take place was left entirely in the hands
of the executors, the Ven. Archdeacon Watkins, the Rev.
G. R. Eden, and the Rev. J. R. Harmer. The bishop
left all his public works and his MSS. to trustees for the
benefit of the diocese, the profits therefrom to be used in
such way as might seem best to them, the said trustees
being the bishop for the time being of the diocese, the
archdeacons for the time being, and others to be nomi-
nated by them, the first of these being the Rev. G. R.
Eden and the Rev. J. R. Harmer.
JANUARY, 1890.
1. — The advent of the New Year was characterised by
the usual demonstrations and interchange of good wishes.
A feature of the watch-night services was a united meet-
ing of members of the Jesmond Wesleyan, Presbyterian,
and Baptist Churches, held in the last-named place of
worship. The weather was remarkably open and mild.
— The large new wing added to the Sunderland In-
firmary in memory of the late Mr. James Hartley, at one
time member for the borough, was formally opened by
Mr. Alderman Preston. The cost of the structure was
between £14,000 and £15,000, the whole of which had
been raised by voluntary subscriptions.
— Sir Horace Davey, Q C., M.P., presided at an Eis-
teddfod singing corppetition in the Town Hall, Middles-
brough, in aid of the funds of the Welsh Presbyterian
Church.
— The annual show under the auspices of the Newcastle
Terrier and Collie Club was held in the Corn Exchange,
Newcastle, 368 dogs having been entered for competition.
3. — It was announced that the old established carpet
factory of Messrs. Henderson and Co., Durham, had
been purchased by a newly formed carpet syndicate.
— An advance of a penny per hour in their wages was
conceded to the Quayside labourers in Newcastle.
— A good deal of damage was done by a fire which broke
out on the premises of Messrs. A. S. Holmes and Co.,
Northern Counties Supply Stores, opposite the Town
Hall, High Street, Stockton.
— Through the instrumentality of Mr. Thomas Stamp
Alder, about 2,000 poor children were entertained to a
substantial breakfast in the Bath Lane Hall, kindly
granted by Dr. Rutherford.
— A circular was issued to the officials and workmen
employed at the Tyne Dock Works of the Jarrow
Chemical Company, intimating that the directors had,
with much regret, come to the resolution to close the
works at South Shields when they had completed their
existing engagements and worked up their stocks in pro-
cess of manufacture.
— A miner, named Albert Hendy, 25 years of age, was
committed for trial by the Houghton-le-Spring magis-
trates on a charge of shooting Margaret Carr with a re-
volver, on the 2nd of December, 1889.
— A woman named Lilly McLarence Wilson, between 25
and 30 years of age, was found dead, with her throat cut,
in a house, 4, Pine Street, Newcastle ; and William Row,
shoemaker, with whom she cohabited there, and with
whom she had recently come from Manchester, shortly
afterwards gave himself into custody on the charge of
having pepetrated the deed. The coroner's jury lound a
verdict of wilful murder against Row, who is about 40
years of age, and the magistrates committed him for trial
on the same charge.
4. — The Cleveland ironmasters' returns showed the
total make of pig iron in the Cleveland district for the
past year to have been 2,771.000 tons, which is the largest
production on record.
5. — In the Tyne Theatre, Newcastle, Sir Frederick
Pollock, Bart, LL.D., Corpus Professor of Jurisprudence
at Oxford, lectured on " The Conditions of Modern War-
fare."
6.— At a meeting of the Tees Conservancy Com-
missioners, at Stockton, permission was given to the
War Office authorities, through Colonel Stockley, R.E.,
to proceed with the erection of a battery of quick-firing
guns on the South Gare Breakwater, for the defence of
the Tees.
—A strike took place among the shipyard platers at
Middlesbrough, but they subsequently accepted an
advance of Is. 4d. per week in their wages, and work
was resumed next day.
—New Board Schools were opened in Westoe Road,
South Shields. On the same day, new Board Schools
were opened in Oxford Street, West Hartlepool.
—Mr. Gainford Bruce, Q.C., M.P., Chancellor of the
County of Durham, commenced the sittings of the
Durham Chancery Courts.
7. — It was reported that several casei of an epidemic
disease, known as "Russian influenza, " from the fact of
96
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
J February
1 1891).
its having first appeared in Russia, had occurred in
Newcastle and district. The disease subsequently spread
almost all over the Northern Counties.
— Official declaration was made of the result of the
triennial election of the Wallsend School Board, the
poll being headed by the Rev. Girard Van Kippersluis,
Roman Catholic. Of the nine members returned, only
three had been connected with the old Board.
— James Thompson, aged 32, forge-roller, met with a
shocking death, being accidentally crushed between the
rollers at the rolling mills of Palmer & Co., Jarrow.
— Information was received which left little doubt that
the steamship Blagdon, belonging to Messrs. Robert Bell
& Co., Newcastle, and having a crew of 25 hands all told,
harl been lost on her passage between Reval and London.
8. — A new vessel, the Wild Flower, built for the
petroleum trade, which was lying in the river Wear at
Sunderland, took fire in consequence of a piece of red-hot
iron falling into a mass of paraffin oil, which had escaped
into the river. The Wild Flower, the Deronda, the
DougUs, and a tug boat lying in close proximity were
damaged by the flames, which covered a large part of
the Wear. One of the crew of the Wild Flower, a man
named John Thompson, was drowned, but two who
plungi'd into the river succeeded in gaining the shore.
— It was discovered that a man named John Ridley, of
North Road, Darlington, who had been poisoned by
laudanum on the previous day, and who had been pro-
nounced to be dead, was still alive. The coroner had
actually been apprised of the death ; but the man survived
a few hours later.
— An advance of 5 per cent, on piece prices, and a
proportionate increase on time work, took place in the
wages of platers and riveters in shipyards on the Tyne
and Wear.
—The brickworks of Mr. W. Hudspith, Haltwhistle,
were destroyed by fire.
— At 9'30 p.m., a beautiful, bright-coloured, and
clearly defined lunar rainbow was seen at the village
of Lanchester.
9. — The body of Sophia Kohen (German governess in
the household of Professor Garnett, principal of the
College of Physical Science, Newcastle) whose mysterious
disappearance about eix weeks previously caused much
sensation, was found in the river Tyne near the Elswick
Works. The deceased lady was a native of Stuttgart,
and was 23 years of age.
10. — It was announced that there had been brought to
light in the course of the excavations being carried out at
Holy Island Priory, an old well, 17 feet deep, and
another curious pit of an oval shape, 2 feet 6 inches in
depth.
— The old inn, known as the Jolly Beggars, at Wark-
worth, had recently been pulled down. While it was in
course of demolition, an ancient parchment, relating to a
sale of property in Pilgrim Street, Newcastle, and bearing
date 30th October, in the 25th year of the reign of Eliza-
beth, was discovered.
10. — The first installation of the public electric lighting
was made in Newcastle by the Newcastle and District
Electric Lighting Company. Several shops and other
business establishments in Grainger Street and neighbour-
hood were illuminated by the new medium.
dtneral Occurrences.
DECEMBER, 1889.
10. — Mr. John Cameron Macdonald, manager of The
Times, died at his residence, Waddon, Croydon, aged 67.
— A panic occurred at the Opera House, Johnstown,
Pennsylvania, U.S.A., by a false alarm of fire being
raised. Fifteen lives were lost, while a great many
persons were severely injured.
12.— The employees of the South Metropolitan Gas Com-
pany went out on strike — in all, about 2,000.
13. — Information was received of a slaughter of exiles
at Yakutsh, Eastern Siberia, by Russian police and
soldiers.
16. — The jury in the Cronin trial at Chicago, U.S.,
returned a verdict of guilty against Coughlin, Burke, and
O'Sullivan, who were sentenced to imprisonment for life.
20. — A great fire occurred at Pesth, the German theatre
in that city being completely destroyed.
23. — Brutal and disgraceful scenes took place at a prize
fisrht between two pugilists named Slavin and Smith, at
Bruges, Belgium.
24. — Dr. Charles Mackay, poet and journalist, died at
his residence, Longride Road, Earl's Court, London, in
the 77th year of his age.
28. — The ex-Empress of Brazil died at Oporto.
29. — The steamship Ovington, belonging to the Tyne,
came into collision with the steamer Queen Victoria, in
the Clyde, and was sunk. Six lives were lost.
31. — A terrible fire took place at the West Ham
Industrial School, London, where 26 children were
suffocated.
During the latter part of this month the influenza
epidemic which had been raging in Russia made its
appearance in England. Many fatal cases occurred in
London and various parts of the country.
JANUARY, 1890.
1. — The royal castle of Laeken, Belgium, was entirely
destroyed by fire. One life was lost, and the art treasures
were all consumed.
4. — A disastrous avalanche of snow fell at Sierra City,
California, causing the loss of many lives.
7. — A waterspout occurred near Nanking, China, and
drowned over a hundred people.
— The Dowager Empress Augusta of Germany died at
Berlin, aged 79.
10. — News was published at Berlin that Lieutenant
Von Gravenreuth, Major Wissmann's second in command,
and two other German officers had been taken prisoners
by Bwana Heri, an Arab chief who had lately been de-
feated by the Germans in East Africa.
— Fourteen men were drowned in a huge caisson while
laying the foundations of a new bridge over the Ohio
river, United States.
— Dr. John Joseph Ignatius Dollinger, historian and
divine, died at Munich, aged 91.
— In reply to an ultimatum from England demanding
the withdrawal of all Portuguese, military or civilians,
from territories declared to be under British protection in
Central Africa, the Portuguese Government signified its
intention to comply with the demand.
Printed by WALTBB SCOTT, Felling-on-Tyne.
OF
Chronicle
NORTH-COUNTRY*LORE*AND*LEGEND
VOL. IV.— No. 37.
MARCH, 1890.
PRICE 6n.
(Eft* 23n'to£ttttoictn*
Part HI.— She
j]MONG the captives taken at Preston were
Lords Derwentwater, Widdrington, Niths-
dale, Wintoun, Carnwath, Kenmure, Nairn,
and Charles Murray, as well as members of
the ancient Northern families of Collingwood, Thornton,
Shafto, Charlton, Riddell, Clavering, and Swinburne.
The number of prisoners taken, of all kinds, was about
1,600.
On laying down their arms, the unhappy prisoners were
confined in one of the churches. Here many of them
were so ranch in want of decent clothing that they stripped
the pews of their baize-linings to protect themselves from
the severity of the weather. Six of their number were
condemned to be shot by martial law, as holding com-
missions under the Government against which they had
borne arms. A great number of the private rebels were
banished to the plantations of America, the very fate the
dread of which made the Highlanders so unwilling to
enter England.
The Earl of Derwentwater, with upwards of two hun-
dred other prisoners, was escorted to London, which was
reached on the 9th of December. On the way, it is re-
ported that Derwentwater inquired how he and his
brother prisoners were likely to be disposed of. On being
told, he rejoined that there was one house which would
hold them all, and they had the best title to it of any
people in Europe— that was the Bedlam Hospital ! At
Highgate, the cavalcade was met by a detachment of
guards, commanded by Major-General Tatton. Upon
entering the town, the arms of each prisoner were
pinioned, and his horse was led by a foot soldier with
fixed bayonet. The captive lords and gentlemen rode
two abreast, in four divisions, each of which was pre-
ceded by a party of horse with drawn swords, and the
drums of the escort beat a triumphal march. At the head
of the fourth division rode the Earl of Derwentwater and
the other English noblemen, with a priest, accompanied
by Mr. Forster and Patten, his chaplain. At the head of
another division rode the Scottish lords and the chief of
Mackintosh. A company of dragoons brought up the
rear. Past St. Giles's Pound and St. Giles's Church, at
that time still in the Fields, through Holborn to New-
gate, and through the chief streets of the city to the more
distant Tower, the cavalcade advanced, attended by
crowds of persons, some mounted, others in coaches, but
the bulk on foot, **so that the road," says a writer who
describes this strange spectacle, " was scarcely passable,
and the windows and balconies were filled by people."
Lord Derwentwater, with the other noblemen, was con-
ducted to the Tower ; Charles Radcliffe, Forster, Mack-
intosh, and about seventy other prisoners were conveyed
to Newgate ; the rest were located in the Marshalsea and
the Fleet.
When Parliament opened on January 9, 1716, Mr.
Lechmere, an influential member of the House of Com-
mons, after a long and vehement speech, in which he
descanted upon the guilt of the insurgents, and the
"many miraculous providences " which had baffled their
designs, moved to impeach Lords Derwentwater, Wid-
drington, Nithsdale, Wintoun, Carnwath, Kenmure, and
Nairn of high treason. No opposition was offered, and the
impeachment was carried up to the Lords on the same day.
98
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/March
\ 1890.
On February 9th, the noble prisoners were arraigned at
Westminster. Lord Derwentwater pleaded guilty, ac-
knowledged his guilt, and threw himself upon the king's
mercy. He pleaded his youth and inexperience and various
other palliating circumstances with which his case was at-
tended— affirmed that his temper and inclination disposed
him to live peaceably under his Majesty's Government,
that he had never had any previous connection with any
designs to subvert the reigning family, and that he took
the first opportunity of submitting to the King's mercy ;
and concluded with a hope that their lordships would use
their mediation for mercy on his behalf, which would lay
him under the highest obligations of duty and affection to
his Majesty, and perpetual gratitude to both Houses of
Parliament. In spite of this appeal, however, he was
condemned to suffer death as a traitor, according to its
ancient barbarous form. The sentence was: — ''You
must be hanged by the neck, but not till you are dead,
for you must be cut down alive ; then your bowels must
be taken out and burned before your face; then your
head must be severed from your body, and your body
divided into four quarters, and these must be at the
king's disposal." Orders, however, were afterwards
issued that he should be merely beheaded, and his body
given up to his friends.
Great interest was exerted with the Court and both
Houses of Parliament in behalf of the earl. Lady Der-
wentwater, accompanied by the Duchesses of Cleveland
and Bolton and other ladies of the first rank, was intro-
duced into the king's bedchamber, where she humbly im-
plered his clemency for her unfortunate husband. Ap-
peals were made to the cupidity, as well as to the com-
passion, of his Majesty's ministers ; and Sir Robert
Walpole declared in the House of Commons that £60,000
had been offered to him if he would obtain the pardon of
the earl. Several of the staunchest Whigs in the House
of Commons, amongst others Sir Richard Steele, were
inclined to mercy ; but Walpole, though usually distin-
guished by personal lenity and forbearance, took the lead
in urging measures of severity, and declared that he was
"moved with indignation to see that there should be such
unworthy members of this great body who can without
blushing open ther mouths in favour of rebels and par-
ricides." The minister moved the adjournment of the
House till the 1st of March, it being understood that the
condemned noblemen would be executed in the interval ;
but he carried his motion only by a majority of seven.
In the Upper House, a still more effectual stand was
made on the side of mercy. The Duke of Richmond, a
near relative of Lord Derwentwater's, consented to pre-
sent a petition in his favour, though he voted against it.
But the Earl of Nottingham, President of the Council,
who in former times had been a supporter of Tory prin-
ciples, suddenly gave his support to the petition. This
unexpected defection from the Ministerial ranks made
the resistance of the Government unavailing, and an ad-
dress to the King for a reprieve for such of the condemned
lords as should deserve his mercy was carried by a ma-
jority of five. This result astonished and alarmed the
Ministers, who met in Council the same evening, and
drew up the King's answer to the address, merely stating
" that on this and all other occasions he would do what
he thought most consistent with the dignity of his crown
and the safety of his people." It was determined to com-
ply with the opinion and feeling of the House of Lords so
far as to respite the Earl or Carnwath and Lord Wid-
drington ; but, to prevent any other interference, the
three remaining peers were ordered for execution next
morning. The same evening, however, Lord Nithsdale
escaped out of the Tower ; and thus the number of noble
victims was finally reduced to two — Lord Derwentwater
and Lord Kenmure.
During the night preceding his execution the earl wrote
a number of letters which, as his last work on earth, and
his farewell to friends, may be fittingly reproduced here.
The first is a letter to Lady Derwentwater : —
My Dearest Worldly Treasure, — I have sent you the
enclosed, in which is contained all I know, but God
knows I have as yet found little advantage by being a
plain dealer, but, on the contrary, have always suffered
for it, except by my sincerity to you, my dear, for which
you made me as happy as this world can afford ; and now
I offer up the loss I am likely to have of you as a means
to procure me eternal happiness, where I pray God we
may meet after you have some years exercised y«ur vir-
tues, to the edification of all that know you. I have
corrected a few faults in Croft's accounts, but I leave it to
you to order everything as you please, for I am morally
sure, with the grace of God, you will keep your promise.
Somebody must take care of my poor brother Charles, to
save him if possible. I will recommend him, however, by
a few circular lines to my acquaintage. Lord Nithsdale
has made his escape, upon which our unreasonable gover-
nor locked up the gates, and would not let me send the
enclosed to you, and immediately locked us all up, though
it was not eight of the clock, and could not be my fault,
though it may prove my misfortane, by his management.
If you do not think the enclosed signifies, make what use
you will of it. Adieu, my dear, dear comfort !
The next is a letter addressed to Sir John Webb and hia
wife. It iB as follows : —
The night before execution.
My dear Father and Mother,— By giving me your
charming daughter you made me the happiest of men.
For she loves me tenderly and constantly ; she is honour
itself, and has had my honour for this world very much
at heart, but my happiness in the next is what has made
her very vigilant to support all her misfortunes and mine.
This morning we parted— my heart and hers were ready
to break ; but, thank God, we gave one another the best
advice we could, and so in parting I offered up the loss of
the greatest wordly treasure. I beg your pardon for
having been the occasion of her unhappiness, but as yon are
both very good, I am persuaded you will think her dear
soul in a good safe way ; in short, she is virtue itself, and
I all frailty who am, dear father and mother, your dutiful
and loving son, DERWENTWATEB.
Execution day at 5 o'clock in the morning.
February 23rd [2+th").
I wish your family, and all under your care, may do
well, and that my poor little ones — being under my dear
wife's management, and then if she fails, to Sir John —
may follow the like good example, and be comfort to my
dear, dear wife's friends.
March 1
.1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
99
There is another letter to Lady Derwentwater, appar-
ently unfinished : —
My Dearest Worldly Treasure,— Take courage, and
call upon God Almighty. Do not let any melancholy
thought get the better of your virtues and your courage,
which have been such an example to me. I deliver up
my soul to God Almighty, and thus, through the merits
of my dear Saviour's passion, I hope to obtain everlasting
happiness. Tell Lord Scarborough, and Lord Lumley,
and shew them this, by which as a man dying, I desire
them to be true to their trust, by assisting you, my dear
wife, or Sir John Webb, against anything that may hap-
pen to disturb the bringing up of my children in my reli-
gion, and after the way you or Sir John shall think fit.
This service is in their power, and I do not doubt of their
being true to their trust.
T* his mother, who had then married Mr. James
Rooke, her third husband, the earl wrote as follows : —
Dear Mother, — Within five hours of the time of execu-
tion I write these lines to ask your blessing ; to assure you
that though I have not been brought up with you, I have
-all the natural love and duty that is owing to a mother,
who has shown her tenderness particularly in my last
misfortune, and it is in necessity that one should find
one's friends. I thank God, I forgive my greatest ene-
mies, recommending my soul to Almighty God. I hope,
if you are inclined to think my religion the best, that you
will consider one must not trifle with our Saviour, for
fear of a surprise ; in short, I wish you as well as myself,
and remain, dear, dear Mother, your dutiful son to the last
moment, JAMES DERWENTWATEB.
I wish Mr. Rooke very well ; he is a man of great
honour, and I hope you will bear with one another, as
married people must make each other happy.
On the morning of the 24th February the victims were
•brought to the scaffold on Tower Hill. Lord Derwent-
water was first conducted to the fatal spot. He was
observed to turn very pale as he ascended the steps ; but
his voice was firm, and his demeanour steady and com-
posed. Having passed some time in prayer, he requested
permission to read a paper which he had drawn up. This
request being readily granted, he went to the rails of the
scaffold, and read the following statement : —
Being in a few minutes to appear before the tribunal
of God, where, though most unworthy, I hope to find
mercy, which I have not found from men now in power, I
have endeavoured to make iny peace with his Divine
Majesty, by most humbly begging pardon for all the sins
of my life ; and I doubt not of a merciful forgiveness
through the merits of the passion and death of my Saviour,
Jesus Christ, tor which end I earnestly desire the prayers
of all good Christians. After this, I am to ask pardon
of those whom I might have scandalised by pleading
guilty at my trial. Such as were permitted to come to me
told me that, having been undeniably in arms, pleading
guilty was but the consequence of having submitted to
mercy ; and many arguments were used to prove there
•was nothing of moment in so doing . . . But
I am sensible that in this I have made bold with my
loyalty, having never any other but King James the
Third for my rightful and lawful sovereign. Him I had
an inclination to serve from my infancy, and was moved
thereto by a natural love I had to his person, knowing
him to be capable of making his people happy. And
though he had been of a different religion from mine, I
should have done for him all that lay in my power, as my
ancestors have done for his predecessors, being thereunto
bound by the laws of God and man. Wherefore, if in
this affair I have acted rashly, it ought not to affect the
innocent. I intended to wrong nobody, but to serve my
King and country, and that without self-interest, hoping
by the example I gave, to have induced others to do their
duty ; and God, who sees the secrets of my heart knows I
speak truth. Some means have been proposed to me for
saving my life, which I looked upon as inconsistent with
honour and conscience, and therefore I rejected them ; for
with God's assistance I shall prefer any death to the
doing a base unworthy action. I only wish now that the
laying down my life might contribute to the service of
my King and country, and the re-establishment of the
ancient and fundamental constitution of these kingdoms,
without which no lasting peace or true happiness can
attend them. Then I should indeed part with life even
with pleasure. As it is, I can only pray that these bles-
sings may be bestowed upon my dear country ; and since
I can do no more, I beseech God to accept of my life as a
small sacrifice towards it. I die a Roman Catholic. lam
in perfect charity with all the world — I thank God for it
— even with those of the present Government who are
most instrumental in my death. I freely forgive such as
ungenerously reported false things of me ; and I hope to
be forgiven the trespasses of my youth by the Father of
infinite mercy, into whose hand I commend my soul.
JAMES DERWENTWATER.
P.S. — If that Prince who now governs had given me
my life. I should have thought myself obliged never more
to have taken up arms against him.
After reading this paper, he turned to the block, and
viewed it closely. Finding in it a rough place that might
hurt his neck, he desired the executioner to chip it off.
This being done, he prepared himself for the blow by
taking off his coat and waistcoat ; and, fitting his head to
the block, he told the executioner that, upon his repeating
for the third time the sentence, "Dear Jesus, be merciful
to me ! " he was to perform his office. At these words,
accordingly, the executioner raised his nxe and severed
the head from the body at one blow.
Thus died, in his twenty-eighth year, the unfortunate
Earl of Derwentwater. In a few minutes afterwards, the
equally unfortunate Earl of Kenmure submitted to the
same violent death.
It was reported that, the evening before his execution,
the Earl of Derwentwater sent for Mr. Roome, an
undertaker, to give him directions regarding his funeral,
and desired that a silver plate might be put upon his
coffin, with an inscription importing that he died a
sacrifice for his lawful sovereign ; but Mr. Roome
hesitating to comply with the request, he was dis-
missed. This was the reason no hearse was provided
at his execution. The earl's head was taken 'up by
one of his servants, and put into a clean handkerchief,
while the b»dy was wrapped in black cloth, both
being conveyed to the Tower. The name of this
servant was Francis Wilson, who shortly afterwards
came to reside at Nafferton, about five miles eastward
from Dilston, on the opposite side of the Tyne, where
he lived until about 1773. Wilson treasured with great
care the handkerchief in which he wrapped the head of
the earl and a pair of silver buckles which he wore. The
remains were said to have been subsequently buried
in St. Giles's-in-the-Fields. It is not known whether
a mock-funeral only took place, or the body was after-
wards disinterred, but it is certain that it was carried
into Northumberland, and deposited in the family vault
at Dilston, where it was seen, in 1805, by a deputation
from the Greenwich Hospital Commissioners. According
to tradition, the remains were secretly conveyed to hia
100
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/March
\ 1890.
native county, the procession moving only by night, and
resting by day in chapels dedicated to the exercise of
the Roman Catholic religion, where the funeral services
of that church were performed, until the approach of
night permitted the procession to resume its progress
northward. The first place out of London at which the
body rested was Dagenham Park, near Romford, in
Essex, which Lady Derwentwater rented during her
lord's imprisonment. At Ingatestone there was, many
years ago, in an almshouse founded by Lord Petre's
family, an old woman who had frequently heard from
her mother that she assisted in sewing on the earl's
head. Another servant of the earl, named Dunn, who
drove the carriage with the remains from London to
Dilston, afterwards resided and died at the Burnt House
near Netherton. At Thorndon (Lord Petre's seat), there
is an oaken chest with an inscription in brass, engraved
by Lady Derwentwater's orders, containing Lord Der-
wentwater's dress which he wore on the scaffold — coat,
waistcoat, and small-clothes of black velvet ; stockings
that rolled over the knee ; a wig of very fair hair, that
fell down on each side of the breast ; a part of his shirt,
the neck having been cut away; the black serge that
covered the scaffold ; and also a piece which covered the
block, stiff with blood, and with the marks of the axe
in it.
The fate of the young nobleman excited very general
commiseration, especially in the North of England,
where he had been deservedly beloved for his amiable
qualities. The large number of sympathetic ballads in
existence shows that popular feeling was enlisted on
his behalf. In his "Visits to Remarkable Places,"
William Howitt thua summarises the state of matters
in Northumberland : — "The apparent cruelty of the
Earl's execution led to his being esteemed in the light
of a martyr ; handkerchiefs steeped in his blood were
preserved as sacred relics ; and when the mansion-house
was demolished, amid the regrets of the neighbourhood.
Execution of Lord D 'erivc nJ~n/dfcr.
^ fro in an Old Print.)
March!
1890. I
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
101
there was great difficulty in obtaining hands to assist in
a work of destruction which was considered almost
sacrilegious. The ignorant peasantry, too, were not slow
to receive the superstitious stories that were propagated ;
and often has the wandering rustic, beside the winter's
hearth, listened to the fearful tale of how the spouts
of Dilston Hall ran blood, and the very corn which
was in the act of being ground came from the mill
tinged with a sanguine hue on the day the earl was
beheaded. The aurora borealis was observed to flash
with unwonted brilliancy on that fatal night — an
omen, it was said, of heaven's wrath ; and to this
day many of the country people know that meteor
only by the name of 'Lord Derwentwater's Lights.'"
The body was interred at Dilston, after having been
embalmed. The embalming process rendered it necessary
to remove the heart, which, according to popular report,
was placed in a casket and conveyed to Angers, in
France. Here it was in the care of a body of English
nuns. It afterwards was removed to the chapel of the
Auerustine nuns at Paris, where it remained until, during
the turmoil of the French Revolution, it was taken from
the niche in the wall in which it rested, and was buried
in a neighbouring cemetery.
Lord Derwentwater left two children — a son and
daughter. The latter, born in 1716, after her father's
death, married, in 1732, Lord Petre. The son died in
France at the age of nineteen, in consequence, it is
said, of a fall from his horse. Lady Derwentwater died
at the age of thirty, and was buried at Louvain.
Some time after the execution of Lords Derwentwater
and Kenmure, several of the less distinguished leaders
of the rebellion perished at Tyburn ; amongst these,
however, were not numbered Forster, Mackintosh, and
Charles Radcliffe, who, as well as some other persons,
effected their escape from Neweate. Charles Radcliffe,
however, escaped only for a time the death to which he
was condemned (May 8, 1716). He found an asylum in
France, where he lived in a state of great indigence, and
where, in 1724, he married Lady Charlotte Mary Living-
stone, Countess of Newbrough in her own right. In
1733, and again in 1735, he paid a visit to England, and
made an unsuccessful attempt to obtain a pardon. At
last, in 1745, his ardent spirit was roused to action by
the attempt of Prince Charles Stuart to regain the throne
of his ancestors. Accompanied by his son and several
Scotch and Irish officers, he embarked on board a French
ship-of-war, bound for the coast of Scotland, and fell into
the hands of the Hanoverians. After lying a year in
confinement, Charles Radcliffe was brought to the bar
of the King's Bench, when the sentence which had been
passed upon him thirty years before was again read to
him. Radcliffe pleaded that he was a subject of France,
and that he held a commission from the French king ;
but the court overruled the plea, and he was condemned
to die. He perished on a scaffold on Tower Hill, on
the 8th of December, 1746, in the fifty-fourth year of
his age.
The estates of the Radcliffes wer« confiscated by the
Government, and handed over to the authorities of
Greenwich Hospital. Most of them have since been
sold to private owners. Langley Castle and the land
IN MEMO Rr OP
J AME S 8 CHflRLEi
| VliCOKNTS LANCLElf I
EARLOF OERW£(TTWM£ft
6EHE«r>EOOWn»WE« Hilt- '
F£BfTf6 t (DEC 1146 |
FOR LQYftLTYTO
THEN? LAWFUL
around it were purchased by Mr. Cadwallader J. Bates,
who erected near the castle a few years ago the memorial
cross of which we give an engraving.
Curtrijp
» th.c late S
flobjson.
j]F the tale of agricultural improvement could
be told in any two syllables, it would be
those which spell turnips. To ask a farmer
now-a-days to farm without turnips, would
be like asking the Israelites of old to make bricks without
straw; and yet there was a time, and not so far back
102
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/March
in the history of this country, when turnips were as great
a novelty as guano was in our own day. There were no
turnip* at no very remote period. Turnip husbandry is
later than our first turnpike road. Let us learn from
Macaulay what our fathers had to do and to do without
u the days when there were no turnips : —
The rotation of crops was very imperfectly understood.
It was known, indeed, that some vegetables lately intro-
duced into our island, particularly the turnip, afforded
excellent nutriment in winter to sheep and oxen ; but it
was not yet the practice to feed cattle in this manner.
It was therefore by no means easy to keep them alive
during the season when the grass is scanty. They were
killed and salted in great numbers at the beginning of
the cold weather ; and, during several months, even
the gentry tasted scarcely any fresh animal food, except
game and river fish, which were consequently much more
important articles in housekeeping than at present. It
appears from the Northumberland Household Book that
in the reign of Henry the Seventh fresh meat was never
eaten even by the gentlemen attendant on a great Earl,
except during the short interval between Midsummer and
Michaelmas. But in the course of two centuries an
improvement had taken place ; and under Charles the
Second it was not till the beginning of November that
families laid in their stock of salt provisions, then called
Martinmas beef.
What would we say if for only three instead of nine
months of the year we had to go without fresh meat, nay,
what if for only one single month ? We cannot conceive
the possibility of not being able to procure fresh beef and
mutton either for love or money. The thing seems pre-
posterous, and the idea incredible. But if in aught
history is to be believed, this was the case in the reign
of the Second Charles and for long afterwards. How
long afterwards is more than I can say, and I am not
disposed to hazard a conjecture. I have no wish to
discredit my authority, and I am ready to admit that
by the reign of Charles the Second the turnip had been
introduced into this country. So had the potato in the
reign of Elizabeth or that of James the First. But
neither had become generally known. Sir Walter Scott
tells us that in Scotland, so late as in 1745, the now
all but universally grown potato was then all but totally
unknown, and that the only esculent of the cottar was
the kail or colewort which grew luxuriantly amidst
nettles and national thistles. If the potato was so long in
making its way, how long might not have been the
turnip ? It is one thing for a root or a plant to be known
as a botanical curiosity, or even as being grown in
gardens, and quite another to have it as the subject of
cultivation as common husbandry. The fact is that the
turnip as a root to be raised in the fields was unknown
in this country until after the accession of the House
of Hanover in 1714. The Marquis of Townshend was
made Secretary of State at the accession of George I.
in 1714, continued in office until the close of 1716,
and resumed office again in 1721. Now George I., much
to the dissatisfaction and disgust of the English people,
was continually visiting and sojourning at the petty place
from which he came. As far as might depend upon the
king personally, Britain for half the year round was
ruled from Hanover. While at Herenhauseu, the king
. had, as a matter of course, to be attended by an English
Minister, and the Marquis of Townshend was the one
who went oftenest abroad. It was in Hanover where the
Marquis of Townshend first saw turnips growing in tho
fields, and from whence he introduced their cultivation
into his own county of Norfolk. According to John
Grey, of Dilston, no turnips grew on a Northumberland
field until between the years 1760 and 1770, although they
had been sown and reared in gardens for several years
before.
When turnips were first introduced, there was a pre-
judice against them on account of their coming from
Hanover. But I venture to say that the turnip was cheap
to this country at the cost of all the wars which ever
we were driven or drawn in to wage for German objects
and German interests. What, indeed, has not turnip
husbandry done for England ? Why, practically, it has
doubled our acreage and doubled the duration of our
summer. Turnips are the raw material of beef and
mutton. Turnips have made us for a very great part of
the year independent of grass, and have enabled us to go
on feeding the whole year round. How could the present
population be found with animal food except by means of
turnips? If that man is a benefactor to his species who
makes two blades of grass grow where one grew before,
what must the Marquis of Townshend have been to have
found food for nations and generations ? And yet the
Marquis of Townshend is hardly so much as noticed in
history for the introduction of turnips. What signify
Ministerial intrigues and Parliamentary squabbles at this
day? Half a line of Pope has made Townshend im-
mortal—"All Townshend's turnips and all Grosvenor's
mines."
We are apt to regard Christmas beef as something
coeval with creation. There could not be any such thing
as Christmas beef in the first quarter of the last century.
We talk fondly of roast beef being true old English fare.
We might rather have termed it rare old English fare, for
our fathers only knew it from Midsummer to Martin-
mas.
But the good of turnip husbandry is not by any means
confined te the production of beef and mutton. Turnips
make manure, and manure makes corn. Turnips really
and truly mean everything. Get but turnips, and all
other things are added, or rather implied. The great
value of guano and other portable manures is in enabling
turnips to be grown. No man can tell how much turnip
husbandry has not augmented our annual product of corn.
Neither can any man measure how much turnip hus-
bandry has increased, is increasing, and will increase our
national wealth. If Grosvenor's mines had been as rich
as those of Peru, they could not have done so much for
England and the English people as Townshend's turnips.
Marohl
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
103
Sulfa J*. <®tav$e.
j]ROAD CHARE, a thoroughfare running
between the Quayside and the Cowgate,
Newcastle, now almost entirely given over
to commercial purposes, has the honour of
being the birthplace of Julia St. George, a famous
actress of the past generation. There is some romance
about Julia's family history. Her father had been a
lieutenant in the English army; but, becoming enamoured
of the stage, he sold his commission, and, much against
the wishes of his wife, became an actor. He was a native
of Switzerland, having been born in Berne, whilst his
father, who held a commission in the German Legion,
was a Frenchman by birth, and his mother was a German
lady. The mother of Miss St. George was born at
Alnmouth, in Northumberland. When Julia was but
seven months old her father died ; and shortly afterwards
her mother removed with her little family to No. 4-7,
Blackett Street, where they resided for several years.
Then they quitted that house for a picturesque old
cottage near the Oatmeal Mill in Pandon Dene. The
old cottage is depicted in the accompanying sketch.
"Those were happy days," says Miss St. George in a
letter to the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle in 1883 ; " for I
had a sweet little garden within the palings that are
shown in the picture." Julia received her education at
the academy kept by Mr. Hay, at the corner of St.
Mary's Place and Northumberland Street. Mr. Hay,
who was one of the kindliest of human beings, called
upon the mother of the future actress and offered to
educate her little girl free of charge.
The professional career of Miss St. George commenced
when she was a mere child, and her first appearance
before the public was at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle,
when the house was under the management of Mr.
Penley. She represented a child's part in the lyrical
drama of the "Soldier's Daughter," and the celebrated
Mrs. Nesbit appeared in the piece. She next appeared
on the same stage as Albert in " William Tell," with Mr.
Sheridan Knowles. These data are important as en-
tirely upsetting an old and romantic story that Miss St.
George's talents were accidentally discovered by Mr-
Ternan, another lessee of the Theatre Royal, New-
castle, who, it was said, whilst walking through the
shady paths of Pandon Dene, heard her singing in her
mother's cottage. Miss St. George's third appearance
before the public was at the evening concerts of the
Polytechnic Exhibition held in Newcastle in 1840. Two
concerts, given under the auspices of the local Philhar-
monic Society, next brought the juvenile vocalist before
the public, and it may be mentioned that Miss Clara
Novello and Miss Birch were amongst the artistes who
appeared at these entertainments. Afterwards came the
Saturday Night Concerts in the Lecture Room. The
child would be about ten years old at this time, and no
doubt she was small enough in stature to give some
colour to the statement so often made that she was
placed upon a chair in order that she might be seen
whilst singing. The songs which brought her into
greatest favour with the public at these entertainments
were "The Banks of Allan Water" and "My Mother
bids me Bind my Hair." An engagement with Mr.
Ternan, at the Theatre Royal, was then procured for her
and she appeared as the Duke of York in "Richard III.,'
and (with great success) as Prince Arthur in "Kim?
John." The wonderful talents as a vocalist which the
little actress possessed were utilised for singing popular
airs, such as "Meet me in the Willow Glen," &c.,
between the play and the after-piece. Under the kindly
care of Mrs. Ternan, Miss St. George accompanied the
company to Carlisle and Doncaster, and at the conclusion
of short seasons in the two towns returned again to New-
castle.
Thoroughly launched, by this time, on a professional
career, the young girl filled successful engagements in
Liverpool, Dublin, and Edinburgh. In the last-named
city she appeared at the Theatre Royal, then under the
management of Mr. Murray, and by her splendid render-
ing of operatic and other ballads took the place by storm.
So great was her success in this series of performances,
that it procured her the offer of a London engagement at
an unusually early period ; and from Edinburgh she
went to the metropolis, where she joined the company
under the management of Mr. Phelps at Sadler's Wells
Theatre. At first she appeared in the soubrette parts of
the lighter pieces produced at that home of the legitimate
drama ; but Mr. Phelps quickly formed a high estimate
of her talents, and, in allusion to her smallness of stature,
104
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
( March
\ 1890.
he was wont to say : "If I thought you would grow two
inches taller, I'd come and sprinkle you with a watering-
pot every morning." When "The Tempest" was brought
out at "the Wells," the young actress was cast for the
part of Ariel. The performance was Miss St. George's
first real success in London. The critics were unanimous
in its praise, and The Times and the Athenaum were
especially emphatic in their commendations. From this
time forward the Newcastle actress was an established
favourite in the metropolis, and she made her home by
the banks of the Thames. Her engagement with Mr.
Phelps lasted for three seasons, and she only quitted the
Sadler's Wells company to join that enlisted under the
banner of Charles Mathews and Madame Vestris at the
Lyceum, the fashionable theatre of the day.
The principal parts in burlesques, extravaganzas, oper-
ettas, and burlettas were allotted to her at this house,
and under the fostering care of Madame Vestris she
attained ihe zenith of her powers. For eight seasons this
engagement lasted, and during the summer vacation of
each year she regularly visited the provinces. She
appeared in Newcastle in the course of one of her brief
provincial tours, and the enthusiasm with which she
was received during the performance has been described
as something marvellous. Thoroughly mistress of her
business as an actress, she imparted a charm and a
brightness to her impersonations in operetta or extrava-
ganza which the audiences found to be well-nigh irre-
sistible. One of the airs in which she made the strongest
impression was Balfe's " We may be Happy yet."
At the close of her engagement at the Lyceum, Hiss
St. George joined the Olympic Company, which was
under the management of Mr. Alfred Wigan. Here
she was associated with the memorable burlesque tri-
umphs in which the great Robson figured so conspicuously,
and in the "King of the Gold Mines," "The First
Night," and "The Discreet Princess," she sustained the
fame which she had won at the Lyceum. After an
engagement extending over three years, Misa St. George
closed her connection with Mr. Wigan's company, her
intention being to undertake a tour as a public enter-
tainer— a line of business in which Miss Priscilla Horton,
Miss Emma Stanley, and others had earned much more
money than could be obtained in theatrical companies.
A musical and dramatic entertainment, entitled " Home
and Foreign Lyrics "—written by Misa A. B. Edwards,
the music by J. F. Duggan — brought her before the
public in a new character, and she was again most
successful. This was in 1856, and the enterprise was
continued for about a couple of years.
But the fair entertainer found that the task of incessant
travelling from town to town, combined with that of
commanding the approval of her audiences single-handed,
was more than her physical powers would bear, and so
she relinquished the adventure. For nearly twenty
years afterwards Miss St. George retained a hign
LI 1 1 1- V>>> "I "(MAW
Home 'of Mia stueorje, HI
_Pgn<Lin- Desi* Mew castle .
March!
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
105
position in London and the provinces as a vocalist,
Actress, and elocutionist. Since her retirement from the
stage, the accomplished actress whose name and fame
are associated with Pandon Dene has lived tranquilly
and quietly in London.
Caultrvmt
OME ten miles from its source the river
Tees expands into a kind of lake called
the Weel, or Wield, whence it rushes
over a rocky bed, and forms innumerable cascades.
About a mile below the Weel is the cascade known
as Cauldron Snout. Such is the force of the water
there that it is asserted by some authorities a tremulous
motion is communicated to the adjacent rocks. This is as
wild and eerie a spot as is to be found in the county of
Durham. Situate about a dozen miles from Middleton-
in-Teesdale, and about the same distance from Appleby
in Westmoreland, it is quite out of the beaten track of
the tourist ; indeed, few but ardent naturalists ever visit
the spot, and then only for the rare entomological and
botanical specimens' that may be found in the district.
The geologist will view with interest the Falcon Glints, a
huge mass of greenstone on the left bank of the Tees,
extending for some distance from the vicinity of Cauldron
Snout. The only signs of human life near are some lead
mines ; all else is bleak moorland. Our sketch of the
scenery around Cauldron Snout is copied from Allom's
Views.
Cfcarltri antr
JUGENE D'ALBERT (or, to (rive his full
name, Eugene Francois Charles d'Albert),
who was. born in Glasgow, on Sunday,
April 10, 1864-, is the younger son of the
late Charles Louis Napoleon d'Albert. The certificate
of the birth and baptism of Eugene's father (which I
have read myself) proves, beyond doubt, that Charles
d'Albert was born at Nienstiidten — a village near the
Elbe, on the road between Hamburg and Blankenese —
on February 25, 1809, and was baptised in the Roman
Catholic Church there on June 20, 1810. From the same
certificate we learn also that Charles d'Albert's father
was a cavalry captain in the French Army, and that his
mother, Chretienne Sophie Henriette, ntje Schultz, was a
native of Hamburg. I have seen, too, a peculiar kind
of coin, or medal, which bears on one side the head of
Louis XV. of France, and on the other a prelate blessing
a man and woman. Round the edge of the coin ia
engraved the names of Charles d'Albert's parents,
married August 16, 1805.
Several years after this marriage, the mother and son
migrated to England, where Madame d'Albert, by her
accomplishments, gained a livelihood and educated her
child. Although it is not known for certain at what
time they settled in England, I have authority for stating
that they arrived in this country before Charles was 19
years of age. The mother was a good musician, and the
106
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/March
t 1890.
boy's first musical education in Mozart, Haydn, and
Beethoven was imparted by her. Whilst they were
living in London, Charles d'Albert received lessons on
the piano from Kalkbrenner, and several years after he
became a pupil of Dr. Wesley in composition. He also
learnt dancing at the King's Theatre, London, and at the
Conservatoire in Paris. On his return to England from
Paris, he became ballet master at the King's Theatre and
at Covent Garden. He soon relinquished these posts,
and devoted himself to teaching dancing and composing
dance music. He ultimately settled in Newcastle-on-
Tyne, where, in 1835, he published a work on "Bali-
Room Etiquette." In 1863, he married Mis? Annie
Rowell— a lady who kept a school in North Street, Queen
Square, Newcastle.
Mr. Charles d'Albert, who enjoyed great fame both as
an excellent dancing master and as a composer of popular
and graceful dance music, taught generation after
peneration of the bonnie lasses of the "canny toon"
the Art of Terpsichore. His teaching connection was so
large that he also went every year to Scotland to give
lessons ; and it was during one of his professional visits
there with his wife that Eugene was born in Glasgow.
Mr. Chappel, the well-known London music publisher,
stood godfather to Eugene. The boy, who lived with
his parents in Leazes Terrace, Newcastle, at a very early
age manifested a marvellous talent and love for music.
One day— when Eugene was only a few years old— a lady
friend called upon his parents, and sang to them some
Christmas carols. After she had finished, the boy, to
the great astonishment of those present, went straight to
the pianoforte and played the same carols quite correctly,
though he had heard them only once.
Eugene never cared for presents of toys or to play with>
other children, but was always to be found at the piano,
or writing music on every scrap of paper he could lay
hands upon. One day, when his mother said to him.
" Eugene, I cannot give you any more money, because
you spend it all on music and paper, " the boy answered :
" Mother, to me music is the same as bread ; I cannot
live without it."
Many years ago, his mother's cousin, Miss Mary
Sopwith, of Tynemouth, showed me an overture in
manuscript remarkably well written for a boy of eight
years of age. Miss Sopwith told me that this was the
first of the boy's innumerable " scribblings " which his
father thought worth while to keep, and when he gave it
to Miss Sopwith, he said :— "Take care of it. One day,
when my son is a famed musician, it may be of interest to
possess it." The overture, which is composed in E flat,
and neatly written in pencil, bears the following in-
scription :— " Overture, composed and dedicated to Miss
Mary Sopwith by her little cousin Eugy d'Albert (when
eight years of age), April 3rd, 1873." That his father
was not wrong in foreseeing: the coming greatness of his
little son we know now, when Eugene is " the central
figure in the musical world," at the aste of 26 years.
Eugene was never sent to school, but received his
general education from his mother, who was also his first
music teacher. Afterwards he had lessons from his
father, who was a performer on the pianoforte and the
violin, and from Mr. Marshall Bell, a much respected
Newcastle musician, at present residing in London. He
had also some lessons, whilst visiting London with his
parents, from the well-known pianist and composer, Mr.
Geo. H. Osborne, who, after having heard the boy play
for the first time, informed Eugene's father that his son
"would never be anything else but a musician."
In 1876, the National Training School for Music, the
pioneer of the Royal College of Music, was opened.
Among the pupils who commenced their career there
was the young genius, Eugene d'Albert. He was then
twelve years of age, and bad gained, at the age of eleven
years, a free scholarship in a public competition held in
the Mechanics' Institute, Newcastle — one of three scholar-
ships that had been founded by local subscriptions for
residents in the county of Northumberland. Miss
Louisa East, daughter of the late Rev. Rowland B. East,
vicar of St. Andrew's, Newcastle, was also on the same
occasion one of the successful competitors for a scholar-
ship in singing.
Eugene commenced his studies under the following
musicians : — Sir (then Mr.) Arthur Sullivan, the principal
of the new school, for composition and instrumentation ;
Sir (then Dr.) John Stainer, for harmony and counter-
point ; Mr. Ernst Pauer for pianoforte ; and, later on,
Mr. Ebenezer Prout for orchestration. The boy was
most assiduous in his studies — once he wrote and scored a
complete mass as a holiday task. His progress was so
March \
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
107
satisfactory that, after a competitive examination among
the pupils, he was elected to the Queen's Scholarship
founded by her Majesty. He enjoyed the advantages
of this until he left the school in 1881. He was then,
on the recommendation of Sir Arthur Sullivan, nominated
to the Mendelssohn's Scholarship. This, the most valu-
able prize in the United Kingdom, was founded in
London in the year 1848, by way of commemorating
the great musician whose death the world of music was
then lamenting. Its object is to enable native musicians
who have shown decided talents to continue their musical
studies either in England or abroad, forwarding to the
trustees, from time to time, fresh compositions. There
is a stipend of about £90 per annum paid to the scholar.
However, on account of non-compliance with the regula-
tions, and at the request of young d'Albert himself, the
trustees removed him at the end of the first year.
During the five years he was a scholar at the Training
School in London, he was commanded twice to play
before the Queen. He appeared for the first time in
public as a composer at the Students' Concert, June 23,
1879, given before the Prince and Princess of Wales, in
St. James's Hall, an overture by the youth for full
orchestra being performed. The following year, whilst
he was still a scholar at the Training School, he made his
debut as a pianist, at the Monday Popular Concert in St.
James's Hall, on Nov. 22, 1880, when he played "with
taste and technical skill " Schumann's " Etudes Sym-
phoniques," and, together with Piatti, Beethoven's
Sonata in A major, for piano and violoncello. His next
public appearance in London as a pianist took place at
the Crystal Palace Concert, on Saturday, February 5,
1881, when a most remarkable performance of Schu-
mann's Pianoforte Concerto in A excited the greatest
enthusiasm. On March the 10th, the same year, he
played again Schumann's Concerto at the Philharmonic
Society's Concert ; and, lastly, at the Monday Popular
Concert, given on March 28, in St. James's Hall, he
played Mozart's pianoforto trio in £ major, in company
with Joachim and Piatti.
When the great Vienna conductor, Hans Richter, was
in London in the autumn of 1881, he was told by the late
Dr. Francis Hueffer, the musical critic of The Times,
that a young Englishman, Eugene d'Albert, unknown to
fame as a composer, had written a pianoforte concerto.
Richter expressed a wish to see the score. This was
produced, and he quickly recognised its merits. No time
was lost in turning theoretic admiration into practical
assistance. The pianoforte composition in A minor,
which was written when the composer was only sixteen
years of age, was played by d'Albert, and received the
place of honour in Richter's first concert of the season,
October 24, 1881. D'Albert was loudly applauded after
each movement, and three times recalled at the close.
After Mr. Charles d'Albert had made arrangements
for his son to go to Vienna, Richter took the composer
and his work with him, to prepare for another triumph in
the city of Mozart, Schubert, and Beethoven. In
Richter's home, where young d'Albert was treated as a
son by the conductor and his wife, he spent the winter,
and, early in the spring of 1882, he made his debut as a
composer and pianist at a concert in Vienna. Shortly
afterwards he returned under Richter's auspices to
London, and played Rubenstein's Pianoforte Concerto,
op. 70, in D minor, at Richter'a Concert in St. James's
Hall, May 3, 1882. Since that time d'Albert has never
appeared in England, although he has been concert-
touring in most European countries.
In the autumn of 1882, Eugene commenced his musical
studies in Weimar under Liszt's directions, and soon
became a favourite pupil of the abbe. Durine the time
he was with Liszt, Eugene was often concert-touring, and
entirely maintained himself. Strange to say, Eugene
d'Albert bears a most striking facial resemblance to the
great pianist Tausig, and this, combined with the youth's
extraordinary technical skill, induced Liszt to call him
"the young Tausig," or "the little Tausig." However,
such freaks of nature are by no means uncommon in the
musical world. Does not Rubenstein bear a great
resemblance to Beethoven, and the great pianist Fried-
heim to Abb<5 Liszt ?
The following is an extract from a sketch called " Some
Pupils of Liszt," written by Mr. Albert Morris Bagby,
an American, who studied with Liszt (1884) in Weimar: —
One sultry noonday in July, 1885, a small group of
musical celebrities from Berlin stood hatless — having
converted their head covering into temporary fans— in
the shade of a low, uneven row of ancient houses in the
city of Weimar, and expectantly watched the nearest
turn in the street. Just as the beat was pronounced
insupportable, two well-known figures sauntered arm-in-
arm around the corner-^-one the venerable form of Franz
Liszt, his flowing white locks surmounted by an old-
fashioned till hat, his shirt collar thrown open, revealing
108
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/March
1 1890.
a throat which rivalled in colour the high flush of his
visage ; and the other Eugen d'Albert, a short youth with
a round face and small black eyes, whose heavy shock of
dark brown hair fell about his face ii la Liszt, and was
topped by an artist's wide-brimmed slouch hat, the crown
of which just brushed the master's shoulders. It was not
the odd contrasting couple which so forcibly impressed
all beholders alike ; it was the two great men of genius
walking side by side — a tottering old man with one foot
already in his grave, and his pupil the younger by half a
century and in the very spring- time of life; one, the
greatest piano-virtuoso of any time, behind whom lay an
unprecedeutedly brilliant career for more than three
score years ; the other, though scarcely more than a lad,
the most famous musical artist of his generation, with a
future of unlimited possibilities just opening up for him.
Little d'Albert had only three years ago severed his
leading strings, and now, with half Europe at his feet,
the central figure in the mnsical world that his genius
had conquered, he had returned to the guide and
counsellor of his student days at Weimar. The two ex-
chansred greetings with the gentlemen who had come —
with d'Albert — on a twenty-four hours' visit to the city,
and then they crossed the stony way in a body to the
cooler shade of Chenelius's restaurant garden to partake
of a dinner in Liszt's honour.
Several circumstances had occurred which I have no
authority to publish here — but which, if known, would
at least explain young d'Albert's change of feeling
towards the country which gave him birth — and, also
why he was indiscreet enough, whilst in Munich, to
publish the following letter in the Neue Murik\Zcitung of
Cologne on March 15, 1884- :—
Much honoured Mr. Editor, — A short time ago I re-
ceived a copy of your excellent paper containing a sketch
of my life. Permit me to correct a few errors I find
therein. Above all things, I scorn the title of "English
pianist." Unfortunately, I studied for a considerable
period in that land of fogs, but during that time I learnt
absolutely nothing; indeed, had 1 remained there much
longer, I should have gone to utter ruin. You are con-
sequently wrong in stating in your article that the Eng-
lishmen mentioned were my "teachers." From them
I learnt nothing, and, indeed, no one could learn any-
thing properly from them. 1 have to thank my father,
Hans Kichter, and Franz Liszt for everything. It is my
decided opinion, moreover, that the system of general
musical instruction in England is such that any talent
following its rules must become fruitless. Only since I
left that barbarous land have I begun to live. And I live
now for the unique, true, glorious German art.
EUGEN D'ALBEET.
This letter created quite a storm among English
musicians, and many articles on the subject ap-
peared in different papers. When, therefore, on June
5, 1885, Hans Kichter introduced, for the first time in
England, an overture, " Hb'lderliu's Hyperon," composed
by Eugene d'Albert, the overture was received in such a
manner as could only be expected when the composer had
distinguished himself in so unhappy a manner ; and there
is not much hope of its revival in this country.
However, nothing daunted, Richter introduced in the
following year, at his concert on May 24, 1885, another of
d'Albert's compositions, a symphony, in four parts, op. 4,
in F major. Although the symphony was far too long
(for it lasted 50 minutes), and the English critics found
the composer "more German than even the Germans," BO
remarkable was the work — "remarkable for earnestness
of purpose, skill in treatment of subjects, but especially
for clearness, effectiveness, and often entire originality of
orchestration " (vide Musical Standard.'May 29, 1886)—
that even d'Albert's antagonists were compelled to
acknowledge that it was a work of a most highly-gifted
musician. At the close, Richter, the staunch friend of
d'Albert, was recalled several times. Alas I two days
after the young composer's triumph — Eugene was not in
England at that time— death robbed him of his father, of
whom he was passionately fond.
Of Eugene's capacity as a pianist, Von Bulow has
said : — "There are but three great pianists in the world —
Rubenstein, myself, and d'Albert; but the last is yet
young, and bids fair to surpass us all."
In 1884, at the age of twenty, Eugene d'Albert married
at Heligoland, Fraulein Louise Salingre1, an actress of the
Grand Ducal Theatre, Weimar. Owing entirely to his
successful concert-tourings, d'Albert lives now in affluent
circumstances at the small picturesque town of Eisenach,
in his own magnificent house, Villa d'Albert The house
commands a charming view of the Castle of Warburg— an
edifice abounding in interesting reminiscences. It was
here the Minnessanger (the minstrels of Germany) as-
sembled in 1207 to test their skill— the famous " Sanger-
krieg"; here also resided St. Elizabeth, who died in 1231;
and it was here that Martin Luther lived from May 4,
1521, to March 6, 1522, disguised as a young nobleman —
Junker George — whilst he was devoting himself to his
translation of the Bible.
Eugene d'Albert, who has become a vegetarian, is now
on a tour in the United States, along with the Spanish
violinist, Pablo Sarasate.
There is in Mrs. Charles d'Albert's possession a letter
dated Versailles, Dec. 6th, 184-9, written by J. V. Voisin,
a cousin of her husband's, in which the writer says : —
" I love to recall to my memory the little Charles, when
he was six years of age, because he was so well brought
up, and showed such excellent heart." The writer also
rejoices to see that the musical talents Charles showed
as a child had borne fruit, and that his compositions
were well received. It is evident that Eugene has in-
herited his musical talents from his father's side, foe
even Charles d'Albert's mother was an accomplished
musician.
It was in 1845 that Mr. Chappel commenced to publish
in London Charles d'Albert's dance music, and he con-
tinued to do so until the composer's death. Space forbids
me here to give a list of the innumerable dances written
by the elder d'Albert. Perhaps the most popular of
them was the "Sultan Polka," which carried his fame all
over Europe. When M. d'Albert first settled in New-
castle, he used to give every year a splendid ball in the
Assembly Rooms, which was attended by most of the
fashionable people of Newcastle and neighbourhood.
Later on, these balls changed into matinees, where only
hie pupils used to dance.
After having lived in Newcastle for more than forty
Marchl
im /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
109
years, Charles d' Albert settled in London in 1876, in
order to be near his son during his musical studies.
There he died after a long and painful illness, on May
26th, 1886, in the 78th year of his age, and was interred
in Kensal Green Cemetery on May 31st. His widow,
to whom I am greatly indebted for much information
contained in this sketch of her husband and son, lives
in London, when she is not visiting her illustrious son
Eugene in Germany ; her stepson, Charles d'Albert, who
is married and settled in France ; or her relatives on the
"coally Tyne." HILDEGABD WERNER.
ilffrtlt=€0tmtrg (Savlantr
fff
jn £tokoc.
BLOW THE WINDS, I-HO.
JIHIS Northumbrian ballad is of great an-
tiquity, and bears a considerable resemblance
to "The Baffled Knight, or Lady's Policy,"
inserted in Percy's "Reliques of Ancient
English Poetry." It was first printed in Robert Bell's
" Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry of England," from
a broadside, where the title and chorus are given "Blow
the Winds, I-O," a form common to many ballads and
songs, but only to those of great antiquity. Chappell,
in his "Popular Music of the Olden Time," has an ex-
ample as old as 1698 : —
Here's a health to jolly Bacchus,
I-ho, I-ho, I-ho !
And in another well-known catch, still current in the
North of England the same form appears :—
A pye sat on a pear-tree,
I-ho, I-ho, I-ho !
"I-o," or, as we give it in these lyrics, "I-ho," was an
ancient form of exclamation or triumph on joyful occa-
sions and anniversaries, and a common part of the chorus
of old ballads and songs. For instance, " Tally, I-o," and
" Canady, I-o." And we find it with slight variations
in different languages. In the Gothic, for example, lola
signifies to make merry. It has been supposed by some
etymologists that the word "Yule" is a corruption of
"I-o."
The copy of the tune given here is from the collection
of the late James Telfer, schoolmaster, poet, and anti-
quary, of Saughtree, Liddesdale, now in the archives of
the Antiquarian Society of Newcastle.
Sixty or seventy years ago the song was current in
North Northumberland, Berwickshire, and Roxburgh-
shire, and a writer on "Local Songs and Song- Writers,"
in the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, states that he has heard
it sung repeatedly by a retired Merse farmer, the late Mr.
John Waldie, of Gordon, with great gusto. Mr. Waldie,
however, had adopted a different chorus, which ran
thus:—
Sing fal de dawdie, fal de day !
Fal de dawdie, fal de day !
Fal de dawdie, fal de day !
Hey, umptie dowdy !
This, the writer says, had a good effect, being sung with
an increasing volume of voice, each succeeding line, till
the last — that is, three lines "crescendo," and last
diminuendo.
There was a shep - herd's son, He kept
sheep on yon-der hill ; He laid his pipe and his
crook a - side, and there he slept his
ip:
— «-fca.T=j=j=:j
And blow the winds,
:}l u j— - - r I E»
blow the winds I • ho 1 Clear a - way the
morn -ing dew, and blow the winds, I-ho!
He looked east, he looked west,
He took another look ;
And there he spied a lady gay,
Was dipping in a brook.
She said. "Sir, don't touch my mantle,
Come let my clothes alone ;
I will give you as much money
As you can carry home. "
"I will not touch your mantle,
I'll let your clothes alone,
I'll take you out the water clear,
My dear, to be my own."
He did not touch her mantle,
He let her clothes alone ;
But he took her from the clear water,
And all to be his own.
He set her on a milk-white steed,
Himself upon another ;
And there they rode along the road,
Like sister and like brother.
And when they came to her father's gate,
She pulled at a ring ;
And ready was the proud porter
For to let the lady in.
And when the gates were opened,
This lady jumped in ;
She says, "You are a fool without,
And I'm a maid within.
" Good morrow to you, modest boy,
I thank you for your care ;
If you had" been what you should have been,
I would not have left you there.
110
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/March
t 1890.
" There's a horse in my father's stable,
He stands behind the thorn ;
He shakes his head above the trough,
But dares not prie the corn.
"There's a bird in my father's flock,
A double comb he wears ;
He flaps his wing and crows full loud.
But a capon's crest he bears.
" There is a flower in my father's garden.
They call it Mary gold ;
The fool that will not when he may,
He shall not when he wold."
Said the shepherd's son, as he doft his shoon,
"My feet they shall run bare;
But if ever I meet another maid,
I rede that maid beware."
the last generation, Newcastle, and
the waterside district in particular,
was wonderfully prolific in "characters."
Most of these were well known by popular
nicknames, while, in many cases, the actual names given
them by their godfathers and godmothers were not easy
to trace. Some of these individuals were merely
*' eccentrics," with peculiar and, generally, harmless
characteristics, that caused them to be well known and
sometimes notorious. Others, again, displayed special
powers of mind or body, along with certain distinguishing
whimsicalities, by which they gradually attained a
popularity more or less remarkable and worthy of admira-
tion.
Such a "character " was John Wilson, well and widely
known as "Cuckoo Jack, "and still well remembered for his
peculiar powers upon the Tyne. His father was a clock
cleaner and mender, and occasionally repaired "cuckoo
clocks," then a great novelty ; and from this the son bore
the nickname "Cuckoo" pretty well during the whole of
his life, although it had absolutely no manner of reference
to the incidents by which he attained a considerable
notoriety. He was born in the year 1792, and died on the
2nd of December, 1860, at the age of 68. He lived during
the whole of his life, and died, on Sandgate Shore, in
Petrie's Entry, closely adjoining the well-known Jack
Tar public-house. Both house and entry have been im-
proved out of existence now for a considerable period,
but they were situated about midway between the Milk
Market and the Swirle, and between Sandgate and the
Folly.* (See page 112.)
Jack was a thoroughgoing Tyne Waterman, native and
to the manner born, and accustomed to the use of boats
all his life. In the exercise of his vocation, and by dint
of industry, care, and personal observation, he by degrees
acquired the most intimate and unrivalled knowledge of
* For the view of the Jack Tar we are much indebted to the
artist o( "Vestiges of Old Newcastle and Oateahead" (Mr. W. li. •
KnowlesX who has obligingly loaned us the engraving.
the river — the ebb and flow of its tides, its currents,
bends, shoals, holes, sandbanks, and other peculiarities,
so that he was enabled to calculate all these effects, one
upon the other, with the greatest nicety and correctness.
In consequence, he became a most expert hand at hooking
up any and every kind of article that had found its way to
the bed of the Tyne ; but, in a special way, he was thus
enabled to pick up the bodies of the dead or drowning
under almost any circumstances with the most wonderful
skill and dexterity. This, of course, was prior to the
commencement of dredging operations, by which the
Tyne at Newcastle, at all times of the tide, has now
deep water, accommodating large craft, from quay to
quay. Half a century ago, however, the river was a
shallow stream, excepting at high water, with sandbanks
all the way from Newcastle to Shields ; and men now
only past middle age can remember walking, atlow water,
half-way across che bed of the stream, opposite the Jack
Tar, on Sandgate Shore, where Cuckoo Jack kept his
boats, letting them out for hire at 6d. an hour. Jack's
wonderful knowledge of the river, under these conditions,
had no equal among the numerous pilots and other water-
men, so that his services were in great request, at all times,
to find the bodies of the drowned, along the whole of its
tidal course from Newcastle to the Narrows ; and it is not
stated that he was ever known to fail when he was told
where the person had fallen in and when, so that he could
ascertain the particular circumstances of place and tide.
Jack's wife was named Bella or Isabella. The pair had
four children, three sons and one daughter— James,
Ralph, Margaret, and William— all of whom were born in
the old house. James died about the year 1848, when
somewhere near thirty years of age. It was he who,
when only a boy, and in the boat with his father on a
bright moonlight night, looking in the water, asked,
"What's that, daddy?" Being told it was the "raeun,"
and knowing his father's skill, heat once said, "Heuk
the meun, daddy !" a remark long quoted on the water
side, with sundry unnecessary additions. Jimmy, as a
young man, was also well known among the juvenile
scamps on the quay as "Young Cuckoo Jack, "and is
mentioned to in one of Ned Corvan's songs : —
Bowld Sandy Bowes— young Cuckoo Jack,
They shout as suen's ye torn yor back,
" How ! where are ye gawn o' Sunday ? "
It is to Ralph we are indebted for being able to present
the reader with the portrait of his father, from a photo-
graph taken many years ago, which is described to be
" the spittin' image " of the redoubtable Jack.
Ralph, who is still a hard-working man on the Quay,
states, distinctly, that the fee regularly paid by the
Corporation for recovering a dead body from the river
was ten shillings above Bill Point, and fifteen shillings
between the point and the bar. This payment ceased
on the part of the Corporation many years ago, but
he had the pleasure of receiving the last fee— for
March \
W. /
1890.
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
Ill
picking up the body of a captain of a Yarmouth
vessel at Pelaw Main. It would appear there was
never any ground for the statements that a less fee was
paid for finding a body above bridge, and more when
picked up below that structure ; and especially was there
no truth in the oft-repeated story that more was paid for
recovering a dead body than for saving a drowning
person from a watery grave. And here it is only bare
justice to the memory of Cuckoo Jack to at once give a
direct contradiction to the well-garnished tales, told
with great gusto and apparent correctness of detail,
that Jack not only preferred to find the dead rather than
save the living, but also, that he was guilty of absolutely
allowing a person, struggling in the water, to drown, in
order that he might be able to pick up the corpse. It
is, therefore, fair to say there is no proof or confirmation
of the story that on one occasion, while Jack was sitting
in a tavern on the Quayside, with his grappling irons
beside him, having just knocked off work, a man rushed
in shouting, " Jack, there's a man overboard ! Ho'way
wi' yor irons. " "Hoots man," Jack is reported to have
coolly remarked, "let him droon; aa git mair for a
deedie nor aa de for a livie !" Men still living, who knew
Jack well, declare this is a pure invention.
One who knew Jack well, and had lived "within
twenty yards of him," relates the following : — "Between
thirty and forty years ago, a friend and I were grappling
for the body of a man who had been drowned beside
Messrs. I. C. Johnson and Co.'s cement works. Whilst
we were busy Jack appeared upon the scene. After ask-
ing when and where the man had been drowned, he said :
'Thoo'll nivvor find him thor.' He then made for the
Mushroom Quay, which is some distance from the cement
works (and on the other side of the river), and in a short
while he came back with the body of the drowned man in
his boat."
Another story to the same effect, showing Jack's
wonderfully exact knowledge of the river and all its
influencing agencies, is told by another writer:— "A
Bailor had fallen overboard from his ship, and was
drowned. His friends came to Jack to see if he could
recover the body for them, the captain of the ship pro-
mising to reward him with £5. After asking the time of
the accident, Jack pulled down the river to where some
ships were lying moored to a buoy. Here he asked the
sailors on board to haul in their cables as tightly as pos-
sible, as he expected to find a dead body among them.
Sure enough, when that was done, the body was found
entangled amongst the ropes."
Jack generally worked alone, or with the sole assistance
of one of his own sons, so that there was no possible part-
nership in any contingent profits. This latter would be
his motive, probably, in the following story :— A case of
drowning had taken place at the Quayside, and four or
five young men were in a boat with Jack, who was using
his grappling irons. After a little while he said, "Noo
get oot, aall on ye ; aa want nowt wi ye ! " A minute
afterwards he raised the body to the surface, and hauled
it into the boat himself.
It is stated that a considerable sum of money was to be
paid to Jack when he had recovered two hundred bodies
from the river. Jack's sou Ralph says he understood this
to be a fact, but who the generous donor was to be he
never knew. His father did not score that number, how-
ever, although he appeared to have always kept a care-
ful account ; but what figure he actually reached Ralph
cannot say. Ned Corvan, he thinks, appears to come
pretty near the mark in his song on "The Deeth o'
Cuckoo Jack," when he says : —
Pull away, lads ; pull away, lads, aa've hewked him ;
This chep myeks a hundred and seventy-nine
Deed bodies aa've fund i' the Coally Tyne.
Apart from his well-known and unrivalled skill in pick-
ing up the living and the dead, John Wilson was a most
industrious man — at all times busy among his boats or on
the river. Now, and since the Tyne Improvement Com-
mission assumed jurisdiction over the river, in 1850, it has
been illegal to appropriate any floating article, or any-
thing found in the bed of the river. According to clause
99 of the code of the Commissioners' bye-laws, "Every
cerson finding any timber or other article in the river
shall immediately report the fact, with full particulars, a<
the nearest river police station," under a penalty of £5.
But during Jack's time no such rule was in operation,
and for many years he undoubtedly made a very good
living out of the thousand and one miscellaneous articles
he " heuked " up, or found floating ownerless, from a
bucket to a boat. He had a small yard for storage pur-
poses, and almost daily additions were made, of the most
miscellaneous character, to his stock.
Mr. Richard Jessop and Jack's son, Ralph, have
each described to me the ingenious tools designed and
made for the work by Jack, in addition to the large
grappling irons used for recovering bodies. He had hooks
of all kinds, and two and three or more pronged forks,
curved, with fine netting between, so that the smallest
articles, and coins even, were picked up with the greatest
certainty, and from any depth. Screws, also, were at-
tached to the end of long poles, and once even a pig of
lead was neatly drawn to the surface, and hauled into the
boat. Ralph says that his father once recovered a whole
cargo of iron articles that had been sunk in the Nar-
rows, near the mouth of the river.
Next in interest to stories of Jack's skill in picking
up the dead and drowning, are perhaps the many well
known accounts of the neatness and precision with
which articles of considerable value, that had been
accidentally lost, were recovered by the use of his
ingenious tools, added to his wonderful knowledge of
the river already described. Ralph says they "got
a lot of watches, first and last." Of the several
versions of the French captain's watch, lost overboard,
112
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/March
\ 1890.
that reported in the Weekly Chronicle, a short time ago,
from the pen of Mr. Fred. Walker, appears to come as
near the truth as possible. Ralph treats it contemptu-
ously, as "likeeneuf," but not "worth botherin' aboot I"
Mr. Walker says :— " Jack was sought by a French cap-
tain to grapple for a valuable watch that had just been
dropped overboard. Jack struck a bargain by which he
was to receive a sovereign if successful. Having been in-
formed of the spot where the watch was lost, he threw
his irons over, and speedily drew it up. The delighted
captain stretched out his hand for his property, but
Cuckoo shook his head, and refused to part with it till
and then asked to look at the watch, to be sure that it
had not been damaged. He then dropped it into the
river again, and gave the money back to the captain, say-
ing, " here's a half-sovereign for ye to get it oot again
yorsel." He is then said to have left the ship,
and would not on any account go back again. But
Jack was not a likely man to unnecessarily part with
money, and neglect the chance of a job when it was held
out to him ; unless it were that the bright idea had struck
him that he might go and pick up the watch for himself
when its late owner had sailed.
Here is another story of Jack's deftness :— Two appren-
VofS
the ' brass' was handed over. The captain offered him a
half-sovereign. Jack swore. 'But,' said the French-
man, 'you haf had no trooble whatever. One half-
sovereign is quite enough, sar." 'What!' roared Jack,
'then owerbord she gans again. Noo,' he added, as he
flung the watch back into the stream, 'findhor yorsel.'
Monsieur expostulated and famed, but to no purpose,
and at last promised Jack the sovereign to recover the
watch. But he put on the coup by demanding two
pounds this time, to which the greedy captain had to
agree. Jack cleverly hauled up the watch again, re-
ceived the reward, and went away chuckling at the ex-
asperated Frenchman." Another version of the same
incident is to the effect that Jack took the half-aovereiBn,
tices on board the
Cicero, a well-known
trader between New-
castle and London,
belonging to Messrs.
Clarke and Dunn,
wharfingers, having
just been paid their
wages, quarrelled
the whole amount, £1 4s.,
The coins were a sovereign
over the division, and
dropped into the river.
and four separate shillings. Jack was sent for, and picked
up every coin directly. On being asked to confirm this
incident, Ralph replied, " Aye, sartinlees, we had tools
of aall kinds."
Ralph himself modestly tells the following : — A foreign
captain, whose ship was lying in the tiers, alongside the
quay, was going ashore with a biggish bag in his baud,
tied with a piece of string, and containing £40 in silver,
which he was taking to the bank. He stumbled and lost
the bag overboard, and was naturally much agitated. A
custom-house officer, who was standing by, went for Jack,
and £2 was offered if he recovered the treasure. " We
March!
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
113
heuked it up clivvorly, at the fowerth try, by the string,"
said Ralph. " And what about the two pounds this time ?"
"Oh! he paid it wivoot a grudge. But we didn't knaa
till eftor that there was se much money in the bag."
Although generally good at driving a bargain under
most circumstances, Jack was not specially bright
when figures or amounts got a little advanced, or mixed,
and fun was made occasionally at his expense. Mr.
Michael Hayhurst, of Sunderland, writing to the Weekly
Chronicle, describes a personal incident of this kind.
He says: — "When 1 was a young man. Cuckoo Jack
lent boats out at sixpence per hour. He had one
boat that I and four other young fellows used to
engage on Saturday afternoons, and sometimes on
Sundays. The five of us saved up as much money as
Jack asked for it, which was fifty shillings. One Satur-
day afternoon one of our party had to go to Jack and ask
him if he would take any less. He refused. Afterwards,
we went to him and said : ' We've made up our minds to
give you the £2 10s.' Thereupon Jack replied, 'Aa
winnet tyek a farden less than fifty shillings.' And it
would probably have taken more time to explain the
mystery than Jack would spend at another time in pick-
ing up a drowning man from the depths of coally Tyne."
Droll stories are also told with reference to Jack's
appetite, which appeared to have been a very convenient
one. Mr. F. Walker lately told the following in the
Weekly Chronicle : — One day Jack secured a job which he
had to be at by four o'clock the next morning, on account
of the tide. While getting his supper the night before he
asked his spouse — "Noo, Bella, will aa hev time te get
ma brekfust i' th' mornin' ? " "No Jack; aa's sure ye
winaet," she replied. "Then let's hev it noo ! " he ex-
claimed, and though he had just finished his supper, he
sat down again and commenced his breakfast. On the
same matter, another correspondent puts on record : —
"One night Jack's wife was busy putting up his 'bait'
for the next day, when Jack suddenly took the pro-
Tisions from her, ejaculating as he ate them, 'Aa'd
bettor eat it the neet ; it'll save us the trouble o'
carryin' it the morn.' "
There are also three very racy "goose" stories,
all of which may, perhaps, pass muster in
this section of Jack's records. On one occasion
there was a goose for dinner. "What's this, Bella?"
said Jack. "Wey, a gyuse, te be sure." "It's
hollow," said the head of the family; "aa like nyen o'
yor hollow meat ; aa like to be yebble te cut and come
agyen ! " The other two are " stuffing " incidents, and
each appears to be very definitely authenticated. Some
three years ago, Mr. J. M. Oubridge contributed to the
Weekly Chronicle the following : — " About 60 years ago
when a boy, I was on one occasion attending to my
father's market gardener's cart, which stood every Satur-
day in front of the old watchhouse door in the old Green
Market (to the west of the foot of Grey Street), in which
house, as many will recollect, 'Slush Tom Carr,' the cap-
tain of the watch, also lived. Upon the occasion to which
I refer, Cuckoo Jack came along, with bis wife and
son. The wife had her great round market basket
hanging upon her arm, and it was heavily laden with the
evening's purchases, amongst other things being a goose,
whose head and neck dangled over the edge. Jack's wife
stopped at our cart and addressed her husband : — 'Give
us tuppence te buy a half beatment iv onions te stuff the
gyuse wiv. ' Jack turned round in a surly manner, using
a word more forcible than polite, and said, ' Here's a
penny for a Scotch cabbish ; stuff't wi' that ! ' " And
the "cabbiah" was accordingly purchased. Jack must
have been in a very much more amiable mood on the
next occasion when "stuffing" was also the question.
There was again to be a goose for dinner. "What'llaa
Btuff'twi'?" quietly asked Bella. "Aawey," Jack re-
plied, " stuff 'twi' fegs an' raisins— the mair gud things
the bettor 1"
As a distinct proof of Jack's respectability as a water-
man, it may be stated that during the latter portion of
his life he was appointed to the responsible post of assist-
ant to the well-known harbour master and quay master,
Simon Danson — hia co-assistant being also well known as
"Jack Dean." This position was held first under the
Corporation, and then, after 1850, under the Tyne Im-
provement Commission, whose jurisdiction, in river
matters, commenced at that date. In this situation — not
a very highly paid one— his duties were certainly impor-
tant, though probably not onerous, both on the quay, in
connexion with loading and discharging cargo, and on the
water, in the arrangement of the hosts of wooden craft
which at that period lined the quay, in tiers, sometimes
extending half-way across the river. Of course he could
not, after he had undertaken his new duties, carry on his
114
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/March
\ 1890.
old work, with which bis name is BO intimately connected,
though his skill and knowledge of the river were always
available in cases of necessity or emergency.
But time tries all men, and though not much over sixty
years of age, John Wilson's powers, great though they had
been, began to fail him, and he finally retired upon a
small (very small) pension awarded to him by the Cor-
poration. He did not need it long, however. Probably
his long life of exposure, by night and day, upon the river
that he had studied so thoroughly and knew so well,
finally told its tale upon even an iron constitution like
that of Cuckoo Jack ; and at the well-known old house,
near the Jack Tar Inn, the time came, as Ned Corvan
puts it, when he was compelled to say : —
Fareweel tiv a' me cronies, Keeside and Sandgate Jonies,
For ftikin ivery bone is, i' this aad skin o' mine.
Deed bodies fra the river aa've often teun oot clivvor,
Ma equal thor wes nivvor for grapplm Coally Tyne.
Aa mun rest wi' the rest that aa fand for my fee,
And' aa hope that aad Nick winnet grapple for me ;
Let ma appytaff be — "Here lies, on his back,
The chep that fand the deed men, canny Cuckoo Jack. "
As already stated, Cuckoo Jack died on the 2nd of Decem-
ber, 1860, at the age of 68. He will be long remembered
on bis native river, chiefly for the wonderful skill and
ability with which, aa Ned Corvan again describes it,
" he saved mony a muthor's bairn frae hevin' a wettery
grave, " and for finding the remains when the saving of
life was out of the question. This was the duty that
fell to John Wilson, and, like a brave, able, simple-hearted,
and industrious man, "he did it with all his might."
And though he is classed among the " characters " of his
native river, Tynesiders, the world over, will not. object
to remember him also as one of its worthies.
Jos. L NICHOLSON.
jjrf
'attaint STgne
CtueeV*
ir William
MAYOR OF NEWCASTLE BY MANDAMUS.
BOWARDS the close of Charles the Second's
reign, a goodly number of the people of
Newcastle, seeing the course which the
king was pursuing, entertained doubts re-
specting the advantages of the Restoration. Even the
authorities, or, at least, some of them, were not so courtly
and complaisant in 1684 as they had been in 1661. In-
deed, fed by the continual infusion of Puritan blood from
beyond the Border, the town was becoming refractory.
Charles and his advisers found it necessary to strengthen
the power of the Crown in some direction or other, and
they hit upon the expedient of remodelling the Royal
Charters. Thereupon the surrender of the charter of
Newcastle was demanded and given, and just before the
king died a new charter was prepared, in which accept-
able aldermen were appointed, and power was reserved
to the Crown to displace the Mayor, Sheriff, Recorder,
Town Clerk, and even the Common Council at its plea-
sure. Upon the accession of James II. (Feb. 6th, 1684-5)
the amended charter was formally sent down to the
town. The new monarch was not slow to avail himself of
its provisions. Within a year of his coronation he had
removed the whole of the Common Council, and made a
beginning with other alarming interferences with the
liberties of the townspeople. The medium through
which he sent his mandates was Sir William Creagh, an
ardent loyalist, and a devoted member of the Church of
Rome.
Local historians have not favoured us with much per-
sonal detail about this royal emissary. It is assumed
that he was sent down to Newcastle for the special pur-
pose of carrying out the king's behests, and that he was
a stranger. John Bell, in a paper contributed to the
" Archaeologia jEliana" in 1826, labours to prove that he
came hither for the express purpose of securing the erec-
tion of a statue of James II. upon the Sandhill, " and was
followed by sign manual letters to introduce him still
further into the company of the leading families, the
more closely to watch over the political interests of his
Majesty." But Sir William Creagh was not such a
stranger to Tyneside as Mr. Bell imagined. He was in
the neighbourhood for three or four years before Charles
II. died, and must have been already acquainted with
some at least of the " leading families," for in a MS. re-
lating to the estate of the Riddells of Gateshead, under
date March 24th, 1681-82, is a copy of an indenture by
which the mansion house of the family and the colliery
belonging to them were let to Sir William Creagh, who
covenanted that for seven years he would work the col-
liery, sell the coals, and after deducting the expense of
management, interest for his money, and 2s. 6d. per tenn
for his trouble, hand over the balance to the trustees of
the Riddell property.
The first Royal message to Newcastle with which Sir
William Creagh's name is associated bears date March,
1685-86. It was addressed to the Merchants' and the
Hostmen's Companies, and commanded both these wor-
shipf nl fraternities to admit Sir William into their ranks
as a free brother. A similar mandate to the Corporation,
dated May 31, 1687, ordered his admission to the freedom
of the town. All three of these imperious orders were
dutifully obeyed, in the letter if not in the spirit. With
the mere letter of his freedom, however, Sir William
Creagh was not satisfied. From the books of the Mer-
chants' Company we find that on the 19th July, 1687 : —
Sir Win. Creagh, Knt., presented a letter from the
king, directed and signed and undersigned nearly as the
former dated 31 May, 1687, reciting the letter of the
March -1
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
115
17th March, 1685-86, and, also, that he had been admitted,
but not in so ample manner as hi8 Majesty intended ;
therefore, requiring his freedoms to be recorded by order
of the Common Council, and the Company of Hostmen
and Merchants, so as he and his posterity may be enabled
to take apprentices, and enjoy all other franchises which
any Freeman of the Corporation enjoys, either by descent
or servitude.
While these mandates were flying about, the king sud-
denly proclaimed liberty of conscience to all his subjects,
suspended and dispensed with the penal laws and tests,
and even with the oaths of allegiance and supremacy.
The biographer of Ambrose Barnes makes it appear that
this change in the king's tactics was largely due to the
influence of Mr. Barnes. Howsoever that may have been,
the Corporation of Newcastle were sadly perplexed by the
king's rapid change of front. They were an intensely
loyal body, devotedly attached to the Established Church,
and sympathised as little with the views of Ambrose
Barnes as they did with those of Sir William Creagh.
At Michaelmas, 1687, they elected men of their own party
to be Mayor and Sheriff, Deputy-Recorder, and Alder-
men. With this arrangement the king and Ambrose
Barnes were not satisfied. At Christmas there came
down from London another Royal mandate, displacing
the Mayor, Sheriff, Deputy-Recorder, six Aldermen, and
fifteen of the Common Council, and commanding the
electors to appoint in their places Sir William Creatrh
(Catholic), Mayor; Samuel Gill (Dissenter), Sheriff
Edward Widdrington and John Errington (Catholics),
Ambrose Barnes, William Johnson, William Hutchinson,
and Thomas Partis (Dissenters) Aldermen, and Joseph
Barnes (son of Ambrose), Recorder, leaving four Alder-
men and nine of the Common Council to represent the
Church party. The electors refused to obey this imperi-
ous demand ; they declined, loyal as they were, to sur-
render their rights and privileges; they stood aside, and
allowed the Royal nominees to take possession of place
and power upon the strength of the Royal order.
A deed of the period shows us the autographs of four of
the principal men in this mixed assembly — Sir William
Creagh (the Mayor), Ambrose Barnes, William Hutchin-
son (Barnes's brother-in-law), and Samuel Gill (the
Sheriff) :—
<s^ y-4*c % -t
</
But widely separated as were the members of this
heterogeneous Corporation in thought and feeling, they
appear to have hung together fairly well, Sir William
Creagh and Ambrose Barnes, the two leaders, managed to
sink their religious differences while engaged in munici-
pal work. Ambrose Barnes attended his own place of
worship in freedom, while Sir William Creagh went to
mass without hindrance, and on the day of thanksgiving
for the Queen's conception, January 29, he listened to a
sermon "at the Catholick Chappel, by Phil. Metcalfe, P.
of the Society of Jesus," which was afterwards published.
Thus these two men, each working for his own hand,
managed to carry on the government of the town. On
the 10th of February a quo warranto against their charter
was served upon the Corporation ; in return a similar
process was taken out against the electors for refusing to
appoint Creagh and his colleagues. Ard while both mat-
ters were being considered (the charter was sent up to
London on the 8th March) the equestrian statue of the
king, to which reference is made in a preceding paragraph
— a noble effigy of brass bestriding a rearing charger of
the same metal, as may be seen in vol. ii. of the Monthly
Chronicle, pace 162— was set upon its marble pedestal in
front of the Town's Chamber on the Sandhill.
The charter, altered for the second time in less than
tive years, was ready for delivery a few days after the
statue had been erected. Sir William Creagh went to
London to receive it, and his return was celebrated, ac-
cording to the London Gazette of the 13th August, with
much ceremony.
Sir William Creagh and his friends began now to pre-
pare for the ensuing Michaelmas mayor choosing. It was
their intention to elect two men of their own party for
Mayor and Sheriff, but Ambrose Barnes and his friends
were on the alert, and when the day arrived (Monday, the
1st of October), they rose early in the morning, and
elected two dissenters— William Hutchinson, Mayor, and
Matthias Partis, Sheriff. Within a fortnight it was dis-
covered that Royal interference with borough charters
was a mistake. On the day (October 17) when it became
known that William Prince of Oranee was preparing to
invade England, a Royal Proclamation was issued order-
ing corporations whose deeds of surrender had not been
recorded or enrolled, to be restored " into the same state
and condition they were in our late dear brother's reign."
Newcastle was one of the towns in which the surrender
had not been enrolled; all, therefore, that Sir William
Creagh had done was illegal ; the election of the 1st
October was void. On the 5th of November the Prince
of Orange landed in England; on that day William
Hutchinson and Matthias Partis were put out of office ;
Nicholas Ridley was elected Mayor and Matthew White
Sheriff ; and all the displaced aldermen resumed their
gowns. A month after the coronation of William and
Mary, on Saturday, May 11, 1689, the statue of James
II. was torn down and thrown into the river Tyne.
116
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/March
\ 1890.
With the Revolution Sir William Creagh's municipal
career came to an end. His freedom of the Corporation
was declared void, and, excepting entries of the baptism
of two daughters at St. John's in 1689 and 1690, no fur-
ther mention of him occurs for some time in Newcastle
history. We know, from a letter contributed by Mr.
Horatio A. Adamson to the " Proceedings of the New-
castle Society of Antiquaries," that he received, from the
first Earl of Derwentwater, a share in "Old Brigle-
burne " mine, and we learn from the MS. previously
quoted that he continued to be a lessee of Gateshead
Colliery down to the year 1700. The Register of Burials
at St. Nicholas' Church supplies the rest : —
1696-7, January 30. Lady Margaret Creagh.
1702, December 27. Sir William Creagh, Knight,
bur. at All Saints.
Jttattljcto ani) deorje duller),
AGRICULTURAL REFORMERS.
Tarry woo', tarry woo' !
Tarry woo' is ill to spin ;
Card it weel, card it weel,
Card it weel ere ye begin.
Sing the bonnie, harmless sheep,
That feed upon the mountains steep ;
Bleating sweetly as they go
Through the winter's frost and snow.
Hart, and hind, and fallow-deer,
Not by half so useful are.
Fra kings to him that hands the plow
Are all oblig'd to tarry woo'.
— Old Border Song.
Agriculture, the oldest, the largest, and still, in many
respects, the most important industry of the world, owes
soire of its most successful developments to the labours
of three North -Country men — John Bailey and the
brothers Culley. It is a noteworthy circumstance that
all three of these eminent men had their origin in
the neighbourhood of the river Tees, and that all
three of them worked out the experiments with which
their names are associated in the same valley of North
Northumberland.
In the parish of Haughton-le-Skerne, beside Darling-
ton, is a township called Whessoe and Beaumont Hill.
Beaumont Kill was the residence of a family of Culleys
from the reign pf James I. till the early part of the
eighteenth century, when Matthew, son of John Culley
of that place, acquired a messuage and two hundred
acres of land in the chapelry of Denton — a straggling
village, abutting on the Staindrop road, about six
miles from Darlington. Matthew Culley, of Denton,
married a daughter of Edward Surtees, of Mainsforth,
and had, among other children, two sons, Matthew
and George. These lads were sent to Dishley, in
Leicestershire, to be trained by Robert Bakewell, a
country gentleman known far and wide as an improver
of the various breeds of sheep and cattle. Profiting by
Mr. Bakewell's teaching, they imbibed the principles of
their master, and returned to the North with enlarged
ideas of farming and stock-raising, which they soon
began to put into practice. In Glendale, under the
shadow of the Cheviots, they found land suitable for
their experiments, and upon the farms of Fenton in
that fertile valley, and of Wark, a little further north,
they settled. They introduced the long-woolled Dishley
sheep into Northumberland, and thus produced the
Border-Leicesters ; they imported the Tees- water short-
horns, and by judicious crossing raised cattle that
possessed the merit of becoming fat at an early age,
and yielding the thickest and heaviest beef at the
lowest possible expenditure. At the same time they
practised the most approved systems of high farming,
believing that, next to a careful selection of stock, a
spirited cultivation of the soil was the chief element
of success in agriculture. The result justified their
anticipations. "From every county of the kingdom,
and from every civilised part of Europe and the New
World, pupils and strangers crowded to view the scenes
of their active and successful labours." Their sheep
were especially famous — "known, even to the farthest
Thule, by the popular name of the Culley Breed."
A few years after the Messrs. Culley settled in Glen-
dale, John Bailey went to Chillingham and entered upon
that remarkable career of enterprise in cultivation which
we have already described. Culley's stock, and Bailey's
improvements, became the subject of discussion at every
market in the North Country, and before the century ran
out the valley of the Glen had been transformed into a
school for farmers, and, as the late Samuel Donkin would
have said, " the Mecca of agricultural pilgrimage " from
all parts of the kingdom. When the " Board of Agricul-
ture and Internal Improvement " projected, in 1793, its
survey of the English counties, it was to John Bailey
and George Culley that they looked for the reports of
Northumberland and Cumberland. Admirable reports
they were, too ; well written, well arranged, and illus-
trated by Mr. Bailey's own engravings, with tail pieces
by Thomas Bewick. The title pages read thus : —
A General View of the Agriculture of the County of
Northumberland, with Observations on the Means of its
Improvement. Drawn up for the Consideration of the
Board of Agriculture and Internal Improvement. By J.
Bailey and G. Culley. Newcastle : S. Hodgson. 1800.
A General View of the Agriculture of the County of
Cumberland ; with Observations, &c. [as above, and one
illustration.]
Previous to undertaking the joint-authorship of these
reports, George Culley had published a book on his own
account, the later editions of which were illustrated by
two pictures from Mr. Bailey's graver — "A Bull of the
Shorthorn Breed," and "A Ram of the Dishley Breed,
new shorn." It was entitled —
Observations on Live Stock, containing Hints for
Choosing and Improving the Best Breeds of che most
useful kinds of Domestic Animals. By George Culley,
Farmer, Northumberland. 1786.
In this volume the author describes the different breeds
of horses, cattle, sheep, and swine, explains the names
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NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
117
of animals at different ages in a manner that would
gratify the painstaking elucidator of "Northumberland
Words," in the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, draws
distinctions between essentials and non-essentials in
stock-raising, and discusses obstacles to improvements.
Acting upon the principles laid down in this book,
the brothers Culley accumulated considerable wealth.
Matthew, the elder, married a member o£ an ancient
Northumberland family — Elizabeth, daughter of Ralph
Bates, of Milburn House, near Ponteland, and, in 1806,
purchased from the Ogles, Coupland Castle, on the
north bank of the Glen, where, a few years later, he
died. George, the younger brother, was united to
Jane, daughter of Walter Atkinson, and bought from
Sir Francis Blake the mansion and estate of Fowberry
Tower, near Belford, at which place lie died in 1813,
aged 79, retaining to the last "that even gaiety of
temper and simplicity of manners which characterised
him through life." Each of the brothers was succeeded
by a son named Matthew. Matthew, son of George,
died unmarried in 184-9, "the last of the celebrated
Northumberland agriculturists," and the Fowberry estate
passed to his nephew, George Darling. Matthew, son of
Matthew, was a politician, and canvassed the Northern
division of Northumberland in 1832 as a Reformer, but
did not go to the poll. From him descended the late
representative, in the direct line, of the two famous
brothers — Matthew Tewart Culley, J.P., of Coupland
Castle, High Sheriff of Northumberland in 1868-69, who
died in March last.
Qurftam Catftctfral.
JURHAM— cathedral, castle, and city— owes
its foundation, if the story told by our early
historians may be trusted, to the miraculous
interposition of St. Cuthbert. When the
monks who guarded his shrine were driven by the
invading Danes from their island home at Lindisfarne,
they wandered hither and thither with his body, till, in
the year 883, they settled at Chester-le-Street. Here
they remained till 995, when another invasion again drove
them from their home. Taking with them once more the
saint's body, they fled to Ripon. Peace was restored in
a few months, and the monks set out on their return.
On their way, says Symeon of Durham, " they reached a
spot near Durham called Wrdelaw, on the eastern side of
the city," a place which we can have no hesitation in
identifying with Warden Law, near Houghton-le-Spring.
Here "the vehicle on which the shrine containing
the holy body was deposited could not be induced to
advance any further. They who attempted to move it
were assisted by others, but their efforts, though vigor-
ous, were equally ineffective ; nor did the additional
attempts of the crowd which now came up produce any
result in moving it ; for the shrine containing the uncor-
rupted body continued where it was as if it were a
mountain." Such an unmistakable indication of the
saint's unwillingness to be carried further in the intended
direction could not be ignored, and a fast of three days'
duration, spent in watching and prayer, was adopted as a
means of discovering the great Cuthbert's wishes. At
the end of this period came a revelation to one of the
monks, named Eadmer, that Dunhelm should be their
destination and final resting place. The shrine was now
found to be easily moveable, and towards Durham the
pilgrims bent their steps. How they found their way
thither we are told in a legend preserved in the "Ancient
Rites of Durham." " Being distressed because they
were ignorant where Dunholme was, see their goocle
fortune ! As they were goinge, a woman that lacked her
cowe did call aloude to hir companion to know if sbee did
not see hir, who answered with a loud voice that hit
cowe was in Dunholme — a happye and heavenly eccho to
the distressed monkes, who by that meanes were at the
end of theire journey, where they should finde a restinge
place for the body of theire honoured saint." To this
tradition must be ascribed, I think, the sculptured repre-
sentation of the milkmaid and the cow on the turret at
the north end of the Chapel of the Nine Altars. The
present sculptures date only from last century, but they
occupy the place of others which were certainly as old as
this part of the church.
Such, then, according to the old chronicles, was the
origin of Durham. No sooner had the monks reached
their new home than they " with all speed made a little
church of boughs of trees," and placed therein the shrine
of their saint. Symeon tell us that their new abode,
" though naturally strong, was net easily habitable," for,
except a small space in the centre, the whole of the
plateau on which the castle and the cathedral are built
was covered with a very dense wood. The bishop, as-
sisted by the people of the district, cut down the whole
of the timber, and a residence was assigned by lot
to each monk. In the meantime, another edifice,
called the White Church, had taken the place of
the one made of boughs. Now, however, the bishop
"commenced to build a fine church upon a large scale,"
which we are elsewhere told was "moderately large"
and was built of stone. Three years were devoted to its
completion. It was dedicated on the 4th September,
998. The bishop under whose directions all these things
had been done was Aldhune, the first of St. Cuthbert's
successors who held the see of Durham. He died in 1019,
and was succeeded by Eadmund, Egelric, and Egelwin,
who bring us down to the time of the Norman Conquest.
The last of these, the Saxon bishops of Durham, died in
prison in 1071, and in the following year the king ap-
pointed Walcher, a Norman, to the episcopate. At thia
time the colony of the monks who had settled here led a
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MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
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\ 1890.
very unmonastic life. They were, in fact, married men,
and had families. This must have been the condition of
things amongst them for a considerable time, for Aldhune
himself was a married man, and had a queer daughter,
who appears to have given him and her successive hus-
bands a great deal of trouble. It was no wonder that the
lives of these monks did not meet with the approval
of the new bishop. He proposed to build a much
nobler and grander church than that raised by Aldhune,
and, when it should be completed, to introduce into it
monks of the order of St. Benedict. Walcher's tragic
death in Gateshead Church, in 1080, put an end to his
efforts ; but his plans were adopted by his successor,
William de St. Carileph, who, like Walcher, owed his
appointment to the Conqueror.
About the year 1072, three southern monks, one of
whom was Aldwin, the prior of Winchelcomb, had
journeyed into the North, attracted by the fame of its
ancient monastic institutions. They first came to New-
castle, then known as Monkchester. Bishop Walcher
heard of them, and, having summoned them into his
presence, and convinced himself of the sincerity and
purity of their intentions, gave them the deserted and
ruined monastery of Jarrow for an abode, and its ancient
possessions for their maintenance. A similar grant of
Monkwearmouth and its dependencies followed after a
time. Their numbers rapidly increased, and, under
the fostering care of Walcher and his successor,
their houses prospered abundantly. Carileph seems
to have been even more distressed than Walcher
by what he regarded as the disorderly Ufa of the
monks of Durham. He in-
quired into the rule of those
who lived about St. Cuthbert
in the island of Lindisfarne,
and, finding how different it
was from that which prevailed
amongst their successors in his
day, he determined, if possible,
to restore the ancient usages.
He sought the council of the
king and queen, and of Lan-
franc, Archbishop of Canter-
bury, and finally he journeyed
to Rome to lay his plans before
the Pope. All approved of his
project, and on his return he
brought the monks of Jarrow
and Wearmouth to Durham.
Their translation occurred on
the 26th May, 1083. "Two
days afterwards — on Whit-
Sunday — they were introduced
into the Church of St. Cuth-
bert, and there the command of
the apostolic Pope was exhibited
to the assembled multitudes, who were also informed
that it had the approbation of the most excellent King
William." "As for those individuals," nays Symeon,
"who had hitherto resided therein (canons by name,
but men who in no one respect followed the canonical
rule), them he commanded henceforth to lead a
monastic life along with the monks, if they had any
wish to continue their residence within the church.
All of them preferred abandoning the church to retain-
ing it upon such a condition, except one of their
number, the dean, whose son, a monk, had difficulty
in persuading him to follow his own example."
At this time Aldhune's church was still standing.
It seems probable that, from the first, Carileph had
set his heart upon a new and grander structure ; but it
was not until after his return, in 1091, from an exile of
three years, into which he had been driven for taking
part in a rebellion against William Rufus, that he actually
commenced the work. The foundations were laid on the
llth August, 1093. The work went forward with great
rapidity, so rapidly, indeed, that, when Carileph died, on
the 2nd January, 1096, the church had been completed
from the east end, where the work commenced, as far as
the first bay of the nave, and including the arches on
which the central tower rests. Besides this, Carileph, no
doubt, built the outer wall of the church from end to end,
at least as high as the blank arcade which runs round the
whole edifice, and of which the architectural features are
the same in every part, except, of course, the later Chapel
of the Nine Altars.
After Carileph's death, the see was vacant for three
DURHAM CATHEDRAL, FROM THE CASTLE.
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NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
119
years, at the end of which Ralph Flambard was
elected bishop. Flambard was a man of whose char-
acter varying accounts are given, but who, on the
whole, seems to have been not very scrupulous in
many of his proceedings. He carried forward the
erection of the church, and, says Symeon's continuator,
"he carried up the walls of the nave of the church as
far as the roof." There can be no doubt that the
western towers, to the height of the nave walls, are
also to be ascribed to him. He died on the 5th
September, 1128.
We must now return, for a moment, to the death of
Carileph. The bishop had made an agreement with
the monks that he himself would build the church,
and they should erect the domestic buildings. This
covenant was brought to an end by his death, "and
the monks," says the continuator of Symeon, "neglect-
ing the building of the offices, devoted themselves to
the works of the church," so that, when Carileph 's suc-
cessor arrived, he found its erection advanced "as far
as the nave." To the monks we may ascribe the west
walls of both the north and the south transepts, and
also the vaulting of the former; and the extremely
plain character of this work is accounted for by the
limited monetary resources of the monastics as com-
pared with those of the bishop.
After Flambard's death, an interval of five years
elapsed before a successor was appointed. During this
period, to quote once more from Symeon's continuator,
" the monks devoted themselves to the building of the
nave of the church of Durham, and it was completed."
ST. CUTHBERT'S CROSS AND THE DUN cow, DURHAM CATHEDRAL.
All that they can have done was to complete the
vaulting, for Flambard had previously carried up the
nave walls to their full height. Fiambard's successor
was Galfrid Rufus, who held the see till 1140. " In
his time the chapter house of the monks was com-
pleted," but it must ,have been commenced before, for
part of the detail is of earlier date. To Rufus also
must be ascribed the north and south doorways of the
nave ; but the great west doorway, now covered by the
Galilee, is doubtless the work of Flambard.
Rufus was succeeded, after a period of three years,
by William de St. Barabara, the one bishop of Durham
whose entrance into his see was emphatically stormy.
During his time no work of an important character
seems to have been carried out. He was followed by
one of the most powerful and splendid of all the
prince-bishops of Durham, Hugh Pudsey, to whom we
are indebted for some of the grandest and noblest
architectural achievements which remain at this
day in the North of England. He held the see
for the long period of forty-four years. He was the
builder of the Galilee. He intended at first to build
this lady chapel at the east end of the church ; but St.
Cuthbert's dislike to the proximity of women defeated
his intention. At least, such is the story. The writer
of the "Ancient Rites of Durham " tells us that "Hugo,
bushop of Durham, . . . considering the deligence of
his predecessors in buylding the Cathedrall Church,
which was finished but a fewe yeres before his tyme, no
Chapell being then erected to the blessed Virgin Marie,
whereiinto it should be lawfull for women to have
accesse, began to erect a newe
peice of woorke at the east
end of the said Cathedrall
Church, for which worke there
weare sundry pillers of marble
stone brought from beyonde
the seas. But this worke, being
browght to a small height,
began, throwghe great rifts ap-
peringe in the same, to fall
downe, whereupon it many
festlye appeared that that
worke was not acceptable to
God and holy Saint Cuthbert,
especially by reason of the ac
cesso which women weare to
have so neare his Ferreter. In
consideration wherof the worke
was left of, and anewe begun
and finished at the west angle
of the said Church, whereunto
yt was lawfull for women to
enter, having no holie place
before where they mighte
have lawfull accesse unto for
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MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/March
t 1890.
there cnmforthe and consolation." The cause of the
shrinking of Pudsey's first erections may be easily
explained without having recourse to miraculous
agency. To borrow the words of Canon Greenwell,
"The foundation of the Cathedral at the west end is
close to the rock, whilst at the east end the soil is deep,
and in places of a peaty nature. The old builders often
cared little about the fouadations, and appear sometime
to have been wanting in engineering skill. Indeed, they
frequently planted the walls merely upon the surface,
and thus, when the soil was of a compressible nature,
shrinking of the walls was apt to take place." The
"sundry pillars of marble Btone" which Pudsey is
recorded to have brought from beyond the sea still
exist in the Galilee. They are of Purbeck marble, and
the words " beyond the sea " merely mean that they were
brought by sea from Dorsetshire to some northern port,
probably Newcastle or Hartlepool.
CHAPEL OF THE NINE ALTARS, DURHAM CATHEDRAL.
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NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
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The Galilee was built about the year 1175. Its position
at the west end of the church, in connection with St.
Cuthbert's supposed dislike to the presence of women,
reminds us of the line of Frosterly marble slabs in the
pavement of the floor of the nave, which stretches from
side to side just west of the north and south doors. This
cross, or line of demarcation, was laid down "in token
that all women that came to here devine service should
not be Buffered to come above the said cross ; and if it
chaunced that any woman to come above it, within the
body of the church, thene. straighte wayes, she was
taiken awaie and punishede for certaine daies, because
ther was never women came where the holie man Sainte
Cuthbert was, for the reverence thei had to his sacred
bodie." But the whole subject of St. Cuthbert's shrine—
a subject too large to be even lightly touched upon here —
I hope before long to write about in the pages of this
magazine.
THE NAVE, DURHAM CATHEDRAL.
122
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
Besides the Galilee, Pudsey built the exterior of the
doorway which opens into the cloisters at the east end
of the nave, of which the work is enriched and beautiful.
The two bishops who succeeded Pudsey were Philip de
Fictavia and Richard de Marisco, the former of whom
held the see from 1197 to 1208, and the latter from 1217
to 1226. In 1228, Richard Poore was elected bishop, and
to him it has been customary to ascribe what might
almost be called the crowning glory of the church of
Durham — the Chapel of the Nine Altars. It w certain
that he purposed some such erection as this, and it is
possible even that the plans for it were drawn out in his
time ; but it is equally certain that no part of the work
was carried out by him. He had been Bishop of Salisbury
before he came to Durham, and in the former place he
had been a great and distinguished builder, and probably
to his taste and conception of the possibilities of
architectural art we are indebted for the present
magnificent east end of the Cathedral of Durham. He
died in 1237, and the Chapel of the Nine Altars was
commenced five years afterwards by Prior Thomas de
Melsanby. The character of the original eastern
termination of the church is a much discussed and
still undecided question. That it was in some way
apsidal there can be little doubt. I am inclined to
think that the choir terminated in a great central apse,
and that the aisles terminated in smaller apses. After
"the new work," as it is frequently called in contem-
porary documents, was completed, the Norman vaulting
of the chancel was taken down and the present vault
erected. The reason for this was two-fold. The original
vault, in common with the east end of the choir,
had become shattered on account of the insufficiency of the
foundations. But an additional reason arose from the
necessity of the vault of the choir being made to harmonize
with that of the Chapel of the Nine Altars.
Other and later parts of the church mnst be mentioned
briefly. The higher stages of the western towers are
believed to have been built about the year 1220, during
the episcopacy of Richard de Marisco. In the time of
Bishop Hatfield, who held the see from 1345 to 1381,
some of the finest windows in the church were inserted.
In his day, too, the magnificent altar screen was erected,
and he himself built his own splendid tomb and the
episcopal throne above it. Cardinal Langley, who was
bishop from 1406 to 1437, made considerable alterations,
especially m the Galilee, and to him the lower gallery
of the lantern tower must be attributed. The arcade
above the gallery was built during the episcopate of
Lawrence Booth (1457-1476), whilst the belfry, or highest
stage of the tower, was erected in the time of John
Sherwood (1483-1494).
One episode in the later history of Durham Cathedral
must not be passed over. Less than a hundred years
ago the Chapter House was almost entirely destroyed.
A meeting of the Chapter, held on the 20th November,
1795, determined on its demolition. Till that time a
more magnificent Chapter House no cathedral in England
possessed. What happened shall be told in the words
of Dr. Raine. ''It had been resolved that the room
was cold and comfortless, and out of repair, and incon-
venient for the transaction of Chapter business ; and
to a member of the body possessing, unfortunately, no
taste in matters of this nature, was deputed the task
of making the Chapter House a comfortable place for the
purposes to which it was appropriated, and then began
the work of destruction. A man was suspended from
machinery by a cord tied around his waist, to knock
out the key-stones of the groinings, and the whole roof
was permitted to fall upon the gravestones in its pave-
ment [the gravestones of the bishops of Durham from
Aldhune to KellawJ and break them into pieces, we know
not how small." Then followed the removal of the
eastern half of the building, and the reduction to the
aspect of a smug and trim schoolroom of what was left.
The Galilee had also been doomed to destruction, and
was only saved by urgent representations made to the
Society of Antiquaries of London by John Carter, an
antiquarian draughtsman.
Such, as briefly as I can tell it, is the history of
Durham Cathedral— the most complete, the noblest, and
the most impressive of the Norman churches of England.
It is an edifice the study whereof is itself an education.
It cannot be seen in an hour, or in a day, or in a week.
In one visit, no matter how prolonged, the mind cannot
grasp either its proportions or its details. Familiarity
with its long vistas and its grand perspectives only in-
creases and intensifies the sense of its splendour, and
of its subduing and humbling effect. The attributes
of which it seems to me to be pre-eminently the embodi-
ment and expression are repose and permanence. The
gigantic piers of its arcades seem to have been built,
not for a thousand years, but for all time.
The curiosity seeker, the visitor who only wants to be
amused, finds something at Durham to interest him. He
sees the ponderous knocker on the north door, and hears
the story of the refuge these walls once afforded .to the
guilty one who fled from the avenger. He is shown the
sculptured milkmaid and her cow, and is told how the
monks of old found their way to Durham. He is taken
into the Galilee to the tomb of the Venerable Bede, and
learns how the inscribing monk's Latinity was helped out
by the chisel of an angel. In the south transept he looks
up at the pillar which leans now this way, now that, as
he may chance to stand right or left of it. Behind the
altar screen a stone is pointed out to him worn hollow
by the knees of the pilgrims who, in ancient days, knelt
at the shrine of St. Cuthbert, and enriched the treasury
of the monks by their offerings.
I find no fault with one whose interest centres in the
curiosities of a church ; but I say there are greater
things which deserve our attention. The visitor to
March 1
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
123
Durham Cathedral will do well, first of all, to gain
some acquaintance with its external aspects, and to study
carefully some of the more distant views of it. Its west
front is especially grand and striking from almost every
point from which it can be seen. The hill behind the
railway station, Framwellgate Bridge, and the Prebend's
Bridge are favourite spots from which to see it, and the
heights of the opposite banks of the Wear must not be
overlooked. Nearer views are scarcely so desirable.
For these the Palace Green undoubtedly affords the best
vantage ground, but the paring and dressing and "resto-
ration," which the exterior has undergone, detract, it
must be confessed, in a very marked degree, from the
character which, under wiser custodianship, it might
have yet retained.
To describe the interior 1 am altogether incompetent,
and, perhaps in this respect I am not much different from
other people. It would be the easiest thing imaginable
to give a technical description of the architecture, but
architecture like that of Durham Cathedral appeal*
much more to our emotions than to our intellects. One
of our illustrations is a view in the nave looking east-
ward. In the immediate foreground we see the dark
cross in the floor over which women of any age and of
every rank may now pass fearlessly, for St. Cuthbert hag
been appeased. To the right we see massive piers and
heavy arches, and above these the tnforium and the
clerestory and the vault which spans the nave. In thU
part of the church we notice the prevalence of the zigzag
moulding, of which we shall find not a trace in the
earlier work of the choir. Before us we see the rose-
window at the east end of the church, and, nearer, tha
vault of the choir, whilst between choir and nave we gain
a glimpse of the lantern and of its lower gallery.
THE GALILEE, DURHAM CATHEDRAL, SHOWING THE TOMB OF BEDE.
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MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
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Another of our illustrations is a view in Pudsey's
Galilee, with Bede's plain, modern tomb on our right.
Here again we have zigzag mouldings on the arches, but
how light and graceful are those arches ! How slender
the columns on which they rest ! Each column consists
of four clustered shafts, two of which are of Purbeck
marble and the two others of sandstone. It is noticeable,
too, that the marble shafts carry the arches, whilst the
sandstone shafts carry nothing. It is sometimes said
that the marble shafts were erected by Pudsey's archi-
tect, whilst those of sandstone were added in the time of
Langley. This can scarcely have been the case. It is
more probable that Pudsey's architect, seeing the ap-
parent insufficiency of the two marble columns to carry
the superincumbent weight, added the sandstone shafts
after the building was otherwise complete, and then
solely for the purpose of supplying what is needed in all
good architecture, namely, the satisfaction to the eye
that every part of a structure is sufficient for the position
it occupies.
A third illustration shows the Chapel of the Nine
Altars, with the inserted later north window. Here we
reach a further stage in the progress of architectural art
towards lightness of proportion and gracefulness of form.
We have indeed reached the work of a period when, in
some respects, architecture had attained the greatest
degree of perfection which has yet been achieved. In
this chapel we have an illustration of what I mean.
Every detail in this part of the church is extremely beau-
tiful ; but the capitals of the shafts from which the
vaulting springs, though perhaps not equal to work of the
same period to be found at York and Lincoln, present
such exquisite examples of conventional foliage in stone,
carved with inconceivable tenderness and in almost
infinite variety, as to justify one iu saying that the
golden age of architectural capitals was the age wherein
the Chapel of the Nine Altars was built.
J. K. BOYLE, F.S.A.
jjERHAPS the handsomest member of the Pipit
family is the Tree Pipit (Anthus arboreuij,
which is tolerably plentiful in the two
Northern Counties. It is known as the
pipit lark, field titling, field lark, lesser field lark, tree
lark, grasshopper lark, lesser crested lark, short-heeled
field lark, and meadow lark. Arriving in this country in
April or early May, it departs, after nidification, for
warmer countries in September. Like most of our spring
visitors, the males arrive a week or ten days before the
females. The chief food of the bird consists of flies.
caterpillars, grasshoppers, worms, and small seeds.
"The song of the tree pipit," says the Rev. J. G.
Wood, "is generally given in a very curious manner.
Taking advantage of some convenient tree, it hops
from branch to branch, chirping merrily with each hop,
and after reaching the summit of the tree, perches for
a few moments, and then launches itself into the air
for the purpose of continuing its ascent. Having ac-
complished this feat, the bird bursts into a triumphant
strain of music, and, fluttering downwards as it sings,
alights upon the same tree from which it had started.
and by successive leaps again reaches the ground." The
nest is almost invariably placed on the ground in the
immediate neighbourhood of woods and thickets, and is
mostly well concealed amid the grass. It is composed of
dry roots and grass, and sometimes lined with a few hairs.
Two broods are usually reared in the season.
The Meadow Pipit cr Titlark (Anthus pratensis) is
nearly as well known to Northern school boys as the
hedge sparrow or the robin. Its scientific name literally
means "small bird of the meadow," though it will be
found plentifully on moors, mosses, and waste places,
where, from its well-known cry, or cheep, it is often called
the moss cheeper. It is also called the titling, meadow
titling, ling bird, grey cheeper, and meadow lark.
March!
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
125
Though of sober plumage above, it is prettily speckled on
the light-coloured breast and lower part of the body with
dark brown spots. The length of the male is about six
and a half inches. The nest of the meadow pipit may be
found in various localities— in rich, low-lying meadows,
and high upon the wildest moors. In the fields, but
especially on moors, the humble but not unpleasant song
of the bird can be frequently heard during summer.
Sometimes it eings from a hillock, a stone wall, or a rail ;
but it is best heard when it launches into the air and
wheels round in short circles, which are gradually de-
reased as the bird nears the ground, when it closes its
wings and drops suddenly down, something like the sky-
lark. The ordinary cry of the bird is a somewhat mourn-
ful "peep, peep," and, when alarmed, a sibilant "trit,
»rit."
The Kock Pipit (Anthus aqvaticus) is familiar to most
people who reside near the coast. Mr. Hancock remarks,
in his " Catalogue of the Birds of Northumberland and
Durham," that it is "a resident, breeding plentifully on
our rocky sea shores, and remaining with us the whole
year." It has a variety of common names, connecting it
with the lark family and the sea shore. In addition to its
proper name it is called the rock lark, sea lark, field lark,
dusky lark, shore lark, shore pipit, and sea titling ; while
ite scientific name (aquaticus) denotes that it frequents
watery places. It is found along all our sea coasts, bat
more especially where there are plenty of rocks. It
breeds plentifully among the sand hills to the north of
Hartlepool, up to the mouth of Castle Eden Dene. It is
common about Marsden Rock, and in summer and winter
on the sides. The nest is usually placed in boles of the
rock or on ledges, often far up the face of the rock over-
hanging the sea.
numbers may be seen feeding among the seaweed cast up
by the tide. It is common also in the neighbourhood of
St. Mary's Island. The male bird is from six to seven
inches in length, and the general hue of the back plumage
is of a deep olive green. The breast is of a dull greenish
white, with brown spots and streaks, and olive brown
JTamilg.
fllSS MABEL ANNE TOWNELEY. whose
marriage to Lord Clifford took place at the
Oratory, Brompton, on January 23, 1890, is a
member of an ancient, highly-distinguished, and much
esteemed county family.
The Towneleys can trace their direct descent from
Spartlingus, first Dean of Whalley, who lived about the
year 896, during the reign of King Alfred. From that early
date to the present, the family has been intimately identi-
fied with the political, military, literary, antiquarian, and
artistic history of the country. Members of it have been
repeatedly high sheriffs of Lancashire, occupied seats in
Parliament, and held places of trust and confidence in
Court and Government. They played a distinguished
part throughout the Wars of the Koses, usually identify-
ing themselves with the Lancastrians. Richard de Towne-
ley had close personal and family relations with John of
Gaunt. Richard's grandson was knighted on the battle
field of Hutton in 1481 ; another Towneley was knighted
for the part he took in the siege of Leith ; and Charles
Towneley fell fighting for the king at Marstou Moor.
During the troubled period of English history beginning
with the accession of the Stuarts and ending with the
accession of the Hanoverians, the Towneleys, fathers
and sons, uncles and nephews, were always active,
devoted, and chivalrous partisans of the Royalist
cause. Several of them were slain in battle, and
more than one suffered torture and death for their
devotion to their king and church. They were "out"
in the insurrection of 1715, and again in 1745. Through
their chequered and adventurous career, the Towne-
levs have always been true to their motto, " Tencz le
yrny"— they stuck to the cause of the Stuarts and the
cause of the Catholics, when the former was lost, and
when the adherents of the latter were subjected to perse-
cution and proscription. Collateral members of the family
were ennobled, but the head of the house never was, al-
though on more than one occasion he could have been if
he had desired. Their achievements have not been exclu-
sively confined to the arenas of politics and war. Richard
Towneley, the head of the family in the latter part of the
seventeenth and early part of the eighteenth centuries,
attained to great distinction as a philosopher and mathe-
matician ; John Towneley was the tutor of the "Young
Chevalier," and translated Hudibras into French ; and
Charles Towneley, the twentieth direct descendant from
Spartlingus, known as "The Lord of Towneley," was
126
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/March
\ 1890.
distinguished by bit great taste in fine arts, and formed
the celebrated collection of the Towneley marbles now in
the British Museum. A Miss Towneley was the wife of
Alleyn, the great actor, dramatist, and philanthropist,
who purchased the manor of Dulwich in 1606, and built
and endowed the famous college there.
The Towneley family possesses more than 23,000 acres of
land in Lancashire, 18,000 acres in Yorkshire, and about
5,000 acres in Durham. Some 3,600 acres of the last-
mentioned property are situated in the parishes of Win-
laton and Ryton, and about 1,400 acres at Stanley, near
Tanfield. The Towneleys came into the possession of the
Durham property by marriage. The Stella estate
originally belonged to the nuns of St. Bartholomew. They
held it uninterruptedly from before the Conquest until the
dissolution of the monasteries. After that the Stella estate
was bought by the Tempests of Newcastle, a mercantile
branch of the Tempests of Holmside, who took part in the
rebellion of the earls of 1570, and lost in consequence
their inheritance. The Tempests lived at Stella for up-
wards of 200 years, and, like the Towneleys, were ever
true to the cause of the Stuarts and the Catholic Church.
The daughter of the last male representative of the
family married Lord Widdrington, who, along with Lord
Derwentwater, was sentenced to death for his par-
ticipation in the rising of 1715. Lord Widdrington
was pardoned, and although his paternal estates were
coniiscated, his Stella and Stanley properties were restored
to him, as he had obtained them through his wife. The
property descended from him to his son, and then in
succession to his daughters, one of whom was married to a
Towneley. Peregrine Edward Towneley, who came into
possession of the estates upwards of a hundred years ago,
had two sons, Charles and John. Charles, the elder, had
no son, but he had three daughters. John, who
was for some time member for Beverley, had
one son and four daughters. Both John Towneley
and Charles Towneley, as well as John Towneley's
son, Richard, are now dead, and the estate has been
divided between the two families. The Lancashire pro-
perty has gone to the daughters of the late Charles
Towneley, and the Yorkshire and Durham properties have
gone to the daughters of the late John Towneley. This
settlement was effected by a private Act of 'Parliament
passed a few years ago. Miss Mabel Anne Towneley,
now Lady Clifford, is the youngest daughter of the late
John Towneley.
Rejoicings in connection with the marriage took place
on the Stella, Blaydon, Stanley, and other estates of the
family in the county of Durham.
of
dfatorfitt.
j|OR the Easter week of 1868, Mr. E. D. Davia,
who was then lessee of the Theatre Royal,
Newcastle, advertised in the local papers
that there would be "an unparalleled
attraction and an extraordinary combination of talent."
A new drama, entitled "Lost in London," was presented
that evening (April 13) for the first time, supported by
Mr. Tom Glenney, a very excellent actor, and a native of
Newcastle ; Mr. Alfred Davis, his wife, &c. The play
was followed by a burlesque — "The Fair One with the
Golden Locks " — in which Miss Marion Taylor played
the principal part. On the following day the critic of the
Daily Chronicle spoke rather disparagingly of the bur-
lesque, but gave unstinted praise to the actors engaged
in the drama — Messrs. Glenney and Alfred Davis
especially. A young actress, however, who played the
part of a Lancashire Lass (Tiddy Dragglethorpe) received
great commendation, her acting being pronounced
"fresh, vigorous, and consistent throughout." The name
of this young actress was Amy Fawsitt, who first joined
the Theatre Royal company at the beginning of the
season of 1867-68.
" Lost in London " was a great success, and was played
to good houses for twelve nights. The writer of this
Hiss -Am-fFawcit,m<i.
narrative was present on its first representation, and well
remembers the remarkably fine and natural acting of
Miss Fawsitt, and the hearty applause which it evoked
from a crowded house. The ir.ost thrilling scene in the
piece was Tiddy's descent down a coal shaft to tell Job
Armroyd of his wife's elopement. The grief, sorrow, and
womanly sympathy she displayed when conveying to Job
March 1
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
127
the terrible tidings were very touching and pathetic, and
drew tears from the major part of the audience. If the
writer is not mistaken, Amy Fawsitt played for two
successive seasons at the Theatre Royal, and then suc-
ceeded in obtaining an engagement at one of the first
theatres in London, where she speedily became a great
favourite.
We might here mention that the late Mr. Davis
brought out upon the Newcastle boards a number of
young actresses who afterwards achieved high rank in
their profession. Amongst these were Miss Emily Cross,
Miss Clifford, and Miss Enson ; and we might also name
Fanny Ternan, who, although she frequently appeared on
the stage as a child actress or " infant phenomenon," had
retired from the theatre for years before she made her
debut (a young Lxdy of 18) on the Newcastle boards in
1853. Old playgoers will also remember several lady
members of Mr. Davis's companies who, on leaving New-
castle, achieved London and provincial reputations,
notably Miss Johnstone, Miss Lavine, Miss Agnes
Markham, Miss Ada Dyas, Miss Fanny Addison, &c.
To return to Miss Fawsitt. We believe that her first
essay in London was at the Vaudeville Theatre. Here
she made a decided hit. Two or three Newcastle gentle-
men, who had previously seen her at the "Royal, "and
who afterwards saw her in London, have told the writer
that the improvement in her acting in so short a time was
surprising, and that her admirable impersonation of
Lady Teazle in Sheridan's matchless comedy was the
talk of the town.
After an actor or actress has gained a London reputa-
tion, offers of lucrative engagements are generally sent
from America in shoals, and Miss Fawsitt was no
exception to the rule. In August, 1876, Mr. Fiske, lessee
of the Fifth Avenue Theatre, New York, telegraphed to
the young actress offering her an engagement to play in
Daly's comedy of "Life." The offer was at once ac-
cepted, and Miss Fawsitt left England eight days after
the receipt of the telegram. She entered upon her en-
gagement on the 16th September, 1876, her salary being
at the rate of 165 dollars a week. She became a great
favourite with the New Yorkers immediately, and a
brilliant career seemed to be open to her; but on
the 21st of October Miss Fawsitt threw up her en-
gagement, having played exactly five weeks. Early in
October, she had left the hotel where she had stayed
since her arrival in America, and took private apart-
ments, alleging as her reason for so doing that a large
hotel offered great temptations in the way of drink and
gay company. Miss Dollman, who had come out from
England with Miss Fawsiti as her maid, accompanied
her to lodgings, but left her service after a few weeks.
Then the poor girl fell into the clutches of as cruel and
wicked a wretch as ever disgraced the earth. The story
of her sufferings at the hands of this infamous scoundrel is
heartrending even to read. We will narrate the circum-
stances, however, as they were told in the New York
papers some months after Miss Fawsitt had succumbed
to her ill-treatment.
Of course, a sensational event like the tragical death
of a favourite actress was not likely to be neglected by
the American newspapers, and accordingly a smart re-
porter was sent by the New York Herald to obtain what
information he could. After diligent inquiry, the re-
porter found that the actress had long been under the
ascendency of a villain whom she had at first engaged
as a servant ; that, owing doubtless to the feeling of
degradation which this liason entailed, she was almost
constantly under the influence of liquor ; that the villain
pawned her dresses, jewellery, and theatrical wardrobe ;
that she was nearly always kept under lock and key;
and that she was abused and beaten by the drunken
brute from whose thraldom she seemed unable to escape.
The Herald reporter obtained the following astounding
details from a lady lodger who lived in the same boarding-
house as Miss Fawsitt : —
The heartless wretch who had obtained such a baleful
influence over his paramour was named "Billy," or
"Booby," as Miss Fawsitt always called him. Mr.
Montague, an actor at the Avenue Theatre, who had
urged the young lady to leave the hotel and take private
apartments, was a frequent visitor, but could not always
obtain admission, as the poor girl was rigidly guarded.
Sometimes, however, Billy was so stupidly drunk that he
forgot to lock her up; and on one occasion when he went
out he had left the door open, and poor Miss Fawsitt
ran downstairs to the rooms below, and implored the
assistance of a gentleman who lived there. Moved to
compassion, he promised to help her and to get her out
of the house, and in the meantime allowed her to remain
in his rooms. When her tyrant returned, he was frantic
with rage to find that his prisoner had escaped, and went
storming about the house like a madman. At last, on
looking through the glass panel of the door of the room
where she was hidden, he discovered her, and, smashing
in the door, he seized his hapless victim, who was scream-
ing for help, and dashed her over the balustrade down
to the floor below. There she lay motionless as a corpse,
when Billy, still cursine, and in a towering rage, ran
down and picked her up, and carried her back to her
room, beating her all the way. When he got her there,
he dashed her on the floor, when, her head striking
the surbase, she received an ugly scalp wound from
which the blood flowed freely. The wretch then
took the poor senseless woman and threw her on
the bed with such brutal violence as to break it.
Her cries and moans could be heard for two hours
afterwards ; but, as the doors were securely bolted,
no one could go to her assistance. This occurred three
days before Christmas. Her friend, Miss Lennox, a
member of the Avenue Theatre company, had invited
her to dine on the Christmas Day, but Billy refused to
allow her to go. The morning after Christmas, Mrs.
King, the boarding-house keeper, told a Mrs. Greene that
Amy Fawsitt was dead, she having succumbed to her
injuries three days after being thrown over the balus-
trade. An hour or two after she died, the infamous
wretch who had killed her was looking out her best
dresses to pawn for drink.
One thing is plain in this shameful story, the man
Billy was screened by the lodging-house keeper, Mrs.
King, as the foregoing details only came out by degrees
and after the lapse of several months. We cannot find
that the fellow was arrested, or that any effort was ever
made to bring him to justice. That he should have
128
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/March
\ 1890.
escaped scot-free is not the least astonishing part of the
awful tragedy.
The sketch on page 126 shows Miss Fawsitt as Espada
in the pantomime of the "Queen of the Frogs," which
was produced at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle, Christmas,
1867. The photograph from which it is taken was
kindly lent by Mr. Ogilvie, Hartington Street, New-
castle. W. W. W.
Crastcr
iljcrrtftwit6n'=
JJRASTER HOUSE, or Tower, is situated on
the coast of Northumberland, about ten miles
from Alnwick. It is an adaptation of a small
Border fortress as a modern dwelling- house. An ancient
vaulted kitchen is retained as a cellar. The house com-
mands tine sea views through the chasms of a bold
chain of broken rocks that run between it and the
shore. The family of Craster dates from before the
Conquest. William de Craucesti held Craucesti in 1272.
Shafto Craster, said to be the last male descendant of
this ancient family, died on May 7, 1837, in his eighty-
third year. He was a man of unbounded charity. Not
satisfied with his own individual efforts, he appointed
persons in many places to dispense relief on his behalf.
His remains were deposited in the family vault in th«
northern aisle of Embleton Church on May 30, 1837,
the funeral being attended by many hundreds of the
inhabitants of the district. Craster House is now owned
by John Craster, eldest son of the late Thomas Wood,
who assumed the surname and arms of Craster by virtue
of the will of a former member of the old family. Mr.
John Craster was High Sheriff of Northumberland in
1879.
j]HE ruins of the manor of Hollinside are situated
in the Derwent Valley, within a compara-
tively easy distance of Swalwell, Winlaton
Mill, and Axwell Park, though it must be at the same
time confessed that the road thither is none of the easiest.
" Marry, 'tis a hard road to hit," as old Gobbo says. But
the ruins are worth a visit all the same, especially when
the weather is fine, and the beauty of the scenery can be
observed to the best advantage.
Arrived at the old building, the visitor's attention is
probaby first drawn to the kitchen of the manor house.
Here he notices the chimney-piece, still in excellent pre-
servation. It is a solid block of masonry, some ten or
ten-and-a-half feet in length. Nothing further remains
CRASTER HOUSE, NORTHUMBERLAND.
Marohl
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
129
here to delay the inquisitive visitor. Leaving this room,
he will come next upon the principal entrance, still strong
even in its decay. Here he will note the two side
passages, suggestive of preparations for defence in the
troubled times of the past ; and the third narrow passage,
at right angles to the main entrance, which a few resolute
men might easily have defended against hundreds of
assailants when the building was in its integrity. Here,
too, cattle might have been driven withiu the manor house
in times of threatening and danger, if there seemed reason
for such a step. Looking behind, the visitor will see
traces of mason-work, suggesting that much of the ancient
pile has yielded slowly to the destroying touch of time ;
looking upward, he cannot fail to note the gruesome
square hole, and consider what may have been its original
purpose. Was it to enable the inmates of the manor
house, if hard pressed by foes, to pour down on their
devoted heads boiling lead ? If the visitor walk round
now to the other side, he will be struck by the impregna-
bility of the situation, as it must have been in the olden
time.
The local traditions connected with Hollinside are
scant ; but this one we may quote. Under date March
13, 1318, the historian records : — "Thomas Hollin-
side conveys his manor of Hollinside, near Axwell, to
William Bointon, of Newcastle, and Isolda, his wife, with
all his demesne lands, and free service of his tenants, a
watermill called Clokinthenns [this name still lives in the
neighbourhood, but in a slightly corrupted form], situate
upon the New Dene Burn, and his fishery in the Derwent.
This property afterwards came into the hands of the
Hardings, descendants of Sampson Harding, Mayor and
M.P. for Newcastle towards the close of this [the
fourteenth] century." (Welford's " History of Newcastle
and Gateshead.") Sampson Harding was, in fact, Mayor
for four consecutive years, namely, from 1396 to 1399,
inclusive.
The Hardings, who hailed from Beaduell, in North-
umberland, do not seem to have prospered, although they
were at one time engaged in the coal trade, having mines
on their Hollinside estates. Their property became
mortgaged to their neighbour, George Bowes, Esq., of
Gibside, who became the owner of it about the year 1730.
Some interest appears to have been retained in the land
for a time, as in the cash books of the Gibside estate
entries are found of several payments of sums of money to
the Harding family. Mr. J. F. Robinson has in his
possession an original bill from George Bowes to Richard
Harding for corn, grassing of cows, and coals, in 1742-43,
amounting to £3 6s. Od., which was paid on June 14,
1743. There is a curious bill from Richard Harding to
George Bowes for bhooting birds of prey in 1742, viz., for
shooting 30 crows at 2d. each, 5s. ; 11 magpies at 2d. each,
Is. lOd. ; 5 buzzards at . But the bill here leaves off
without informing us how much it cost to shoot a buzzard.
The Harding family is not extinct, or was not a few years
ago. Many descendants were employed in Crowley's
factory at Winlaton Mil!.
HOLLINSIDE MANOR.
9
130
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/March
I 1890.
<L~uriaud Cttdtamd at tft*
Qidtrict.
j|HE natives of "canny auld Cumberland"
are, as a rule, very proud of the customs
and ceremonies peculiar to the "playground
of England." The progress of the iron
and coal trades and other industries, the annually
increasing influx of visitors from other parts of the
kingdom, and the spread of education, have each
had a considerable effect in giving a death blow
to some of the quaintest observances. The in-
habitants of Cumberland and Westmorland are rather
conservative in regard to their customs, and to this cause,
doubtless, may be due the fact that old-time usages yet
linger in some places. These ceremonies, even, are rapidly
becoming rare, the rising generation not following them
with the same gusto and pleasure as was the wont of
their forefathers.
As may be imagined, the three greatest events which
can occur in the human life — birth, marriage, and death —
come in for a large share of notice, and it may be asserted
that each of these epochs is marked in a manner which
obtains nowhere else. There is still one custom which
has a wide following, and it promises to live the longest
of all. The poorest make an effort to procure a goodly
supply of "rum-butter " whenever a birth is about to
take place in a family. The ingredients are easily obtain-
able, and, moreover, are cheap. A pound or two of moist
sugar — the quantity entirely depending on the weight of
sweet-butter wanted — has enough rum poured upon it to
suit the particular taste of the maker, and then an equal
weight of fresh melted butter is mixed in the bowl
with it. After being vigorously stirred the mixture is
poured into the "sweet-butter basin." This article is to be
found in almost every family which has existed in the Lake
District for any considerable number of years, the piece
of china being looked upon in many cases as an heirloom.
As soon as the " interesting event" is safely over, the
rum-butter is brought out, the medical man as a rule
being the first person invited to partake of the contents of
the bowl, thickly spread on a piece of wheat or oatcake.
The latter article of food, unfortunately, is rapidly going
out of fashion, and a good, thick "butter-shag" is deemed
more serviceable, though the elder folk still cling to the
" haver-breed."
At present, at any rate, there does not seem much like-
lihood of this usage falling out of practice, the rum-butter
to some tastes being very pleasant. Other customs are
known only in name, having been handed down by writers
who long ago flourished: in me district. At Christmas
time there are still what are known as "little do's," and
one, which the writer has particularly in mind, has existed
in Keswick, in connection with one of the leading hotels,
for about a century. The "little do" is fast becoming
simply a tea and dance, but at the origin it was a very
different affair. The custom seems to have arisen from
what were termed "old wife do's," which were always
held at the end of a month from the time of a birth.
Nearly every married woman in the village — or, if in a
town, every " old wife " within a prescribed limit — was
invited as a matter of etiquette to join with the mother in
her rejoicing that she was again in good health. The
congratulations were backed up by the eift of a pound of
butter, a pound of sugar, or a shilling from each person
invited ; the central item in the festival being the drink-
ing of tea and emptying the rum-butter dish, card playing
and other diversions occasionally following when the
" men-folk " joined their spouses.
A custom which is now never practised used to be
observed at every "old wife do," this being termed
"stealing the sweet-butter." In describing the mode of
operation, an old author states that a number of young
men in the neighbourhood assembled in the evening near
the house where the festivities were to take place.
Having waited outside the house until the table was
spread, and the women all seated round it, two or
three of the boldest youths rushed in and seized the
basin, or attempted to seize it, and carry it off
to their companions. As many of the guests were
prepared to make a desperate fight for the dish, it was
frequently no easy matter to secure the prize and get out
again. Indeed, it was no uncommon thing to see some of
the invaders denuded of their coat-tails, or perhaps some
more important part of their habilaments. When they
succeeded in getting the basin of sweet-butter, a basket
of oat bread was handed out to them, and they went to
some neighbour's house to eat it, after which each
put a few coppers into the empty basin, and returned
the dish to the owners. One other custom which has
fallen out of use should be noticed before leaving the
" old wife do's." This was known as "jumping the can,"
and it would certainly be impossible for many ladies of
the present day to perform the little feat when wearing
the garments which fashion prescribes. A large milking
pail was placed in the middle of the floor, and in it was
stuck a birch broom without the handle. Over this each
woman was expected to jump. It was no great height,
and those who were young and active went over easily
enough, but there were others who did not succeed so
well, and that constituted the fun of the thing.
The wedding customs peculiar to the district might be
reckoned by the dozen, but few special ones now survive.
In the olden days, before the advent of railways, ten or
twelve couples of young people often went to church
at once on a matrimonial mission, and as the distance
was sometimes several miles, they had to go on
horseback. At that time the roads were unsuitable
for light carriages, and travelling, even on horse-
back, was far from safe. The horses were put up
at the public-house nearest the church ; and, after
March!
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
131
the marriage knot had been securely tied, the party re-
turned to the public-house to drink the healths of the
bride and bridegroom. This usually took some time, and
it was not unfrequently the case that the males
got slightly elevated by the quantity of home-brewed ale
and whisky which they imbibed. The horses having been
again mounted, a signal was given, and all raced home,
the bride giving a ribbon to the winner. The majority of
the animals were rough and heavy farm horses, with a
gait the reverse of pleasant, and, as most of them carried
two persons, "spills" were very common. The feasting,
drinking, dancing, and merrymaking was resumed, and
then came the last &ct of the wedding observances.
The bride having retired, all the young women
entered the room, and stood at the foot of the
bed. The bride sat up with her back towards them,
and threw her left stocking over her shoulder, and the
girl who chanced to be hit by it was supposed to be the
next whose turn it would be to get married.
Funeral customs are much more numerous than either of
the other kinds. There is one which, while known in
other parts of England, is steadfastly believed in in the
North-West. From time immemorial it has been the
rule in the country districts to have " corpse roads"
from every hamlet to the parish church. So strict
were the people about keeping to these roads
that in time of flood a funeral party has been
known to wade knee deep through the water, rather
than deviate a few yards to the right or left. On the
afternoon before a funeral, all the married women within
the prescribed limit already mentioned — which is locally
known as a " Laating" — were invited to go to what was
termed the "winding," which meant the placing of the
body in the coffin. This, of course, could easily be done
in a few minutes by two or three person, but it served as
a pretext for a tea drinking and gossip. The parties on the
funeral days were usually very large, two persons being
invited from each family in the " Laating, " besides the re-
latives of the family. The visitors were all expected
to partake of dinner, the viands usually being more
substantial than elegant. Besides the eatables there was
a full supply of ale and spirits, with tobacco for those who
wished to smoke. About three o'clock, which was the
usual time for "lifting" the corpse, the coffin was taken
outside the door and placed on the bier. The mourners
stood near, and four verses of the sixteenth Psalm were
sung. The way in which this was done rendered it a
somewhat slow and monotonous proceeding. A line at
once was given out, in a peculiar sing-song tone, by the
clerk or sexton, and was then sung by a few of
those present. The next step was termed "lifting"
the corpse, and four men raised the bier shoulder high.
Hearses were at that time unknown, and the men walked
away towards the church, followed by the mourners and
others who had been invited. As the distance was often
two or three miles, the bearers were relieved by fresh
relays of men at certain places on the route. The cere-
mony over, and the body left in its last resting-place, as
many of the attendants as chose went back to the house,
where each was presented with a small loaf of bread to
take home. This was called "arvel" bread, and was
originally given only to the poor, but afterwards came to
be offered to all alike.
There are hamlets in the Lake District a good ten miles
from the nearest graveyard, and in those sparsely popu-
lated and healthy places a funeral is a rare occurrence.
Not long ago the writer had occasion to attend the ob-
sequies of a well-known dalesman. From the hillside
farms for miles around carne the Herdwick breeders, and
many of them waited at the nearest public-house (two
miles away) for the coming of the hearse and its followers,
and then in their market carts went after the more
fashionable vehicles. The hill out of Buttermere was
taken at a smart walk, but as soon as the last of the houses
was left behind whip was given to the horses in the
hearse. Off they went, at the top of their speed, and
every animal in the long procession had to follow suit.
Rein was scarcely drawn for a moment till Lorton was
reached, the half - dozen miles from Buttermere
being covered in about three - quarters of an hour,
and that along a road the roughness of which can
only be appreciated by those who have been unfor-
tunate enough to be driven over it, in a heavy, spring-
less cart, at a quick trot. The burial concluded, every-
body adjourned to a public-house close to the church
gates, and quickly the scene was changed from mourning
to feasting. Open house was kept for the time being, all
being welcome to eat and drink to the top of their bent.
After an hour and a half had been thus spent, the party
separated, the dales-folk to canter back over the same
rough road to their secluded homes, there to have a fire-
side "crack" over the "Royal" and other showyard
victories achieved by the old agriculturist, who had won
sufficient prize cards to completely cover the walls and
ceilings of his best sitting-room, and as many articles
of silver as would have sufficed to stock a shop in a very
respectable manner. PIP.
j|T was not until the Municipal Corporations
Act had passed that the bed of the Tyne
was attacked by a dredger ; nor was it
until the Tyne Improvement Act had been
added to the statute-book that any great impression
was made on the depth of water. From the year 1838,
when dredging began, to the close of the year 1850, in
which the conservancy of the river was transferred by the
Legislature from the exclusive care of the Corporation of
Newcastle to the hands of a board representing all the
132
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/ March
\ 1890.
municipal corporations on the Tyne, not quite half-a-
m ill ion tons of matter were removed by dredgers from the
channel of the river ; whereas from 1850, to the close of
1866, the quantity dredged exceeded twenty-one millions
of tons.
In the month of February, 1848, three days before the
French Revolution broke out, Messrs. Thomas Hudson,
chemist, South Shields, and Thomas Cart Lietcb,
solicitor, North Shields, were in London, endeavouring
to procure an Act of Parliament to enable a company to
ferry passengers across the Tyne, from the New Quay,
North Shields, to Kirton's Quay, South Shields, and
from Whitehill Point to the Penny Pies Stairs,
South Shields, also from Howdon to Jarrow. When
they were leaving the office of the Parliamentary Agent,
near the House of Commons, after having completed
the business they came upon, that gentleman carelessly
said to them, "By-the-by, the Newcastle people are
coming up next year seeking to consolidate their river
powers," little thinking he was addressing two of the
most active advocates for local rights to be found on tha
banks of the Tyne. But on this hint they lost no time in
acting, though keeping their plans as profound a secret as
possible, until the last day allowed them by the standing
orders for giving notice of their intention to apply to
Parliament, in the ensuing session, for leave to bring in a
bill substantially to put an end to the river monopoly, for
so many centuries enjoyed by Newcastle.
On the 5th November, 1848, Messrs. Hudson and Lietch
met at tea in a house in Sydney Street, North Shields, to
write out Parliamentary notices for the construction of a
new quay, to extend down as far as the Low Lights.
After tea, Mr. Hudson called in to join them in the con-
sideration of river reform matters Dr. John Owen, Dr.
J. P. Dodd, Mr. Robert Poppelwell, and Mr. Thomas
Fenwick, afterwards Borough Surveyor of North Shields,
and now practising as a civil engineer in Leeds. The
party, thus consisting of six, did not separate till
two o'clock next morning, having, during their con-
fabulation, resolved upon the line to be pursued in
the forthcoming agitation against the monopoly of
Newcastle. On being made acquainted with what this '
spirited party had resolved on initiating, Captain Linskill,
of Tynemouth Lodge, the most prominent man in the
borough, immediately went to consult Mr. Hugh Taylor,
the Duke of Northumberland's head agent, at Earsdon ;
and we have been told that that gentleman " blushed like
a woman at the notion of Shields going to war with his old
friends at Newcastle."
The Conservancy scheme was to take from the ancient
town of Newcastle the sole right of its Town Council and
Trinity House to manage the whole of the river business
from the Sparr Hawk to Hedwin Streams, that is, from
the entrance into the river to the head of the navigation,
and to give the twin sea-side boroughs of Tynemouth and
South Shields, the borough of Gateshead, and also the
people above Tyne Bridge, an aliquot share in the
management. Mr. George Kewney, solicitor, Mr.
Lietch's partner, was entrusted with the legal notices
for the county of Northumberland and the town and
county of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and they appeared in
the Newcastle Journal in the second week of November ;
while Mr. Hudson took charge of the notices for the
county of Durham, which appeared simultaneously in the
Gateshead Observer. The notices were kept back till the
last hour, 4 p.m., and when they appeared on the Satur-
day morning, they produced a great commotion on New-
castle Quay. So Quixotic did the scheme appear that,
in the following year, when Captain Washington was
holding his preliminary inquiry at North Shields, the
Newcastle gentlemen smiled at the scheme as one fit
only to be promulgated by the knight of the rueful
countenance. The Town Clerk of Newcastle, the
venerable John Clayton, in championing the cause
of the constituency he represented (and a better cham-
pion it could not have had), characterised the proposed
bill, in his opening speech, as "one of a very romantic
nature indeed," laying a strong stress on these words. An
analysis of it, however, was sufficient to show that it was
not in the least correct so to characterise it. The River
Tyne Conservancy Bill, indeed, contemplated the esta-
blishment of a Board of Conservancy, the transfer to it of
all existing powers of conservatorship, the settlement of
the disputed question as to whether all or what portion
of the dues levied on shipping and goods were applicable
to river purposes, and the transfer of such funds to the
proposed board.
That such a measure was imperatively wanted ad-
mitted of easy proof. We need only quote the figures
attested by Captain Calver, R.N., who was employed
by the Admiralty to survey the river thoroughly. That
gentleman reported that, having made an exact compari-
son of the state of the river between Newcastle Bridge
and the sea in 1849 with what it was in 1813, as shown on
Rennie's plan, he found that the volume of water in the
channel at high water had diminished since the latter
period from 940,883,000 to 898,116,000 cubic feet, being
a loss of 42,767,000 cubic feet, whilst the capacity of the
channel at low water had diminished from 214,262,000 to
205,756,000 cubic feet, being a loss of 8,506,000 cubic
feet, thus making a total diminution in the quantity of
tidal water no less than 34,261,000 cubic feet at each tide.
This loss was corroborated by the reduction of a quarter
part in the sectional capacity of the bar, a decay in the
rate of the flood, and a decrease in the width of the
Narrows, which last might be termed the gauge of the
quantity of tidal water admitted into the river. He
found that there bad been an encroachment of ninety-five
acres, or one-sixteenth of the whole, upon the high water
surface, that the extent of the principal shoals only
had increased from a hundred to one hundred and four
acres, and that the deep water channel was decidedly in-
March!
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
133
ferior for all navigation purposes to what it had been
thirty-six years before. For more than one part of the
channel, as on Hebburn Shoal and the Cockrow Sand,
there was only three feet at low water; in other parts
there were deep pools where vessels could lie afloat at all
times of the tide. Immediately below Tyne Bridge there
was deep water, whilst immediately above it there was
shoal water. The tide flowed only ten miles above bridge,
and was then impeded by a bed of gravel, which alone
prevented it flowing much higher.
In short, the Tyne somewhat resembled those Austra-
lian rivers which at certain times are little better than
chains of stagnant pools, connected by tiny streams of
running water. Messrs. Kennie, Richardson, Macgregor,
Cubitt, Murray, and others had from time to time recom-
mended various works, which would have greatly im-
proved the navigation of the river, and benefited materially
the industries on its banks ; but nothing had been done to
carry these recommendations out, the Corporation con-
tending that their charters involved no obligation to im-
prove the river, but only obliged them to keep the channel
open. In this view they were implicitly backed by that
sturdy anti-reformer Mr. William Richmond, of North
Shields, who gave it as his oracular dictum that "the
Tyne would do very well if it were let alone ; but it was
dying of the doctor." The river at that time yielded a
revenue of not much less than £20,000 a year, but the
bulk of the money was spent for purely Corpora-
tion purposes. Large tracts of land had been
" filched '' from the river, excluding tidal water;
and the Corporation deemed that it had done enough,
though benefiting largely by these encroachments, when
it merely removed wrecks out of the channel. No tidal
observations were kept, nor was there any self-regulating
gauge maintained, to show whether the river was or was
not deteriorating ; in short, the river was left almost
entirely, except for the above-mentioned encroachments,
to the action of the contending land floods and tides.
At the same time, Mr. W. A. Brooks, the Corporation's
own engineer, when asked by the Admiralty Com-
missioner whether it had been found that the improve-
ments, which Rennie and others had so pointedly recom-
mended, could not be carried out on account of insuperable
difficulties in the way, replied: — "There would be no
difficulty whatever ; it is simply a matter of expense."
The Committee of the House of Commons, to whom the
Conservancy Bill was referred, met for the first time on
the 13th of May. The members were Mr. Philip Miles,
Bristol, chairman ; the Earl of Arundel and Surrey,
Arundel; the Hon. E. H. Stanley, Lynn Regis; Mr. G.
Greenall, Warrington ; Mr. W. H. Stanton, Stroud ; Mr.
William Ord, Newcastle-on-Tyne ; Mr. T. E. Headlam,
Newcastle-on-Tyne ; Mr. R. W. Grey, Tynemouth ; and
Mr. John Twizell Wawn, South Shields. At their last
sitting, on the 16th of June, the preamble of the bill was
declared to be proved; and on being reported to the
House it soon after passed through its remaining stages.
On the 16th July, the second reading was carried in the
House of Lords, after a long debate, in which Lord
Brougham spoke bitterly against the bill, by a majority
of 42 to 30 ; and on the 24th, a Select Committee of their
lordships, consisting of the Earl of Devon (chairman) and
Lords Wynford, Cowper, Canning, and Lyttleton, sat for
the first time ; but, after sitting two days, the views of
their lordships were so clearly hostile to the progress of
the bill, that it was withdrawn by the promoters. In 1850,
the Tyne Conservancy Bill was again brought forward,
while the Corporation of Newcastle introduced a Tyne
Navigation Bill, in order to remedy some of the evils
which the Shields people the year before had sought by
their bill to remedy. The Select Committee of the House
of Commons, to whom was referred the consideration
of these two competing bills, met for the first time
on the 18th of March, and adjourned to the llth of April,
after which they sat regularly until the 10th May,
when they declared the preamble of the Corporation bill
proved. The opposing parties had in the meantime
arrived at a friendly understanding, by which the river re-
formers obtained substantially what they had demanded.
Thus materially amended, the Tyne Navigation Bill re-
ceived the royal assent on the 15th July, 1850 — a day ever
memorable in the annals of the Tyne.
The struggle had been an arduous one, and high
honour was due to those talented and determined in-
dividuals through whose instrumentality and perseve-
rance, under no common difficulties, a successful termina-
tion had been secured. The public spirit shown by the
leading inhabitants of North and South Shields,
Gateshead, Blaydon, and other places situated on the
Tyne estuary was very great ; and the ability and
energy of the then Town Clerk of Tynemouth, Mr.
T. C. Lietch, who led the van of the river reformers,
showed him to be no ordinary man. The names of the
more prominent gentlemen who stood at his back were
Captain Linskill, Dr. Mackinlay, Dr. Fenwick, Dr. Owen,
and Messrs. Robert Forth, R. Pow, Thomas Coxon,
Emanuel Young, Peter Dale, George Johnson, George
Shotton, John Dale, John Dryden, Robert Peart,
Thomas Barker, Solomon Mease, Joseph Straker, John
Rennison, T. S. Dobinson, James Lesslie, Matthew
H. Atkinson, Matthew Poppelwell, John Wright,
G. S. Tyzack, William Wingrave, William Harrison,
John Twizell, George Avery, James Donkiu, Robt.
Cleugh, George Metcalfe, Dennis Hill, E. R. Arthur,
George Hall, Alexander Scott, and Henry Brightman,
the indefatigable hon. secretary, all of North Shields.
Then for the southern borough there were Messrs.
Thomas Hudson, Robert Anderson, James Young,
John Robinson, John Clay, James C. Stevenson,
James Mather, Charles N. Wawn, Sheppard Skee, Thos.
Stainton, Ralph Hart, E. D. Thompson. Henry Briggs,
John Ness, Solomon Sutherland, Terrot Glover, Samuel
134
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/March
t 1890.
Couper, Matthew Aisbitt, and Messrs. J. W. Lamb,
and Hugh M'Coll, secretaries (the latter gentleman
being the life of the committee), with the Town Clerk,
Mr. Thomas Salmon. Mr. William Kell, the Town
Clerk of Gateshead, likewise took an active part, as
did Messrs. W. H. Brockett, George Hawks, John
Abbot, and James Clephan, the editor of the Gates-
head Observer, who, with his able leading articles,
was a powerful ally of the river reformers, and ren-
dered them essential service through demonstrating
that whatever improved the river must benefit the
trade and commerce on its banks, and consequently
Newcastle, the metropolis of the district. The sub-
ject was ably handled, too, in a series of letters by Dr.
D. R. Lietch, of Keswick, brother of the Town
Clerk of Tynemouth, who took the title of "A Faithful
Son of Father Tyne." The above-bridge reformers
could not possibly have had a better leader than
Mr. (afterwards Sir Joseph) Cowen, who had at his
back Messrs. Hawdon, Hall, Johnson, Scott, and
others. The foremost defenders of the Newcastle mono-
poly were Mr. William Armstrong, the town treasurer,
Alderman Dunn, Mr. Ralph Park Philipson, Mr. Stephen
Lowrey, Mr. John Rayne. Mr. W. A. Brooks, and, of
course, Mr. Clayton.
The promoters of the Conservancy Bill had to pay
somewhat dearly for it, as it cost about £5,000, while the
Newcastle party had the river funds to fight with.
The River Tyne Improvement Commissioners have
certainly made good their title ; while the opponents of
the change, and the prophets of evil consequences, have
long ago seen how mistaken were their dark forebodings.
Capacious docks have been constructed, piers are being
completed, the river has been deepened throughout, and
the bar may be said to have altogether vanished. Ships
may now enter the Tyne as readily at low water as for-
merly at high ; and the many millions of capital
which have been laid out since 1851, from the bar
to Blaydon, in shipbuilding yards, engine and ordnance
works, locomotive works, foundries, chemical works,
glassworks, soaperies, breweries, potteries, tanneries,
chain and anchor works, roperies, sailcloth manufactories,
fire-brick manufactories, steel works, &c., &c., show that
the movement which, when it originated in Shields, was
laughed at as a monstrous myth has turned out a glorious
reality. All the old obstructions have been removed —
including the Insand, the Middle Ground, the Nine
Feet Bar, the Dortwick Sands, Jarrow Sand, Hebburn
Sand, Hayhole Point, Willington Shoal, Bill Point,
Friar's Goose Point, and Tyne Bridge (now replaced
by the Swing Bridge, through which lately passed the
finest ship in her Majesty's navy, constructed at the
works established by Lord Armstrong at Elswick). The
removal of Tyne Bridge having rendered practicable the
straightening and deepening of the channel as far up as
Stella and Ryton, the banks of the Tyne, for a stretch of
fourteen or fifteen miles, have been converted into one
vast hive of industry, to which there is no parallel in
the world. WILLIAM BBOCKIE.
FULL account of the Elsdon Tragedy and
of the gibbeting of William Winter at
Sting Cross, Harwood Head, appeared in
the first volume of the Monthly Chronicle. Reference
is there made to the various changes which the
gibbet, or "stob," as it is termed by the inhabitants
of Elsdon and the neighbourhood, underwent in the
course of years. The accompanying drawings show the
appearance of this well-known object in 1859 and 1889.
The stone to the left has occupied the same position for
the last quarter of a century. To the right may be seen a
March!
10. /
1890.
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
135
shepherd's hut ; it is now in rains. In 1859 the upright
pole was covered with large spike nails, which, it is sup-
posed, had been inserted to prevent the removal of the
stob by Winter's friends ; and only a couple of pieces of
chain hung from the cross-beam. When the drawing was
made in November, 1889, the stob had evidently been
renewed. There were no nails in the upright pole, and
from the cross-beam was suspended a wooden head, the
remains of a representation of the human figure. We
are indebted to Mr. Robert Wood, Newcastle, for the
accompanying sketches.
Camilla CcrlbtlU.
[HE romantic story of Camilla Colville —
"Camilla of the White House," the lovely
lady who in the last century became Countess
of Tankerville— has been told in the Monthly Chronicle,
1887, page 274. A portrait of Camilla is still in the
possession of Mr. J. S. Forster, whose father purchased
the White House in 1856. It is from this portrait that
our sketch has, by Mr. Forster's kind permission, been
copied.
fltitv. Waltntim gmtitft.
j|S Mr. Valentine Smith has lately been con-
ducting an operatic season in Newcastle,
perhaps a sketch of his career may prove
acceptable to our readers. Mr. Smith has
a special claim upon the North of England, inasmuch as
he is a native of Barnard Castle, where his father carried
on a large business, being the inventor, patentee, and
manufacturer of street-sweeping machines.
Young Smith evinced a taste for music at an early age
When a boy of six he used to sing in choirs ; at the age
of eight he was often aGked to assist at harvest festivals
in the neighbourhood of his native place, his sweet alto
voice being highly appreciated. Soon afterwards he
joined the Barnard Castle Sacred Harmonic Society.
When about fifteen years of age, he took the management
of the choir at St. Mary's, Barnard Castle. It is a
curious fact that young Smith's voice, which ranged
from the lower E below the stave to C sharp or D —
nearly two octaves — never changed at the usual period,
and Mr. Smith retains the same notes, with the difference
that his voice is now a tenor of robust quality. It was
thought expedient that he should have a rest, and for a
space of fifteen months he hardly sang a note. The result
was that when he resumed singing his voice was a perfect
tenor. Passionately fond of music, he sang at numerous
concerts with marked success. But he had but local
fame, and it was not until a London physician, Dr.
Mitchell, heard him sing that he thought of becoming
a public vocalist. That gentleman was struck with the
rare quality and compass of the youth's voice, and
urged his father to have him trained under the best,
masters.
After due consideration, the parental consent was
obtained. Young Smith left for London at the age of
eighteen, and for some months studied under the best
metropolitan masters. Deciding upon acquiring the
Italian style in its perfection, he visited Milan, and
for a period of six months had the advantage of the
experience of San Giovanni, a well-known maestro, who
prepared him for the stage. Mr. Smith made his debut
at "Valencia, Piemonte, in the opera "II Furioso" with
gratifying success. Engagements followed in rapid
succession, and he sang in many other large towns of
Italy, Then he went to Constantinople, where he
sang before the Sultan and other Turkish notables.
Here he stayed for a period of three months.
Returning to England, he did not rest upon his oars
very long. Happening to be in Sunderland upon a
visit, he was suddenly called upon by Mr. J. H. Maple-
son, the celebrated entrepreneur, who wished him to
supply the place of his tenor, Tessamen (a Yorkshireman),
who had fallen ill. Mr. Mapleson was on a concert tour
136
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
( Murch
with a bevy of star vocalists, including Titiens, Marimon,
and Agnesi, the basso cantante. He decided upon hearing
Smith's voice before the engagement was concluded, and
a meeting was arranged to take place in Mr. Vincent's
shop, in Sunderland. Mapleson, Agnesi, and Tito
Mattel, the pianist, were present. Mr. Smith sang in
his best style. Mr. Mapleson and his friends were
delighted, one and all asserting that Mario had come
back again. Mr. Smith sang at the concert in the
evening, and was a distinct success. The next day,
the company came to Newcastle, where Mr. Smith
was equally well received. It may be mentioned that
he was then known as Signer Fabrini. He remained
with Mapleson until the close of the tour, the engagement
having been profitable in more senses than one.
Contact with some of the best vocalists of the day had
revealed to him many shortcomings, and he determined
upon undergoing another course of hard study. Accord-
ingly he went to Italy again, and studied for a period of
twelve months under Francesco Lamperti, the world-
renowned teacher of singing. Amongst vocalists who
have since become distinguished, and who were receiving
the instructions of the same maestro at that time, were
Stolz, soprano, Waldmann, contralto, Companini and
William Shakspeare, tenors, Galassi, baritone.
A telegram from Mapleson, offering an engagement at
the Royal Italian Opera, recalled him to England. He
made his dOmt before a Newcastle audience at the Tyne
Theatre as Don Ottavioin "Don Giovanni," making a
decided hit. The cast included Titiens, Sinico, Trebelli-
Bettini, Marie Roze, Giulio Perkins, Borella, and Ster-
bini. At the close of the season, he secured many lucra-
tive engagements, singing at the Albert Hall and other
places with very satisfactory results. Soon afterwards he
left for the United States, where he stayed for fully four
years, visiting every town in that country having a popu-
lation of over 10,000 souls.
A family bereavement was the cause of his somewhat
hurried return to England. Here he quickly secured an
engagement with the late Mr. Carl Rosa, with whom he
remained for several seasons. On leaving Rosa, Mr.
Smith commenced an opera company of his own, opening
at the Alexandra Palace, London. After a season with
Mr. Augustus Harris's Royal Italian Opera Company,
Mr. Smith began another venture on his own account at
the Olympic Theatre, London, the engagement being for
four weeks. His company has since appeared in many of
the large towns in England, and it may be conjectured
that he has secured the goodwill of his hearers, inasmuch
as he has booked return visits to all the places.
Whether it be due to the climate or the defects of our
language cannot be discussed here ; but operatic records
do not give the name of any other North-Countryman
who has attained to the same eminence as Mr. Valentine
Smith.
. Justice #Truttoti>.
jjHILE engaged in the performance of his
judicial functions at the Royal Courts of
Justice, London, Sir Henry Manisty, one
of the judges of the Queen's Bench Division,
fell suddenly ill on Friday, Jan. 24, 1890. It was found,
on the arrival of medical assistance, that his lordship was
suffering from a paralytic stroke. Never recovering from
the attack, the learned judge expired on January 31.
Sir Henry Manisty was the second son of the Rev.
James Manisty, 15. D., Vicar of Edlingham, near
Alnwick, Northumberland. He was born at Edling-
ham Vicarage on December 13th, 1808, and was thus
a little over eighty-two years of age. His mother
was Elinor, only daughter of Mr. Francis Forster,
of Seaton Burn Hall, Northumberland, an alder-
man of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Mayor of the
town in 1769 and 1779. Designed in the beginning for the
law, Mr. Manisty was articled, after leaving school, to
Messrs. Thorp and Dickson, solicitors, in Alnwick,
and afterwards became a partner in the London
firm of Meegison, Pringle, and Manisty. His
practice in this branch of the profession extended from
1830 until 1842, and during these years he acquired a
wide knowledge of legal matters generally, and displayed
conspicuous ability in everything he undertook. But,
March)
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
137
like many another successful solicitor, his ambition
sought a wider sphere for the display of his legal
talents, and he relinquished the practice of a solicitor for
that of a barrister. He was called to the bar in 1845,
and subsequently became a bencher of Gray's Inn. Mr.
Manisty was best known, perhaps, in cases affecting
manorial rights and the rights of fishing, and in cases in-
volving points of ecclesiastical law. In 1857, he was made
a Queen's Counsel, and was a leader of the Northern
Circuit for many years. He was very successful, and an
extensive practice came to him almost immediately after
he was "called," his proved ability as a solicitor gaining
for him many briefs in the very beginning of his career at
the bar. Mr. Manisty was appointed a judge of the
Queen's Bench Division of the Hieh Court of Justice in
November, 1876, and received the honour of knight-
hood. He was verging upon three score and ten years
when he was elevated, but he maintained his physical and
mental faculties to an unwonted age. He was a most
painstaking judge, and, whether in criminal or civil cases,
spared neither time nor trouble to arrive at a right appre-
hension of truth and justice in a cause. He was a copious
and careful note-taker, and his summing-up was always »
model of accuracy and comprehensiveness.
The deceased judge fre-
quently came upon the North-
Eastern Circuit, and the case
in which he is best known
locally was that of the bur-
glary at Edliugham Vicarage,
where he himself was born.
The history of that cause die-
lire, and of the release of the
two men convicted before Mr.
Justice Manisty, and the sub-
sequent conviction of the two
other men who confessed them-
selves guilty of the crime,
must be fresh in the memories
of most people. In civil cases,
Sir Henry Manisty displayed
in his arguments keen appre-
ciation of the strength of any
point that was advanced, and
was always willing to assist
counsel, but, whenever oppor-
tunity offered, he sought to
bring about an amicable settle-
ment between disputants with-
out the intervention of the
law. Curiously enough, not-
withstanding his long absence
from these parts, Sir Henry
Manisty preserved distinctly
in his speech a tinge of the
Northumbrian language, with
which he was familiar in his
boyhood. This was particu- •
larly noticeable in his sus-
tained pronunciation of the
vowels a and o; and it was
all the more noticeable because
his speech was always de-
liberate, and somewhat mono-
tonous. His early recollec-
tions helped him wonderfully
in the examination of wit-
MR. JUSTICE MANISTT.
138
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/March
\ 1890.
nesses from the pit villages of Northumberland and Dur-
ham, whose unfamiliar expressions have many a time
perplexed both judge and counsel at an assize trial.
Mr. Justice Manisty was twice married, first to Con-
stantia, daughter of Mr. Patrick Dickson, of Berwick-on-
Twecd, and secondly to Mary Ann, daughter of Mr.
Robert Stevenson, of the same place.
The portrait of the learned judge is copied from a pho-
tograph by G. .Terrard, Clandel Studio, Regent Street,
London.
aittr
PUDDING CHARE.
The following, from a Latin indenture of date given,
while supporting the contention that a family called
Pudding existed in Northumberland, which probably
gave its name to the old chare in Newcastle, will be
of service to antiquarian readers in another respect : —
"Seton, 9 Feb., 1420. Margareta de ffurth, of Seton, in
parish of Wodhorn, grants to William Bates, junior, of
Bedlington, und Agnes liis wife, land in Newbyggyng,
in said parish, lying between lands of Thomas Rydland
and land ot William Johnson, burgess of Newcastle, and
extending from land of Nicholas Pudyng to the sea."
CUTHBERT H. TRASLAW. Cornhill-on-Tweed.
THE PREACHER AND THE HIGHWAYMAN.
Nearly sixty years ago there travelled in one of the
immediate Northern preaching circuits of the Primitive
Methodists a bright, smart, able preacher, whose name
was William Towler. He was small of stature, but self-
possessed, and as brave as a lion. Returning one night
somewhat late from an appointment, his way being
through one of the most lonely parts of his district, he was
suddenly set upon by a man who sprang from an adjoiu-
ingcopse. " Your purse, sir — quick!" " Purse, my good
man, I'm far too poor to carry a purse ; my waistcoat
pocket is my purse. But stop — hold a moment. In all
unusual circumstances and moments of difficulty it is my
invariable practice to bring the matter before 'Our
Father which art in Heaven,' and if I cannot help you
much, I am sure He can." Saying which, Mr. Towler
. quietly took his handkerchief out of his pocket, and,
spreading it on the dusty road, closed his eyes, and —
well, the end of it was that when he rose from his knees
and looked around, he found that the would-be robber
had fled 1 Mr. Towler had a splendid tenor voice, and
altering slightly the words of one of his favourite hymns,
he made the solitude ring with—
I've had a tedious journey,
And dangerous, it is true-
But see how many dancers
The Lord has brought me through !
The little man was too many, by far, for the stalwart
footpad, and there the incident seemed ended. Not
quite. By and bye the preacher began to be greatly im-
pressed with the fact of the almost constant presence of a
fine, tall, powerful-looking man at his various meetings.
Wherever Mr. Towler went — on this, or on the other side
of his circuit — there was his keen and, evidently, deeply in-
terested listener. One night Mr. Towler determined to
speak to the man ; but it was soon evident that both were
of the same mind, for at the close of the meeting the
stranger nervously approached him, begging for a short
interview. The end is, of course, rightly anticipated.
The erstwhile highwayman was fully in the hands of the
preacher, to whom he made a clean breast of all his evil
doings. His remorse and sorrow were eminently genuine,
and he lived many years to " bring forth fruits meet for
repentance." B., Wylam.
f!m'tft=Cmmtn> 2iJtt& %ttmmtr.
TEE NUMBER OP THE HOUSE.
The other day two pitmen were conversing together,
not fifty miles from South Benwell, when one observed :
" Ye nivvor come to see us, Jack?" "Wey, aa divvent
knaa yor hoose, Geordy. Whaat's the numbor ? " "Wey,
aa can easily tell ye wor numbor," answered Geordy;
" it's the last door but yen ! "
A STARTLING QUEBT.
In a village not a hundred miles from Durham, one ot
the rising generation was taken to church for the first
time on condition that he behaved himself. All went
well till, just as the strains of the organ were dying away,
he surprised the minister and congregation by shouting —
"Ma, whor's the monkey?"
THE INFLUENZA.
A group of men were talking in one of Armstrong's
workshops, Elswick, when the conversation drifted on to
the subject of influenza. One man remarked that " the
influenza hed come te the Tyne." Thereupon a fellow-
workman asked : " Whaat is this influenza ? Aa've hard
a lot aboot it. Is't a big man-of-war ship ? "
" YEAST."
A Gateshead tradesman sent his servant girl to a book-
seller's shop with a note asking for "C. Kingsley's
'Yeast' — sixpenny edition." The maiden read the note,
and, thinking that a mistake had been made, bought
what she thought was the article required. She returned,
saying :— " Heor, sor ; they had ne Kingsley's, se aa just
browt the Jarman yeast ! "
THE PIANO.
A town councillor, not a hundred miles from Gates-
head, was telling a friend what a splendid bargain he had
got in a piano. Hia friend asked him if it was a Broad-
wood. "Broadwnod, be hanged!" replied the T.C.,
" it's solid mahogany ! "
Marchl
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
139
It should have been stated that the portrait of Mrs.
Lanchester, which appears on page 93 of this volume of
the Monthly Chronicle, was copied from a photograph by
Mr. F. Redmayne, M.A.
On the 13th of January, Mr. Christian Allhusen, a
successful merchant and manufacturer on Tyneside,
died at his residence, Stoke Court, Buckinghamshire,
at the advanced age of 84 years. A native of Kiel, in
i S*XJ» **?\.
~,-i. \ -s?o :f/*^*B<j?
*m
(l ((. ^^^; ' 1^?
1. It, /'< (V»^/
-i\\ '/! <!«SKaAb-7
> "• ; v ^i^ i
p f**i?{S-7
Cfirtsfien, dl//iusen<
Germany, the deceased gentleman came to Newcastle
in 1825, and commenced business as a corn merchant,
being joined by Mr. H. W. F. Bolckow, who afterwards
became one of the founders of Middlesbrough. Mr.
Allhusen had also acquired a considerable connection
as ship and insurance broker ; but from both these
industries he subsequently retired, and established the
Newcastle Chemical Works, on the basis of the business
previously carried on by Mr. Charles Attwood. Among
other undertakings with which the deceased gentleman
was connected was the Whittle Dene Water Company,
of which he was one of the original projectors. From
the year 1849 to the 1st of November, 1858, he was a
member of the Gateshead Town Council ; and a recog-
nised authority on all trade matters, he was for many
years president of the Newcastle and Gateshead Chamber
of Commerce. He was the owner and occupier of Elswick
Hall and grounds, which were eventually purchased by
the Corporation of Newcastle for the purposes of a public
park. Mr. Allhusen married Mits Shield, of Newcastle,
and had a numerous family.
On the same day, at the Towers, Didsbury, near Man-
chester, died Mr. Daniel Adamson, a native of Shildon,
in the county of Durham, and chief partner in the firm
of Messrs. D. Adamson and Co., engineers and boiler
makers, Hyde Junction. Mr. Adamson, who was one
of the principal promoters of the Manchester Ship Canal,
gained his early engineering experience upon the Stock-
ton and Darlington Railway, and he was general manager
of the Shildon Engine Works until 1850, when he entered
upon business on his own account. The deceased gentle-
man was 71 years of age.
The death was announced, on the 15th of January, of
Mr. George Peel, fish curer, Spital, Berwick. The
proprietor of fishing stations at Spital, Amble, Holy
Island, and Yarmouth, he amassed money during the
prosperous period of the herring trade. The deceased,
who was formerly a member of the Berwick Town
Council, was 70 years old.
At the age of 79, Mr. William Dodd, an old and much-
esteemed tradesman, died on the 15th of January, at his
residence in Eldon Street, Newcastle. He succeeded
to the bookselling business long carried on by the well-
known Charnleys, first at the end of the Old Tyne
Bridge, and afterwards in premises in the centre of the
town, now removed to make way for modern street
improvements. About the year 1870 he transferred his
business to premises in New Bridge Street ; but, a few
years ago, he retired from the active duties of commercial
life. He still, however, continued to take an active
interest in the proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries,
of which he was treasurer, and also in the care of little
ones. at the Children's Hospital. For some years he
officiated as librarian at the Newcastle Infirmary, but
failing health compelled him to resign that position.
Mr. Dodd was a frequent contributor to the columns of
the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle.
140
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/Mmrch
I 1890.
Mr. John Dohson, another venerable tradesman of
Newcastle, and an alderman of the City Council, died
on the 16th of January. Born in Newcastle on the 6th'
erman JoW Dobsoiv-
of July, 1818, he served his time with Mr. Charles
Rutherford Henzell, surgeon, of Percy Street ; but, on
the completion of his indentures, he entered the employ-
ment of Mr. Joseph Garnett, apothecary and chemist, to
whose business he eventually succeeded. Mr. Dobson
entered .the Town Council on Nov. 3, 1871, and was
elected an alderman on May 25, 1887.
Mr. Thomas Kobson, of Luraley Thicks, manager of
the Earl of Durham's extensive collieries at Lumley and
Harraton, died on the 18th of January. Last year he
was returned to the Durham County Council for the
Chester-le-Street Division, and he was also chairman of
the Chester-le-Street Board of Guardians and of the
Rural Sanitary Authority. Mr. Robson was about 55
years of age.
Dr. W. H. Dixon, a medical practititioner at Sunder-
land, died at his residence in Frederick Street, in that
town, on the 18th of January, at the age of sixty.
Mr. John Lawrence Hall, who, for upwards of half a
century, had carried on the business of ironmonger in
South Shields, died at his residence in that town on the
19th of January. When the town was incorporated in
1850, he was elected one of the first members of the
Council, on which, however, he served only two years.
Dr. Henry Welsh, a medical gentleman in practice at
Hebburn, died there on the 20th of January.
On the 21st of January, died Mr. Robert Cooper, of
Framlington Place, who succeeded his father in the
direction of one of the best established brush manufac-
turing businesses in Newcastle.
On the 21st of January, intelligence reached Sunder-
land of the death, which had taken place in London on
the previous day, of Dr. Thomas Thompson Pyle, son-
in-law of Sir George Elliot, M.P.
Lady Northbourne, mother of the Hon. W. H. James,
M.P. for Gateshead, died at the family residence at
Betteshanger, near Sandwich, in the county of Kent, on
the 21st of January. Her ladyship was a daughter of the
late Mr. Cuthbert Ellison, of Hebburn Hall, to whose
extensive property and estates in that neighbourhood, as
well as at Gateshead and Jarrow, she succeeded as heiress.
In 18+1, she was married to Sir Walter Charles James,
who was raised to the peerage as Baron Northbourne in
1884. Her ladyship was 78 years of age. Towards
works of a benevolent and philanthropic character in
the localities in which their interests were situated,
Lady Northbourne and her husband were liberal and
systematic contributors.
Mr. William Brignal, who was recognised as the oldest
lawyer in the city of Durham, died at Gosforth, after a
brief illness, on the 23rd of January. The deceased
gentlemen was in his 80th year.
On the 24th of January, Mr. Griffiths Roberts, of the
firm of Hugh Roberts and Son, shipowners, and the
owners of a fleet of steamships sailing from the Tyne,
died at his residence, Brandling Park, Newcastle, at
the age of 36 years.
Also, on the 24th of January, died the Rev. Edward L.
Bowman, for many years vicar of Alston. The deceased
clergyman, who was educated at St. Peter's College,
Cambridge, served as chaplain on board H.M. ship
Tribune during the Crimean war. He was also in
similar service in the Indian Mutiny, and in several
other naval campaigns till 1875, when he was placed
upon the retired list. The Lords of the Admiralty then
presented him with the living of Alston.
The death was announced, as having occurred in the
United States, on the 25tb of January, of Mr. Horatio
Allen, a friend and contemporary of George Stephenson,
and the introducer of the first railway locomotive into
America in 1828.
On the 28th of January, the death was announced, in
his 58th year, of Dr. J. E. Macdonald, of Byker, New-
castle, and formerly colliery doctor to the Haswell and
Shotton Colliery Company.
The remains of Mr. John Briggs were brought from the
Isle of Wight, where he had died, and were interred in
Wooler churchyard on the 29th of January. The de-
ceased, was 34 years of age.
The death was announced, on the 30th of January, of
the Rev. F. W. Ruxton, Rector of Willington (Durham).
The deceased clergyman, who was formerly a lieutenant
in the 16th Regiment, was in the 63rd year of his age.
He had been 34 years at Willington.
News was received on the same day, of the death at
Johannesberg, South Africa, on the 2nd of January, of
Mr. Joseph G. Patterson, who was well known in New-
castle, having been for many years traveller to Messrs.
Harvey and Davey, tobacco manufacturers. Mr. Patter-
son was 59 years of age.
On the 30th of January, the death was announced, as
having taken place in Tasmania, of Mr. John Woodcock
Graves, author of the famous hunting song "D'ye Ken
John Peel ! " Mr. Graves had reached the advanced age
of 95 years. (See vol. i., page 182. )
On the same day. Dr. David Hope Watson, F.R.C.P.,
Edinburgh, died at Stockton, at the age of 54 years.
The remains of Mrs. Mary Elgey, of Copland Terrace,
Newcastle, who had died a few days before, wore
March)
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
HI
interred in All Saints' Cemetery on January 31. Pre-
vious to (and, indeed, some time after) the introduction of
• cabs, the Elgey family were enterprising providers of the
once well-known Sedan chairs. The venerable lady
claimed that she was the last person in Newcastle who
used to let those vehicles out on hire.
On the 31st January, also, the death was announced
from Cambridge, of Mr. Martin Burn, a native of New-
castle, who, as a civil engineer, had had a distinguished
career in India.
On the 3rd of February, the death was announced, as
having taken place at Eastbourne, England, of the Hon.
W. F. Walker, who, emigrating from Morpeth as a young
man, settled in Melbourne, Australia, where he attained
to the position of Commissioner of Customs, and also
became a member of the Victorian Parliament.
Mr. William Marlcy, who for several years occupied
the post of county inspector under the West Hartlepool
Improvement Commissioners and the more recently
formed Corporation, died on the 4th of February.
On the same day, at the age of 33, died Charles Green,
M.D., former Medical Officer of Health, Gateshead, and
afterwards Medical Officer of Health for the east district
of the parish of Gateshead. The deceased was a pro-
minent Freemason, and was surgeon to the Newcastle
Artillery Volunteers.
On the 5th of February, the death was announced, as
having taken place at Leeds, whither he had gune to
undergo an operation, of Mr. Thomas L. Ainsley, long
well known, first as a teacher of navigation, and after-
wards as a nautical instrument maker and publisher of
works on navigation aud kindred subjects, in North
Shields. Mr. Ainsley was between 60 and 70 years of age.
Mr. Alderman Affleck, of Gateshead, died on the 7th
of February, in his 76th year. The deceased gentleman,
who was at one time an extensive and successful builder,
but had latterly retired from active business, was a
Justice of the Peace, and had been Mayor of Gateshead
two years in succession.
On the 10th of February, a telegram was received from
Norwich, U.S., announcing the death of Mr. T. S. Hud-
son (late of the Hudson Steamship Company), formerly
chairman of the West Hartlepool School Board. He was
only 43 years of age.
3Herartr al
^orth,=(Jountrp Occurrences!.
JANUARY.
11. — Sir Edward Grey, M.P., presided at the annual
meeting of the Newcastle Farmers' Club. Sir Jacob
Wilson was elected president for the ensuing year.
12.— Mr. W. E. Church was the lecturer at the Tyne
Theatre, Newcastle, in connection with the Tyneside
Sunday Lecture Society, his subject being "Punch : Its
History, Influence, and Most Notable Contributors."
— By a fire which broke out at a grain elevator at
Baltimore, the Tyne steamer Sacrobosco was burned,
and three of her crew were supposed to have been
drowned.
13.— A young man named Allen, residing in the Milk
Market, died suddenly in the Theatre Royal, Newcastle,
while acting as a supernumerary in one . of the parts in
the Christmas pantomime.
—The Rev. Canon Talbot, M.A., lecturer in Church
history and doctrine in the dioceses of Durham, Ripon,
and Newcastle, delivered the first of a series of lectures
on "The Bible," in the Central Hall, Newcastle. The
Bishop of Newcastle presided, and there was a crowded
audience.
— Mr. H. M. Stanley, the discoverer of Livingstone
and Emin Pasha, dined with Sir George Elliot, Bart.,
M.P., at Shepheard's Hotel, Cairo.
14. — A destructive fire occurred on the premises of
Messrs. Langdale Brothers, manure manufacturers, St.
Lawrence Road, Newcastle.
— During the prevalence of a strong westerly gale, the
movements of shipping were much impeded in the river
Tyne, and a new garden wall, 600 feet in length and
30 feet high, was blown down at Bythorn, Corbridge.
— On the occasion of the death, from Russian influenza,
of Earl Cairns, his brother, the Hon. Herbert John
Cairns, the successor to the title, was resident in New-
castle, holding a responsible position at the Elswick
Factory of Sir W. G. Armstrong, Mitchell, and Co. The
new earl, owing to illness from a similar cause, was unable
to attend his brother's funeral in London.
15. — Mr. W. H. Patterson, one of the agents of the
Durham miners, was elected a representative of the North
Ward in the Durham Town Council.
—The Rev. Frank Walters, of the Church of Divine
Unity, delivered the first of a course of lectures on the
English poets in the new Assembly Rooms, Barras
Bridge, Newcastle. The subject was " Shakspeare,"
and the Mayor (Mr. T. Bell) presided over a large
audience.
— The marriage of Miss Helen Blanche Pease, third
surviving daughter of Sir Joseph and Lady Pease, of
Hutton Hall, near Guisborough, with Mr. Edward Lloyd
Pease, second son of the late. Mr. Henry Pease, of Dar-
lington, took place at the Friends' Meeting House at
Guisborough,
—The platers' helpers and anglesmiths' strikers em-
ployed in the Wear shipyards agreed to accept an
advance of a shilling per week in their wages.
—Considerable damage was done by a fire which broke
out in an oil warehouse, used by Mr. R. H. N. Cook, in
Sandgate, Newcastle.
—It was agreed to increase by a shilling per week the
wages of scavengers, road men, and charge men in the
employment of the Newcastle Corporation.
—Mr. Johnson Hedley presided at the annual social
gathering of the Newcastle Sketching Club.
It Was announced that the will of the late Mr-
William Bewicke, of Threepwood, Northumberland, had
been proved, the personal estate being valued at £11,223
17s. lOd.
16.— The members of the Mickley Lodge of the North-
umberland Miners' Union met in the schoolroom, Mickley
Square, to make presentations to Mr. Richardson and
Mr. Scorer, old officials of the union, Mr. Scorer
receiving a purse of gold, a marble timepiece being
given to Mr. Richardson, who was for several years
president of the lodge. Mr. John Bell presided, and the
presentations were made by Mr. T. Burt, M.P.
It was decided to dissolve the Newcastle Literary
Club.
142
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/March
1 1890.
17. —An alarming explosion of gas occurred at 10,
Ellison Terrace, Newcastle, and the front of the house
was completely wrecked. An old man and his wife and
(SfPecTs of Explosion in ollison
Terrace.
tlirec young children were buried in the rubbish, but
were rescued by the passers-by.
— A summary was published of the will of Mr. George
Routledge, J.P., of London, and Croft House and Hard-
hurst, Cumberland, the gross value of the personal estate
being £94,774- 9s. The testator left several bequests to
his widow, Mary Grace, a daughter of the late Alderman
Bell, of Newcastle.
18. — During a violent storm of wind and rain, Mr.
Robert Paton, the contractor for the conveyance of the
mails between Morpeth and Rothbury, was proceeding
towards the latter place, when the horse and gig were
upset by the force of the hurricane. The unfortunate
man was afterwards found by one of his sons and a party
of searchers on the road near Longhorsley Moor, with his
head under the edge of the vehicle, life being quite
extinct. Mr. Paton, who was 56 years of age, was well
known in the district, in which he had travelled for many
years ; and on the occasion of the great snowstorm in
March, 1886, he rode into Morpeth at midnight, "sheeted
in ice from head to foot, and encrusted in frozen snow."
The gale continued with great fury on the following day
(Sunday), and such was the alarming sensation to which
it gave rise, that the service which was being held in
the Presbyterian Church, Morpeth, in the evening had
to be abandoned.
— It was reported that a death from the influenza
epidemic had been registered at Gateshead. In the
course of the month, several deaths from the same disease
took place at Sunderland. The Schools at Greenhead,
near Haltwhistle, had to be temporarily closed on account
of the epidemic.
— The Northumberland coalowners offered, and the
deputies accepted, an advance of 6d. per day in their
wages ; the mechanics at the same time receiving an ad-
vance of a little over 4d.
19. — A fire, which proved to be very destructive, broke
out in the quartermasters' stores and pay
office at Carlisle Castle, used as the depot
of the Border Regiment.
—The lecturer at the Tyne Theatre,
under the auspices of the Tyneside Sun-
day Lecture Society, was Miss E. Orme,
_ LL.B., who addressed a large audience on
"Modern Idols."
20. — In pursuance of a local tree-plant-
ing movement, a number of lime trees
were planted at the base of Bondgate
Hill, Alnwick. The first tree was
planted by County Alderman Adam
Robertson.
21. — In response to an application for
an increase of 15 per cent, in the wages
of the men, the Durham Coalowners'
Association intimated their inability to
make any further advance, unless or until
a much higher invoice price of coal was
realised than had yet been obtained.
22. — As the result of a public meeting
held at Durham, under the presidency of
the Earl of Durham, a committee was ap-
pointed to consider the best means of per-
petuating the memory of the late Dr.
Lightfoot, bishop of the diocese.
— The iron and steel works at Walker,
and the premises known as the Elswick
Forge, Elswick, Newcastle, were put up for sale by auc-
tion, but in neither case was a sale effected.
23. — Under the presidency of the Bishop of Newcastle,
a breakfast, followed by a meeting, was held in the
County Hotel, Newcastle, for the purpose of hearing
addresses from several gentlemen interested in the
abolition of the Indian opium trade with China.
— A communication was forwarded to the Northumber-
land Coalowners' Association, from the representatives
of the miners, applying for an advance of 20 per cent,
in wages.
24. — Another oil fire occurred at Sunderland, but was
not attended with any serious consequences.
— Mr. Mordaunt Cohen, aged 26, coal merchant, re-
siding at 39, Osborne Road, Newcastle, was found dead
in bed, with a bullet wound in his head. The coroner's
jury returned a verdict of "Suicide whilst in a despondent
state of mind."
25. — The body of James Anderson, the missing North
Shields police inspector, was found near the Scarp land-
ing at North Shields. The coroner's jury returned a
verdict to the effect that the deceased was drowned on
the 24th December last, but that there was no evidence
to show how he got into the water. (See ante, page 94.)
— The members of the Newcastle and Tyneside Burns
Club dined together at the County Hotel, Newcastle, in
celebration of the 131st anniversary of the poet's birth,
the chair being occupied by Mr. Adam Carse, and the
vice-chair by Dr. Adam Wilson. The Rev. Frank
Walters gave the toast of the evening.
— Mr. Nicholas Gregory, manager of Longhiret Col-
liery, Northumberland, was accidentally killed by a fall
of stone in the mine at that place.
— Heavy floods took place in the Tees and in Swale.
Marca
169J.
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
143
dale. In the latter case, Mother Shipton's prophecy that
Brompton would be washed away was nearly fulfilled,
the river carrying away a portion of the road and
embankment railings,
— Several persons were injured by a collision which
took place between the slow train leaving Berwick-on-
Tweed for the North at 5'30 p.m. and a goods train at
Burnmouth. Some of the sufferers subsequently died.
—A building, purchased and adapted as a gymnasium
and church institute for St. James's parish, Galeshead,
was opened in Back Peareth Street, in that town.
26.— Damage to the extent of between £2,000 and
£3,000 was caused by a fire which broke out on the
premises known as Hepple's Slipway, in Dotwick Street,
North Shields.
— Mr. E. J. C. Morton lectured in the Tyne Theatre,
Newcastle, under the auspices of the Tyneside Sunday
Lecture Society, on "Mazzini." Mr. C. Fenwick, M.P.,
presided.
27. — The waees of puddlers in the manufactured iron
trade of the North of England were advanced, under the
sliding scale, 3d. per ton, and those of all other forge and
mill workmen 2£ per cent.
—Mr. Valentine Smith, the well-known tenor vocalist,
opened a fortnight's season of English opera iii the Town
Hall, Newcastle. The temporary stage on which the
performances were given was erected at the gallery, or
northern end of the building. (See page 135. )
28. — The electric light was successfully installed on
the Quayside, Newcastle, by the Northumberland and
District Electric Lighting Company.
—Owing to the difficutly of stopping them, three horses
attached to a furniture van belonging to Messrs. Bain-
bridge and Company were suddenly projected into the
area in front of the house, 27, Westmoreland Terrace,
Newcastle ; but although a good deal of damage was done
to property, no one, happily, was hurt.
— A meeting in honour of the Marquis of Londonderry
was held in the Ulster Hall, Belfast, under the presidency
of the Duke of Abercorn.
29.— Mr. Alderman Gray, J.P., laid the foundation
stone of a new Baptist chapel on the corner side of Tower
and Archer Streets, West Hartlepool.
—Mr. William Dickinson, merchant, was elected an
alderman of Newcastle.
— The seventy-second annual meeting of the Newcastle
Society of Antiquaries was held under tuo presidency of
the Earl of Ravensworth.
— The members of the North of Scotland Society held
their first annual supper and ball in Newcastle.
30. — Major John R. Carr-Ellison was married to Miss
Edith Maude Mary Fenwick-Clennell, at Harbottle.
— The marriage of Mr. Henry Gladstone, third son of
the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, M.P., to Miss Maude
Rendel, second daughter of Mr. Stuart Rendel, M.P.,
took place in St. Margaret's Church, London. The gifts
to the bride included a costly pearl and pink topaz neck-
lace from Lord Armstrong. Mr. Rendel being one of the
largest shareholders in the great Elswick firm.
—Mr. J. C. Stevenson, M.P., delivered his annual
address to his constituents at South Shields.
FEBRUARY.
2.— Mr. Henry Blackburn, editor of " Academy Notes,"
delivered an interesting lecture in the Tyne Theatre,
Newcastle, under the auspices of the Tyneside Sunday
Lecture Society, on "The Value of a Line." Mr. Ralph
Hedley presided.
— Mr. William Cowans, a young man belonging to
London, was found dead in a field at Middlesbrough, a
revolver lying by his side. The deceased had been paying
his addresses to an actress in the latter town. The
coroner's jury 1'eturned a verdict of " Suicide whilst tem-
porarily insane.''
3. — Handsome and spacious new premises, erected as a
post-office, were opened in Saville Street, North Shields.
4. — The Cleveland mineowners declined to grant an
advance of 15 per cent, m wages.
— A credit balance of £129 18s. 3d. was reported at the
annual meeting of the Newcastle Literary and Philoso-
phical Society.
— An advance of a shilling per week wa.s granted to the
men employed in the marine engineering trade of Mid-
Tyne, Shields, and Sunderland.
— An addition of 10 per cent, in w.iges was conceded
to the trimmers of steam coal in the Tyne.
— A destructive fire took place on the drapery premises
of Messrs. R. Taylor and Son, of Northumberland House,
Waterloo, Blyth.
5. — An advance of wages, to the extent of a shilling a
week was offered to, and accepted by, the labourers in the
marine engineering trade on the Tyne.
— A resolution in favour of a working day of twelve
hours, six days a-week, and the abolition of fines, was
unanimously adopted at a meeting of the employees of the
Newcastle Tramways Company, held at midnight, and
presided over by Mr. T. Burt, M.P.
— While a miner named Malone was melting some
dynamite cartridges at Burradon Colliery, near Newcastle,
they exploded, wrecking his and two adjoining houses,
and injuring several persons.
—The new gunboat Persian, intended for service with
the Australian squadron, was launched by Lady Berry,
wife of Sir Graham Berry, agent-general for Victoria,
from the shipbuilding yard of Sir W. G. Armstrong,
Mitchell, and Co., at Elswick, Newcastle.
All the drapers of Sunderland closed their premises
at four o'clock in the afternoon of Wednesday for the
first time.
—Mr. Thomas Donnison, secretary to the Onward
Building Society, Darlington, was found shot, though
not dead, upon the premises of the society ; and the direc-
tors deemed it necessary, pending an investigation into
the accounts of the society, to suspend payment.
6.— The annual dinner of the Bewick Club was held
under the presidency of Mr. H. H. Emmerson ; and on
the following evening, when Mr. Adam Carse occupied
the chair, the Mayor of Newcastle opened the exhibition
of works of art, ihe usual conversazione following.
—Earl Percy was elected vice-chairman of the North-
umberland County Council.
—A local branch of the Theosophical Society was
opened under the title of the Newcastle-on-Tyne Lodge.
—It was intimated that the Right Rev. T. W. Wilkin-
son, D.D., had received from his Holiness the Pope his
brief of translation to the diocese of Hexham and New-
castle.
7. —A dividend of 8i per cent, was declared at the
annual meeting of the North-Eastern Railway Company
at York.
144
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/
\
March
— Mr. Thomas Burt, M.P., delivered his annual ad-
dress to his constituents at Morpeth.
— After undergoing extensions and alterations, the
Northern Conpervative Club, in Pilgrim Street, New-
castle, was re-opened by Earl Percy, and in the evening
a dinner was held on the premises, under the presidency
of his lordship.
— Mr. Augustus Whitehorn, solicitor, was elected an
alderman of North Shields Town Council.
8.— Sir E. W. Watkin, M.P., lectured in Sunderland
on the Channel Tunnel, and on the following evening he
discoursed in the Tyno Theatrn on the same subject,
under the auspices of tho Tynesido Sunday Lecture
Society.
— The Marquis of Londonderry was elected president
of the Durham County Agricultural Society.
— In reply to an application fur a further advance of 15
per cent, in the wages of the Northumberland miners, the
coalowners intimated that they were unable to (five any
advance of wages at present, but were willing to recon-
sider the question when the next ascertainment of prices
was taken for the months of December, January, and
February.
9- — At a meeting of the Newcastle Tramway employees,
it was resolved to form a branch of the National Labour
Union.
10. — It was announced that the will of the late Mr.
Philip Stephenson, of Park Road, Southport, railway
contractor, who was born at Eighton Banks, near Gates-
head, and who was a relative of George Stephenson, had
been proved, the value of the personal estate being
£27,906 11s. 5d.
—A meeting representing Northumberland, Newcastle-
on-Tyne, and Berwick, called by the Lord-Lieutenant
of the county, the Duke of Northumberland, was held at
Newcastle, to consider the position of the Volunteer
foices of the county. The Duke of Northumberland pre-
sided, and amongst those present were Earl Percy, the
Mayor of Newcastle (Mr. T. Bell), and Sir W. Grossman.
— In commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of his
business connection with Newcastle Quayside, Mr.
Thomas Harper (Thomas Harper and Sons, Xing Street,
Quayside), entertained a large company to dinner in the
Douglas Hotel, Newcastle.
— Although no official report was issued upon the sub-
ject, it was stated that a ballot of the Durham miners was
largely in favour of a strike, the owners having refused
the advance of wages sought for.
(Central ©ccurnnces.
JANUARY.
10. — Dr. Dollinger, the well-known German theologian,
died, at the age of 90, from influenza.
14. — Lord Napier of Magdala, Constable of the Tower
of London, died from an attack of influenza, at the age
of 80.
— Earl Cairns died in his 29th year. Death was due to
influenza.
16.— Mr. Herbert Gladstone was awarded £1,000
damages in an action for libel which he had instituted
rvgainst Colonel G. B. Malleson.
— Mr. Ernest Parke, proprietor and editor of the Korth,
London Prws, was sentenced at the Central Criminal
Court to twelve months' imprisonment for publishing a
defamatory libel about Lord Euston.
17.— Death of Mr. Christopher Talbot, M.P., at the
age of 87. He was known as the " Father of the House
of Commons," having sat for Glamorganshire uninter-
ruptedly since 1830.
18. — Prince Amadeus, Duke of Aosta, ex-King of Spain,
and only brother of the King of Italy, died at Turin, in
his 45th year.
24. — The first passenger train ran over the Forth
Bridge.
25. — Richard Davies, a tailor and draper, was brutally
murdered near Crewe, his head being smashed with a
a hatchet. His two sons were afterwards arrested, and
charged with the crime.
29. — Sir William Gull, an eminent physician, died at
his residence, 74, Brook Street, London, at the age of 74.
—A report from Major Wissmann, the German ex-
plorer in East Africa, was received, announcing the
capture and hanging of the Arab chief Bushiri,
FEBRUARY.
3. — The Times libel case, in which Mr. Parnell claimed
£100,000 damages, was settled without going to trial, Mr.
Parnell accepting a verdict for £5,000.
4. — The Due de Montpensier, son of the late King
Louis Philippe, died suddenly at San Lucar, Andalusia,
at the aga of 66,
6. — An appalling mine explosion occurred at the Llan-
erch Pits, Abersychan, Monmouth, by which 171 lives
were lost.
Printed by WALTER SCOTT, Felling-oa-Tyne.
/lbontbl£ Chronicle
OF
NORTH-COUNTRY*LORE*AND*LEGEND
VOL. IV.— No. 38.
APRIL, 1890.
PRICE GD.
Enfcmtum 0! tftc ilttdfn*
tlje late games ffilcpljan.
pATUEE acquaints man with her great fact
of fire, forcing it upon his gaze in storm
and volcano ; and what he sees in the
lightning-flash, and in belching tiame and
molten lava, he haa learnt to evoke for himself and
subdue to his use.
Captain Cook, discovering the eastern coast of Australia
in 1770, saw the smoke that rose up from the homes of
the inhabitants, and witnessed with admiration how
they gained possession of fire and diffused it in
increasing volume : — " They produce it with great
facility, and spread it in a wonderful manner. They
take two pieces of dry soft wood : one is a stick about
eight or nine inches long, the other piece is flat. The
stick they shape into an obtuse point at one end ; and,
pressing it upon the other, turn it nimbly by holding
it between both their hands as we do a chocolate mill,
often shifting their hands up, and then moving them
down upon it, to increase the pressure as much as
possible. By this method they get fire in less than
two minutes ; and from the smallest spark they increase
it with great speed and dexterity. We have often seen
one of them run along the shore, to all appearance with
nothing in his hand, who, stooping down for a moment,
at the distance of every fifty or a hundred yards, left fire
behind him, as we could see first by the smoke and then
by the flame, among the drift-wood and other litter which
was scattered along the place. We had the curiosity to
examine one of these planters of fire when he set off,
and we saw him wrap up a small spark in dry grass,
which, when he had run a little way, having been fanned
10
by the air that his motion produced, began to blaze.
He then laid it down in a place convenient for his
purpose, enclosing a spark of it in another quantity of
grass; and so continued his course."
From Australia let us now follow Captain Cook to
"Oonalaska's shore," where we find the natives pro-
ducing fire both " by collision and attrition : the
former, by striking two stones one against another,
on one of which a good deal of brimstone is first
rubbed. The latter method is with two pieces of wood,
one of which is a stick of about eighteen inches in
length, and the other a flat piece. The pointed end
of the stick they press upon the other, whirling it
nimbly round as a drill, thus producing fire in a few
minutes. This method is common in many parts of
the world. It is practised by the Kamtshadales, by
these people [the natives of Oonalaska], by the Green-
landers, by the Brazilians, by the Otaheitans, by the
New Hollanders, and probably by many other nations."
Meanwhile, Cook s countrymen at home were using
flint and steel, with match and tinder ; as "the Fuegians.
have for centuries" done, "striking sparks with a flint
from a piece of iron pyrites." (Tyler's "Researches into
the Early History of Mankind.") But in these later days
men have gone ahead of the old courses. The trees of the
forests are sliced by machinery into thousands of shreds ;
and millions of matches, dipped in imprisoned fire, are
ready, at a moment's notice, to escape at a touch into
flame. Orators have been wont to glow and perorate
about that encircling drum which all the earth round
proclaims the presence of England and her empire. But
146
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{IS?
the crack of the lucifer is a still more universal sound, the
sharp explosion dating from the decade of the present
century in which the world's first passenger railroad
entered upon its career.
How to procure fire at will is to be numbered among
the many inventions of man through the ages. The heat-
ing and ignition of wood by friction was practised by the
Romans. In the Reports by the Juries of the Exhibition
of 1851, to which we now turn, Pliny's account of the
process is quoted, "first discovered in camps, and by
shepherds, when a fire was wanted and a fitting stone
was not at hand ; for they rubbed together wood upon
wood, by which attrition sparks were engendered ; and
then collecting any dry matter of leaves or fungi, they
easily took fire." "Virgil notices the 'hidden fire in the
veins of flints,' as being one of the benefits anciently
bestowed on man at the commencement of the reign of
Jupiter ; and pyrites are described by Pliny as being well
known and esteemed for producing sparks."
Ancient is the process of fire-making. Long was the
reign of stone and steel and tinder. "It was not until
the middle of the seventeenth century that the discovery
of phosphorus indicated a quicker or more certain means
of procuring light or fire. In 1677, Dr. Hooke, in one of
his Cutler Lectures, described the effects of phosphorus,
as they had been recently exhibited in England to the
Hon. Robert Boyle and several other Fellows of the
Royal Society by Daniel Krafft, 'a famous German
chemist.' Even after all the earliest experiments, how-
ever, the new matter appeared to be regarded only as
a curiosity, which Boyle entitled the Noctiluca, and 'a
factitious self -shining substance,' procured but in small
quantities, and with great labour and time, the principal
value of which was to supply a light in the night or in
dark places, when exhibited in glass vessels. It can
scarcely be doubted but that some trial was made as
to whether an ordinary match could be inflamed by the
substance ; but Boyle's recorded experiments refer only
to the strength, the diffusion, and the continuance of
the light."
The Jurors' Reports proceed to glance at the history
of chemical matches, scarcely any other method of
producing fire being employed J before 1820 "than that
of the well-known trio," flint and steel and tinder,
" with which the ordinary sulphur match was inseparably
associated."
It was soon afterwards that "Doebereiner made
the remarkable discovery that finely-divided platinum
(spongy platinum) is capable of inflaming a mixture of
hydrogen gas and atmospheric air; and he founded
on this property of platinum the invention of the
Instantaneous Light Apparatus, first known by the
name of Doebereiner's Hydrogen Lamp." Another
method of producing ignition, proposed about the same
period, but never generally adopted, "depends upon
the property which certain compounds of phosphorus
and sulphur possess of inflaming when slightly rubbed,
in contact with the atmosphere." "The first important
and permanent improvement in the means of obtaining
light consisted in covering the sulphurized end of a match
with a mixture of sugar and chlorate of potash ; which,
being deflagrated by immersion into concentrated sul-
phuric acid, communicated the inflammation to the
underlying coating of sulphur." "These matches were
in all probability invented in France, whence at least
they were certainly first introduced into England ; but
prior to their introduction Captain Manby had been
accustomed to employ a similar mixture for firing a
small piece of ordnance for the purpose of conveying
a rope to a stranded vessel ; and, indeed, the com-
position was also described by Parkes, in his 'Chemical
Catechism, 'amongst the experiments illustrative of com-
bustion and detonation at the close of the volume."
"Exactly the same principle was involved in the
preparation of the matches invented by Mr. Jones, of
the Strand, and used for some time in England under
the name of Prometheans. " These matches were com-
pressed "with a pair of pliers, sold for the purpose, or
between two hard substances (between the teeth, for
example)," and thus ignited, "forming, as it were,
the stepping-stone to the production of the friction
match. "
Thus do we approach the period of the friction lucifer ;
and now the Exhibition volume of 1852 (to which we
have been so greatly indebted) has this paragraph : —
"The first true friction matches, or congreves, made
their appearance about the year 1832. They had a
coating of a mixture of two parts of sulphide of antimony
and one part of chlorate of potash, made into a paste
with gum water, over their sulphurized ends, and were
ignited by drawing them rapidly between the two surfaces
of a piece of folded sand -paper, which was compressed by
the finger and thumb."
There is here, by inadvertence, a missing link, which
was supplied in the month of August, 1852, by the
Editor of the Qateahead Observer, who wrote a short
article on "The Origin of the Friction Lucifer." "The
Jurors' Reports, just printed, treat," said he, "of every-
thing, great and small, that found a place in the
Exhibition of Industry, from the Kohinoor or Moun-
tain of Light to a Lucifer Match. On the latter
luminous subject the reporters are in the dark, and,
in another column, we have briefly enlightened them.
We may here, at some greater length, present a short
report supplementary to those of the jurors, that the
origin of the friction match may be placed on record,
before the evidences pass beyond the reach of the world,
and are irrecoverably lost. A quarter of a century ago,
Mr. John Walker, of Stockton-upon-Tees, then carrying
on the business of a chemist and druggist in that town,
was preparing some lighting mixture for his own use.
By the accidental friction on the hearth of a match
Apr!
II
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
147
dipped in the mixture, a light was obtained. The hint
was not thrown away. Mr. Walker commenced the sale
of friction matches. This was in April, 1827. ' Young
England,' who has come into being since that day, now
buys a pocketful of lucifers for a penny. Mr. Walker,
for a box of fifty, with a piece of doubled sand-paper for
friction, got a shilling ! ' Prometheans ' and other com-
petitors beat him down to sixpence. And then, unwilling
to be beaten down still further, he renounced the sale,
Old Harrison Burn, an inmate of the Stockton almshouse.
was Mr. Walker's match-maker; and John Ellis, book-
binder, made the paper-boxes at three halfpence each.
Mr. John Hixon, solicitor, was Mr. Walker's first
customer. Production has been cheapened in all
directions, but few commodities have 'fallen like
lucifers.' Paper-boxes, gorged with matches, are now
sold wholesale at Is. 6d. to Is. lOd. per gross ; and
wood-turned boxes, containing double the number of
matches, at half-a-crown ! And yet the makers do not
burn their fingers."
The first rail of the world's first passenger railroad
had been laid at Stockton in the spring of 1822 ; and
there, in the spring of 1827, the first friction match
burst into flame ; the rail and the match alike going
ahead, and circumflaming the globe. Thomas Wilson,
author of "The Pitman's Pay," in the course of an
address, partly autobiographical, written for a social
gathering held in the Public Rooms, Gateshead Low
Fell, March 15, 185*, referred to the extraordinary
improvements and discoveries that had taken place
in the land during the previous thirty years, and
remarked : — " How much all these have contributed to
the comforts and conveniences of society, I need not
point out : you are all able to see their value. I need
not point out to you the plague and trouble that are
spared by the lucifer match, particularly to those of you
who have frequently required a light during the night
for the infant. Instead of knapping for half-an-hour with
flint and steel upon half-burnt tinder, as we of the olden
time had often to do, you have a light instantly, without
scarcely rising from your pillow. Don Quixote's friend,
Sancho, blessed the man who invented sleep ; but if you
knew the trouble attending flint and steel operations,
you would doubly bless the man who produced the
lucifer match."
"That man," repeated the Observer (in a foot-note to
the address), "was Mr. John Walker, of Stockton."
And having set forth anew the incidents of 1827, the
Editor added:— "The Jurors' Reports (Exhibition of
1851) refer the appearance of the friction matches to the
year 1832. On the publication of these reports, we drew
the attention of Dr. Warren De La Rue, one of the
authors, to the facts now stated, and he courteously
expressed his regret that he was not earlier acquainted
with them.'
It may be as well to add, while we are on the subject,
that Mr. Walker's friction lucifers adhered to the old
form of the flat brimstone-match, with two pointed
ends.
The question of the origin of the friction lucifer
has frequently since been brought under public notice.
The paper of Dr. Foss, on "The Tinder Box, and its
Practical Successor," which appeared in 1876 in the
Archaiologia ^Bliana (vii., 217, N.S.), should be read by
every one who takes an interest in the subject. Not
longer ago than the month of August, 1860, an answer
of the Newcastle Daily Chronicle to an inquiry from one
of its correspondents gave rise to a letter from Mr.
William Hardcastle, of "the Medical Hall," Stockton,
who, being in possession of Mr. John Walkers books,
did the good service of committing to print the evidence
which they had to give on this subject, We thus learn
that the first entry bears date April 7, 1827, when Box
No. 30 was put down to Mr. Hixon. At that time,
therefore, 30 boxes had been sold before the close of
the first week in the month of April. The box sold
to Mr. Hixon is described as containing 8+ "sulphvirated
hyperoxygenated " matches ; and the price was a shilling.
On the 26th of July, No. 36 occurs as entered to Mrs.
Faber, Rectory, Longnewton, who had the like number
of "oxygenated matches" at the same price. Afterwards
come two boxes sold to Mrs. Maude, of Selaby Park ;
and then Colonel Maddison, Norton, has nineteen l.oxes
for distribution among his friends. Slow was the sale
at the outset, but "during 1828 it increased rapidly,"
and the inventor, who took out no patent, " lived to
see the introduction of cheap matches," the result of
his discovery, in all directions.
Very interesting it is to have the early sale of the
friction lucifer thus traced out for us, in its birthplace,
in the valuable communication of Mr. Hardcastle. Mr.
Walker, who had been brought up to the medical pro-
fession under Mr. Watson Alcock, an eminent surgeon
in Stockton, but never entered into practice, was studious
and well-read. His information was large and extensive,
and his conversation instructive. He was one of the
order of men known as " walking encyclopaedias, " while
modestly avoiding all pretence of superior knowledge.
Establishing himself in business as a chemist and
druggist, he was ever inquiring and experimental ;
and it was while making a detonating or deflagrating
mixture, and dashing off against the hearth-stone some
portion of it, taken from a crucible for examination,
that his first match may be said to have seen the light.
Many an elderly ear was startled, from time to time,
on " The Flags " of the High Street, by the explosion
of John Walker's "pea-crackers," the delight of Young
Stockton.
In the time of the tinder box, every match, with its
two brimstone tips, discharged a double debt, first one
end being used and afterwards the other. When sparks
were struck from flint and steel, and the tinder wa»
148
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
aglow, the pointed brimstone match was applied, and
a light obtained, often the result of a long and tedious
experiment, the time dependent on the operator and his
implements ; for some were more skilful than others, and
had also better tinder. But with Mr. Walker's lucifer,
swiftly drawn under pressure of thumb and finger, from
the doubled sand-paper supplied in the box, there was
instantaneous flame. Times change. Flint and steel
and tinder box, so familiar in the homes of our fathers,
were all exploded by the crack of the friction lucifer !
And that crack was first heard in the spring of 1827.
And John Walker now takes his place in " Haydn's
Dictionary of Dates" as the inventor.
The Exhibition Jurors say : — " The reporters have
not succeeded in learning with certainty by whom the
substitution of phosphorus for the sulphide of antimony
was first suggested. The mixture of the sulphide with
chlorate of potash required so much pressure to produce
the ignition that it was frequently pulled off from the
match ; and this substitution was therefore an impor-
tant improvement. The phosphorus matches or lucifers
appear indeed to have been introduced contemporaneously
in different countries about the year 1834." And now, in
an age which never sees the tinder box, what volumes of
these matches may be bought at shops round the corner
for a groat ! The friction match, indeed, is sold to you —
not only over the counter— but by boys in the streets
at home and abroad. It has come into common use
indeed in the isles of the South Pacific. The crack of
the lucifer is heard among the inhabitants of the Tonga
islands. "I had some difficulty," says Mr. Moseley in
his interesting "Notes of a Naturalist on the Challenger"
(1879), "in persuading one of the natives to get fire for
me by friction of wood. Matches are now so common
in Tonga that they do not care to undergo the labour
necessary for getting fire in the old method, except when
driven by necessity. No doubt the younger generation
will lose the knack of getting fire by friction altogether."
The instantaneous light struck on John Walker's hearth
in 1827 has relieved all Oceania from the laborious
process of kindling fire in the fashion of centuries. The
world, and the isles thereof, are becoming one. "Hearing
the sound of music in the native district of the town of
Banda," the metropolis of nutmegs, Mr. Moseley "made
his way, one evening, towards a house from which it
came, in the hopes of seeing a Malay dance. Instead of
thin, he found Malays indeed dancing, but, to his dis-
appointment, they were dancing the European waltz ! "
The waltz whirls and the lucifer explodes the whole
world round.
Our record will be read with curious interest by elderly
inhabitants of Newcastle whose memories carry them back
to the twofold cry at the Old Market— "Good shoe-
blacking, halfpenny a ball ! Tar-barrel matches, half-
penny a bunch!" — brimstone matches, made out of
tar-barrel staves that had served their original purpose,
being popular companions of the tinder box in the days
that are no more.
CfcarUtf
JJNE of the most interesting visitors to New-
castle was Charles Cowden Clarke, the friend
of Keats, Leigh Hunt, Hazlitt, and others
who adorned the early years of the century. One of
Keats's poetical epistles is addressed to Mr. Clarke, and
sets forth in glowing numbers the relationship of the
companions and friends : —
You first taught me all the sweets of song,
The grand, the sweet, the terse, the fine ;
What swelled with pathos, and what right divine ;
Spenserian vowels that elope with ease,
And float along like birds o'er summer seas.
. Ah, had I never seen
Or known your kindness, what might I have been ?
Mr. Clarke is well known as the editor of the "Riches
of Chaucer," and (in concert with his wife) as the com-
piler of the Shakspeare Concordance, as well as the
author of many volumes. But it was as a lecturer that
Mr. Clarke's name is specially connected with New-
castle. In his repertoire there were four lectures on the
Genius and Comedies of Moliere; four on the Great
European Novelists; sixteen on the Comic Writers of
England ; four on Shakspeare's Jesters and Philosophers ;
twenty-four on Shakspeare's Characters ; three on the
Poetry of Prose Writers ; one on Ancient Ballads ; and
fourteen on British Poets. Many of these lectures, as we
shall mention, were delivered in the Lecture Room of the
Literary and Philosophical Society, Newcastle.
Mrs. Clarke (Mary Cowden Clarke) accompanied her
husband on his first visit in 1843. The accomplished
couple had the advantage of a letter of introduction
from Sir John Trevelyan to Mr. John Adamson, presi-
dent of the Literary and Philosophical Society, who was
most courteous and hospitable to them. He invited the
visitors to his house, showing them his fine collection of
shells, beautifully and tastefully arranged, introducing
them to his choice library, and presenting them with his
two volumes of Portuguese translations, respectively en-
titled, " Lusitania Illustrata : Selection of Sonnets," and
"Lusitania Illustrata: Minstrelsy." Mr. Adamson also
gave them a collection of Sonnets by himself, and wrote a
touching letter therewith, describing the disastrous fire in
which the whole of the books in his library were con-
sumed to ashes.
Another very interesting acquaintance made in New-
castle was Mr. Charnley, the well-known bookseller, who.
April
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
149
also entertained the visitors hospitably. Mr. Charnley
mentioned that he had been engaged to teach Latin to
the lovely boy whom Sir Thomas Lawrence painted
lolling on a bank with one arm thrown under his hand-
some curly head— a well-known picture exhibited as " A
Portrait of Young Lambton," son of Lord Durham.
"The lad was delicate," writes Mrs. Clarke, "and I
remember Mr. Charnley telling us that he often used to
think, while he was giving Latin lessons, ' Ah, my dear
little fellow, you would be much better out in the open
air on your pony than shut up in this study.' And I
believe the young life did not last long."
With Mr. Charnley was his sister, Mrs. Jackson, who
joined with her brother in making the evening even more
agreeable. Mrs. Clarke informs us that Mrs. Jackson
sang (to a quaint old crooning tune) an anti-
quated ballad of as mauy as twenty-two stanzas,
wherein figured a certain "Lord Thomas," en-
amoured of a certain "fair Elleanor," but doomed
by his mother to wed a certain "brown girl," re-
counting the tragical end of all three ; the " brown
girl " possessing "a little penknife both sharp and keen,"
wherewith, "between the long rib and the short, she
stickit fair Elleanor in," and Lord Thomas having a
sword by his side, " wherewith he clickit the brown girl's
head from her body," and then "put the point into his
breast and the hilt into the ground," calling upon his
mother for " a grave, long, wide, and deep," wherein he
desires that "fair Elleanor" shall be laid by his
side and the "brown girl" at his feet. "This
old-world hearing was wound up," says Mrs. Clarke,
"by a charmingly old-world sight — an antique brocade
dress of primrose silk, embossed with bunches of
flowers in their natural colours— a dress that had been
the wedding dress of the host's mother ; a dress that
might have been, for its delicate beauty, a companion
to Clarissa Harlowe's celebrated one, described so
admiringly by Lovelace, when Clarissa meets him
outside the garden gate :— ' Her gown was a pale
primrose-coloured paduasoy ; the cuffs and robings
curiously embroidered by the fingers of this ever-charm-
ing Arachne, in a running pattern of violets and their
leaves ; the light in the flowers silver ; gold in the
leaves.'"
Newcastle audiences always particularly delighted
Mr. Clarke — " they were so staid, so quiet, BO
absorbedly attentive, yet so earnestly enthusiastic.''
Many treated him almost like a personal friend, and
listened to him with evidently pleased ears and looks.
Mrs. Clarke chanced to be near to two young ladies on
one occasion as they were quitting the lecture-room, and
she heard one of them say to the other : " Doesn't he give
the exact tone and manner of each character !" and the
reply was: "Yes, dear; he was brought up an actor.'.
Just as if she had known his career from boyhood.
How startled she would have been had Mrs. Clarke told
her the truth, and said, " Oh no ; h« was brought up an
usher in his father's school."
Mr. Clarke lectured six different seasons at Newcastle :
in 1843 he gave his eight first lectures on Shakspeare ;
in 1844, his lectures on Ballads, on Chaucer, on Milton, on
Spenser, and on the Poets of the Guelphic Era ; in 1846,
his eight later lectures on Shakspeare ; in 1848, his four
lectures on the Comic Writers of England; in March,
1855, his lecture on Thomas Hood ; and, in October and
November of the same year, four lectures on the European
Novelists.
One of the great treats Mr. and Mrs. Clarke enjoyed
was the organ playing in the Church of St. Nicholas.
"Mr. Ions," Mrs. Clarke writes, "was then the organist,
and one day he enchanted us by giving Mendelssohn's
tender strain, 'See what love hath the Father,' in true
musical style." Their rambles in the neighbourhood of
Newcastle, especially along the rural path through
Jesmond Dene into the open country, were enjoyed by
the visitors. Mrs. Clarke again writes: — "Yes, for its
sake and his, the thought of Newcastle-on-Tyne will ever
be dear to me."
The strong impression Newcastle produced on Mrs.
Clarke's mind is evidenced by her laying the opening
scene of her admirable novel, " The Iron Cousin, " in its
streets and neighbourhood. We select the following
striking descriptions : —
The wind moaned by in piercing, sudden gusts from the
river, forming little sharp eddies in the thoroughfare
that led up from the bridge. A fierce current of air drew
round the thinly-clad woman and her burden, as she
stood shivering and defenceless in the open way — one
of those steep, hilly streets that abound in the good
old town of Newcastle-on-Tyne. Heavy-laden carts
staggered up the ascent, the horses straining and tugging
and labouring with stretched harness and quivering
shafts, as they tacked sideways along, their iron-shod
hoofs slipping and striking sparks from beneath their
shaggy fetlocks each time they vainly strove to plant
a firm step ; great wains tottered top heavy,
swaying to an' fro, as they made their perilous
descent, creaking and groaning, marking the safely-
impending reluctaucy of the dropped drag; foot-
passengers bent forward, breasting the cold wind and
the 19!! of the up-hill progress, ever and anon stopping
to wisk round and avoid the clouds of dust that whirled
in their faces, peppering their clothes, dredging against
cheeks and foreheads, and sifting into their eyes. The
heavy sails of the colliers and other craft lying moored
in the river flapped with unwieldly abruptness, while
the little pennons that floated from the mast heads,
seemed giddy with careless, rapid motion. Straws were
whirled into open entries, and shop-doors banged to
with startling suddenness. There was a black, sullen
look in the air, partly the effect of the keen, savage-
cutting wind, partly the effect of the dense coal-smoke
atmosphere, perpetually hovering in a murky cloud, indis-
pensable even by such a blast as then blew straight from
the north-east. All was chill and gloomy: even the
grocers' and confectionery shops, witn which the place
abounds — tea and sugar plums seem to form the chief
nutriment of miners, to judge by the large japan canis-
ters, and the piles of coloured chalk and sugar, by
courtesy called sweetmeats, that lie wedged and heaped in
almost every other shop window in Newcastle — conld not
enliven the general dreariness of the aspect of the spot
on that harsh, cheerless day.
The nurse led on for a little way from the spot
150
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
(Af
lift
where they had stood, and then turned into a
narrow passage, that opened from the street in
which they were. It ascended by steps, and wound up
through the houses on either side, a sort of out-of-door
flair-case. Almost every step was thickly occupied with
boots and shoes, of all dimensions, ranged side by side,
evidently for sale ; for the houses which flanked the steps
had low-browed, dingy shops, in the windows of which
heaps more of the same articles were just discernable
through the dusty, darkened atmosphere. These boots
and shoes presented every diversity of cobbled, patched,
and pieced decrepitude, every varied make of hob-nailed,
iron-heeled, list, leather, and wooden ; there was the
child's ankle-strapped shoe, the boy's tongued and thick-
soled school-boot, with its lace of leather, and its leathern
binding ; the youth's clouted brogue : the ploughman's
stout high low ; the townsman's " new footed calf
Wellington," women's clogs and pattens, and wooden
shoes innumerable, such as are rife in French fishing
towns, clumsy, rough hewn things— some entirely of wood,
some with upper-leathers nearly as inflexible as wood, and
fastenings of rude metal clasps. These wooden shoes were
ot all. sizes; from such as seemed fit only for the stunted
dimensions of a Chinese lady's foot, but" were in reality
intended for the soft, small, plump foot of babyhood, up
to the full-grown waggoner's or miner's wear, looking like
moderate-sized hip or slipper baths. Making his way
through all this myriad cordwainery, though little heed-
ing its precise nature, the Squire," as he followed the
nurse on her upward way, was yet conscious of the suffo-
cating atmosphere generated by all these agglomerated
boots and shoes, and he felt the close-pent, over hanging
aspect of the place, in oppressive keeping with the effect
upon his senses. As he instinctively looked up towards
the sky, for a glimpse of space, and a breath of fresh air,
he saw the mas.sive stone walls of the castle, or jail,
frowning and beetling above the summit of the steep
winding chare; and it seemed only a crowning circum-
stance in the images of confined, breathless, hopeless im-
prisonment, that surrounded him on all sides,
On reaching the neighbourhood of the great Coal City,
he had been induced, by its name, to try first the Ouse
)5tirn, knowing his sister's predilection 'for rural quiet
and fancying the title of this suburb indicated the kind of
spot she would probably choose for her lodging. But he
had hardly entered its precincts before he felt that the
promise of its name was utterly misleading. This was
the only remnant of whatever former beauty the place
might have possessed.
The sole trace now existing of the burn or brook which
liad originally streamed through it was a dirty mud
ditch, foul and noisome, trickling its sluggish ooze be-
tween rows of straggling, low houses or huts. The way
was strewn with refuse of all sorts; iron hoops, tub-
staves, broken palings, cinders, old shoes with gaping
sides, the upper leathers wrenched apart, and the soles
curled up ; a bit of a thin and ragged petticoat ; a rusty
pot lid, bent nearly double ; a few yards further on
the saucepan itself, full of holes, and a piece of a
cracked yellow delf-plate, with a crinkly edge,
quitting this region of squalor, he had proceeded as
lar, in the same direction, as the pretty, secluded,
green dell of Jesmond Dean. Here he had suc-
ceeded in gaming something like an indication of the
object of his pursuit. He found that a young lady calling
herself Mrs. Ireton, dressed in widows' weeds, and
accompanied by a middle-aged woman, had tenanted a
couple of apartments in one of the neat cottages skirting
the embowered cleft. ....
After this, the Squire wandered on, day after day, now
on the Great North Road, now on the Western Road,
now on the old London Road, inquiring at all cottages
and asking at all the poorest houses, that seemed in any
way likely to have accommodated lodgers. Frequently
he heard the bell of the old church of St. Nichola? chime
i late evening hour, as he returned, toil-worn of body,
»nd far more weary of spirit, to his sleeping quartern at
an inn in the town.
Mrs. Clarke lives in Villa Novello, Genoa, where the
latter part of her married life was spent. Since Mr.
Clarke's death she has published seme small volumes of
remarkable sonnets, commemorating her continued re-
membrance of her husband— evidencing that the "married
lovers," as they were called, though separated in body, are
spiritually present unto each other.
LAUNCELOT CKOSH.
* Cfturcft.
DELIGHTFUL walk from Morpeth along
a road which, nearly the whole way, follows
the course of the Wansbeck, and leads past
open glades and wooded slopes, brings the
traveller to the secluded village of Mitford. First, he
reaches a group of cottages and an inn, and presently he
turns into a shaded lane on the left, which soon brings
him in sight of the castle and the church. The two
structures are almost inseparably associated with each
other. But how different their fates! The one is an
abandoned and neglected ruin. The other has been
"restored," and is now evidently preserved with every
care. The castle is no longer needed, but the crumbling
ruin reminds us of the time when churches and villages
sought the shelter of a great baron's stronghold, and when
he, too, considered it a bounden duty to provide not only
for the safety of his own family, but for that of his
humbler dependents, whose cottages were clustered be-
neath the shadow of his walls.
Castle and church at Mitford seem to have been of
nearly contemporary foundation. The old work of the
nave must be ascribed to the first half of the twelfth
century. That it was founded by one of the Bertrams,
ancient lords of Mitford, is certain. The builder of the
church was doubtless also the builder of the castle. He
may have been the William Bertram, who married a
daughter of Sir William Merlay, of Morpeth, and whose
father is said to have acquired Mitford by marrying
Sybil, the only daughter of one John, lord of Mitford, a
personage who probably never existed except in pedigrees,
and who is said to have held Mitford in the time of
Edward the Confessor.
The church built by this ancient Bertram, whether
Richard or William, was from the first a noble struc-
ture, worthy of the baronial dignity of its founder. It
was never a large church, but its grandeur in
no way depended on its size. Its nave had
north and south aisles, with arcades of round arches,
which rested upon cushioned capitals and mas-
sive round pillars. It thus possessed the most im-
pressive features of a Norman church. Of the church
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
151
built at that time considerable remains still exist. The
greatest part of the north wall of the chancel, with its
row of five curious corbels on the outside, is of the period
to which I refer, as is also the priest's door, with its rude
zig-zag mouldings, in the south wall. The three eastern
arches of the south arcade, with the pillars on which they
rest, are of the same date, but here the hand o.f the
restorer is very evident. Of the ancient north arcade,
only one bay remains. This opens into a north transept,
now used as a vestry. Outside the nave, the wall over
the south aisle is decorated with a string course, which
bears a zig-zag moulding in low relief. One or two of the
stones of this string course, at its east end, are original.
The church built by Bertram, which consisted of
chancel and nave, the latter with aisles, retained
its original splendour less than a hundred years. In
the year 1215, the lord of Mitford, Roger Bertram,
was in rebellion, among other Northern barons, against
King John ; and the incensed monarch, during his
march through Northumberland, on the 28th December,
in the year just named, burnt the towns of Morpeth and
Mitford to the ground. Probably the castle of Mitford
suffered at the same time, but not so seriously as to pre-
vent its being speedily repaired, for, eighteen months
later, its garrison successfully resisted a siege laid to it
for seven days by Alexander, King of Scotland. The
church seems to have fared far worse. Many of the
stones in the north wall of the chancel, as well as others
which have been used up in the rebuilding of later parts,
have been reddened by the action of fire.
One or two decades passed away before any effort was
made to repair the ruined edifice, and when at last the
work was undertaken there was no attempt to restore it
to its former grandeur. The walls of both aisles appear
to have been taken down. The nave was reduced in
length. The arches on the south side were filled
with masonry. Those on the north side, except
the eastern one, were taken down, The east wall
of the chancel was entirely rebuilt, as was also
the south one, except the priest's door. The new
work of the chancel is of very pleasing char-
acter. The east window of three lights, with banded
shafts between them, the sedilia, and the row of lancet
windows in the south wall, are all alike excellent, though
plain, both in design and execution.
Before the church underwent any further structural
alteration one or two important events occurred in its
history. About the year 1250 the third Roger Bertram
founded a chantry, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, in
Mitford Church. Its chaplain was required to pray for
the souls of Roger's ancestors and successors, and for the
soul of Adam de Northampton, then rector of Mitford.
The endowment consisted of land bounded by Stanton on
one side and by the river Font on the other. In the cer-
tificate of chantries in the county of Northumberland,
drawn up in 1548, it is reported that there was no incum-
bent of the chantry in Mitford Church, and that the
yearly income of its lands, which amounted to 17 shil-
lings, was spent by the churchwardens on the repair of
the church. This same Roger Bertram was a zealous
adherent of Simon de Montfort. He was taken prisoner
at the battle of Northampton in 1264, and, to raise the
sum needed for his ransom, such of his estates as bad pot
already been absorbed by the expenses of the rebellion
were either sold or deeply mortgaged. To Adam of
Gesemuth (Jesmond) Bertram granted one messuage and
one acre of land in Mitford, with the advowson of the
church in that place.
From Adam de Gesemuth or his heirs the advowson
passed to the crown, and, in 1317, it was. gran ted by
Edward I., with the appropriation of it as well, to the
priory of Lanercost. The document by which this grant
was made sets forth that, " the priory of Lanercost, in
the diocese of Carlisle, situated near the confines of our
land of Scotland, in consequence of the burning of the
houses and the plundering of the said priory, inhumanly
perpetrated by certain Scots our enemies and rebels
hostilily invading the limits of our kingdom a while ago,
remains for the most part impoverished and wasted." For
this reason the grants just referred to were made. Four
years later the Archbishop of York ordained that the
vicar of Mitford should be paid by the prior of Lanercost,
as a salary, 25 marks a year ; that is, £16 13s. 4d. In ad-
dition to this he was to have that house in the town of
Mitford which was built on the east side of the church for
his residence, and 12 acres of land in Aldworth and all the
meadow land in Harestane which was in the parish of his
church, together with the churchyard.
From these documentary evidences we must turn once
more to the edifice itself to learn its history. When the
next important change in its structure was effected, the
Bertrams were no longer lords of Mitford. The manor
had passed through the hands of the Valences, the Strath-
bolgies, and the Percies, and was now in the hands of the
Mitfords, a family who claimed descent from a brother of
that lord of Mitford whose daughter is supposed to have
married the sire of the Bertrams. It was by some
member of the Mitford family that the transepts were
built; probably near the end of the fifteenth or early in
the sixteenth century. Over the window of the south
transept, on the outside, he placed the arms of Ms family,
which a herald would describe as a fesse between three
moles.
In 1501 it was reported that the greater part of the roof
of the nave had fallen into ruin, and the parishioners were
enjoined to repair it, under a penalty of 10s. In 1548,
there were of " howseling people " in the parish, that is,
persons who partook of the sacrament of the eucharist
with greater or less regularity, 380. Hodgson, the
historian of Northumberland, writing in 1832, says
the nave "is in bad repair." Sixteen years ago
(1874) the whole church was "restored," at the sole
152
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
cost of Colonel John Philip Osbaldiston Mitford. The
most important work then effected was the rebuilding of
the chancel arch, the opening out of the south arcade,
the erection of a new south aisle, the prolongation of the
nave westward, and the construction of a tower and spire.
J. R. BOYLE, F.S.A.
dr, Hurftam.
j]T. OSWALD'S is the parish church of the
ancient borough of Elvet, the most interest-
ing, perhaps, of the suburbs of Durham.
The town and its church are first mentioned
in what are now known as the forged charters of Bishop
William de St. Carileph. Therein it is set forth that in
the year 1032 he granted to the prior and monks of
Durham the vill of Elvet, with forty houses of merchants
there, as well as the church in that place. These charters
are held, on very good evidence, to have been forged
during the first quarter of the twelfth century, and may
therefore be accepted as proof that at that period Elvet
and its church had been, for a considerable time, in the
possession of the monks of Durham. Thh next mention
of St. Oswald's Church occurs in a charter of Henry
II., which must be dated between 115+ and 1167, wherein
he confirms to God and St. Cuthbert and to the prior and
monks serving God in the church of Durham, "Elvet,
with the church of the same town." Hugh Pudsey, the
trreat building bishop, was elected to the see of Durham
in 1154, and held it for the long period of forty-four
years. Galfrid of Coldingham tells us that he made both
the bridge and the borough of Elvet. Pudsey's bridge
still remains, though it has been widened in recent times;
and St. Oswald's Church possesses architectural features
which belong to his day, although their construction
cannot possibly be ascribed to him.
IBS}
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
153
Amongst the objects of interest preserved in the
church, the chief place must be given to the fine old oak
stall-work in the chancel. The carving is of a bold and
very effective character. It may be ascribed to the first
half of the fifteenth century. . In the north aisle there is
an old oak vestment chest. It is seven feet long, is
strongly banded with iron, and is secured by two locks.
Over the south door is a beautiful niche which the re-
storer has fortunately left untouched.
The tower is in many respects the most remarkable part
of the church. The way in which the first floor is reached
is very unusual. Instead of a newell staircase or a ladder,
we have a stone stairway which ascends in the thickness
of the walls. Commencing at the south-east corner, it
goes up to the south-west corner, and from here to the
north-west corner, where it reaches the floor above
the vault The cover of the stairway is entirely formed
of medireval gravestones. The builders in ancient times
were just as regardless of ancient monuments as we are at
the present time. Not fewer than twenty-four grave-
covers of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries were used
in the construction of this staircase. On many of them
the symbols which indicate the sex, condition, or occupa-
tion of the persons whose graves they originally covered may
be distinctly seen. The sword occurs on at least six of the
stones and theshears on two. Associated with these symbols
are others. A horn suspended from a cord on one stone
indicates that the deceased was a forester. A mattock on
another represents a husbandman. A hatchet on a third
symbolizes a woodcutter. Another bears a book and the
letters KICAR — the beginning, doubtless, of the name
Ricardus. Still another bears a belt with a buckle.
o»-
Besides these, in the churchyard there are several grave-
stones of the same kind, some of which were taken from
the tower during a restoration in 1863, and others from
the east wall of the chancel at a later date. There are
seven on the north side of the tower. One of these bears
the shears and the following inscription : —
HIO IACKT IOH|ANN]A
VXOR EIVS.
— (Here lies Johanna, his wife.) Another is cut into the
shape of a house roof, and worked over with a representa-
tion of tiles — a suggestion of man's last home. Eleven
other grave-covers lie along the south side of the church,
between the buttresses. One bears nothing but a chalice
— the symbol of a priest. The shears, sword, and key
occur on others.
The tower of St. Oswald's has yielded other stones,
however, of greater interest than any I have yet men-
tioned. These are two fragments of a Saxon cross.
They, like the grave-covers, were employed as building
material when the tower was erected. Fortunately they
are adjoining parts, and have been fixed together. They
are now preserved in the Dean and Chapter Library.
The sides and back of the cross are covered with the inter-
lacing knot work which is so common a feature not only
of Saxon sculpture, but of all early Saxon works of art.
The front is divided into three panels. The upper and
lower panels are filled with knot work, but the centre
one bears a design of two animals, whose limbs and tails
are interlaced in a very extraordinary way. How this
cross came to Durham is a mystery which will probably
never be solved, It belongs to a period long antecedent
to the coming hither of Aldhune and the monks with the
body of St. Cuthbert, near the end of the
tenth century. The cross itself is now
labelled as having probably been brought
from Lindisfarne or Chester-le-Street.
There can be little doubt that it came
from one of these places. Symeon, of
Durham, tells us that a cross of stone
" of curious workmanship," which Ethel-
wold, Bishop of Lindisfarne, caused to be
made and inscribed with his own name,
after being broken by the Danes, was
fastened together with lead and carried
about by the monks wherever they wan-
dered with the body of St. Cuthbert,
until they arrived at Durham. "And
at the present day," says Symeon, "it
stands erect in the graveyard of this
church (the cathedral), and exhibits to
all who look upon it a memorial of those
two bishops, Cuthbert and Ethelwold."
Ethelwold's cross, erected at Lindisfarne
in the seventh century, and seen at
Durham by Symeon in the twelfth cen-
tury, still existed in the reign of Henry
154
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
VIII., when it was seen by John Leland, the antiquary,
who describes it as "a cross of a seven foot long, that
hath an inscription of diverse rowes in it, but the scrip-
ture cannot be read." He adds, "Some say that this
cross was brought ou* of the Holy Churchyard of Lindis-
farne Isle." This cross has disappeared since Leland's
time, but its singular history offers a suggestion which
may help us to understand the discovery of the frag-
ments found in the tower of St. Oswald's.
J. R. BOYLE, F.S.A.
at Jiffarft *Cfcupt Cgitc antr
cBtlfori).
J-ort
'LORD DACRE OF THE NOETH."
j|N the reign of Henry VII., Thomas, ninth
Baron Daore, was one of the keepers of
the peace upon the Marches, and a
trusted servant of the king in various
treaties and truces with Scotland, as his father, Hum-
phrey, Lord Dacre, had been before him. "He imitated
the chivalrous example which his ancestor, Ralph, had
set him a hundred and seventy years before," writes
Jefferson ("Antiquities of Leath Ward "), " in carrying
off in the night-time from Brougham Castle, Elizabeth,
ef Greystoke, the heiress of his superior lord, and who, as
the king's ward, was then in the custody of Henry
Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, who probably himself
intended to marry her." We meet with him first in
Border history as Sir Thomas Dacre, deputy-warden
of the West Marches under his father, in 1494. Next
he appeared in the protracted negotiations for securing
perpetual peace between England and Scotland by a
marriage between Margaret, daughter of Henry VII.,
and the Scottish king, James IV. When these were
completed he was one of the commissioners appointed
to take delivery of the lordships and manors assigned
for securing the princess's jointure. As such he played
his part in the gorgeous pageant which, in the summer
of 1503, accompanied her journey to the wedding. While
she stayed in Newcastle "cam the lord Dacre of the
North, accompanyd of many gentylmen honestly
apoynted, and hys folks arayd in his liveray," who
joined the procession and went with it through
Morpeth, Alnwick, and Berwick to Lamberton, where
James, with a gay and numerous court, was ready to
receive her.
After the accession of Henry VIIL, in immediate
prospect of an outbreak between England and France,
Lord Dacre and another were sent as ambassadors to
Scotland to secure the neutrality of King James. They
did not succeed. The Scottish Monarch had many
grievances and many complaints to make of the conduct
of his brother-in-law, and no sooner had the latter
passed over to Calais than he fitted out a fleet to aid
the French, and made preparations to invade England.
The Earl of Surrey was despatched to the North with
26,000 men to repel his advance, and, arriving in New-
castle on the 30th of August, 1513, was joined by Lord
Dacre and other local men of rank with their tenants
and retainers. Then came the battle of Flodden, and
in that terrible encounter Lord Dacre acted with great
bravery and achieved a great success. (See Monthly
Chronicle, vol. ii., p. 560.) He commanded a body of
reserve, consisting of 1,500 horse, " the bowmen of
Kendal, wearing milk-white coates and red crosses;
and the men of Keswick, Stainmore, Alston Moor, and
Gilsland, chiefly bearing large bills," with whom, at a
critical moment in the fight, he charged the division
commanded by King James in the rear, and turned
the fortunes of the day. It was he also who, next
morning, discovered the body of James among the slain.
Writing to the Privy Council after the battle, he states
that the Scots loved him " worse than any man in Eng-
land," because he found their king slain in the field,
"and thereof advertised my lord of Norfolk by my
writing, and therefore brought the corpse to Berwick and
delivered it to my said lord." He adds that he had burned
and destroyed, from the beginning of the war, six times
more than the Scots ; in the East Marches land for 550
ploughs, and upwards of 42 miles, all laid waste and no
corn sown, while in the West Marches he had destroyed
thirty-four townships.
Lord Dacre, at this time, resided chiefly in North-
umberland, occupying, as occasion served, his castles of
Morpeth and Harbottle, and keeping a watchful eye
upon events across the Border. While so employed, he
was able to be of service to the widowed Queen of Scot-
land, whose position in the sister kingdom had become
critical and perilous. In less than a year after her
husband's death she had secretly married the Earl of
Angus, and, being deprived of sovereign power upon the
discovery thereof, she prepared to fly to her brother the
king of England for protection. Lord Dacre received her
in September, 1515, at his castle of Harbottle, where,
within a few days after her hasty arrival, she was prema-
turely delivered of a child. From thence, as soon as her
condition permitted, she was removed to Morpeth Castle,
which Dacre had "grandly decked" for her reception,
and there remained till the beginning of April, when,
accompanied by her host, she set forward on her journey
to the English Court.
For the next three or four years Scotland was divided
into two or more factions, each striving hard for the
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
155
mastery, and disturbing the peace of the country by
fierce quarrels and'lawless deeds of violence. In 1520, the
truce then expiring had almost reached its term before
the Government had taken steps to obtain its renewal.
Thereupon, Ridpath tells us, the youthful King of Scot-
land wrote to Lord Dacre, " warden of all the English
Marches," residing at Harbottle Castle, informing him
that the great domestic affairs of the nation made it
impracticable to send ambassadors to England, and
entreating him to obtain a truce for a year, promising
meanwhile to send an embassy to treat for a peace more
enduring. Four years of intermittent truce and trucu-
lence followed, and it was not until the autumn of 1525
that Dacre and five other English commissioners were
able to conclude a definite treaty of peace.
Among the State papers of the period are interesting
letters, written by Lord Dacre of the North, to King
Henry and the Privy Council, intermingled with favour-
able reports from others of his bravery in the field and
his skill in conference. Extracts from his ledgers and
correspondence, while residing at Morpeth Castle, are
printed in Hodgson's "History of Northumberland," and
in Hearne's " Chronicles of Otterbourne and Whetham-
stede." From them we obtain valuable information of
the state and manners of the country, of the perpetual
worry and disquiet in which Scottish troubles kept thu
whole of the Borderland, from Tweedmouth to Solway
Frith, and of the part which he sustained in its improve-
ment and pacification.
Lord Dacre died in 1525, and was buried beside his
wife (she died in 1516) under a rich altar tomb in the
south aisle of the Choir of Lanercost. His eldest son,
William— known in History as William Lord Dacre, of
Gilsland and Greystoke — married Elizabeth, daughter of
the fourth Earl of Shrewsbury, and took a leading part in
the military and political movements of his time Several
of his letters upon Border life and warfare are printed in
Nicolson and Burn's "History of Westmoreland and
Cumberland," and others are summarised in the Calendars
of State Papers.
$trj. m. fL.
RECTOR OF STANHOPE.
West Sheele, or West Brooinshields, in the parish of
Lanchester, was for many generations the inheritance of
the family of Darnell. William Darnell occurs as of
"Wester Brootnsheles " in 1567, and it is probable that
the family were in possession of the estate much earlier,
for Surtees, in his " History of Durham," describes them
as being " indigenous as the Greenwells."
A pedigree of the family, recorded at the College of
Arms in 1832, commences with William Darnell of West
Sheele, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Nicholas
Shuttleworth, of Elvet, in the city of Durham, and died
in 1779, aged 86. Two of the sons of this marriage came
to Newcastle and entered into business— George, who died
unmarried in 1758, and William, who rose to a good posi-
tion in the town as a merchant. The latter married, in
1763, Frances, daughter of Michael Dawson, of Newcastle,
and relict of William Cook, of the same place. Their
only son, William Nicholas Darnell, born March H, 1776,
is the subject of this sketch.
W. N. Darnell received his early education in the
Grammar School of his native town. The Rev. Edward
Hussey Adamson, whose admirable notices of eminent
men educated in that famous school are an invaluable
storehouse of information to the local biographer, tells us
that, at the end of his course in Newcastle, young Mr.
Darnell was elected to the Durham Scholarship at Corpus
Christi College, Oxford, and in due time became fellow
and tutor, graduating B.A. in 1796, M.A. in 1800, and
B.D. in 1808, and that among his pupils at college was
the Rev. John Keble, author of the "Christian Year,"
who, in later life, paid him the compliment of dedicating
to him a volume of sermons, " in ever grateful memory of
helps and warnings received from him in early youth."
In 1809, Archdeacon Thorp presented him to the Rectory
of St. Mary-le-Bow, in the City of Durham ; the following
year he was appointed one of the preachers at Whitehall,
and about the same time the Duke of Northumberland
appointed him his chaplain.
Mr. Darnell's father, the Newcastle merchant, died
April 13, 1813, and was buried in his parish church of St.
Andrew. Near the entrance of the chancel of that vener-
able edifice, visitors read upon a mural monument the
following tribute of filial affection : —
In the burial-place of this chapelry lie the remains of
William Darnell, merchant-adventurer, a man whose
strict integrity, sound understanding, and extensive in-
formation on commercial subjects, joined to a warm and
benevolent heart, secured to him through life the con-
fidence and esteem of numerous friends. Likewise of
Frances, his wife, of whom it is not too much to say that
she was a pattern of Christian graces to all around her.
They lived for more than forty years in bonds of the most
tender affection. Their good deeds speak for them on
earth ; their trust was that, through the merits of their
Redeemer, they should not live in vain.
Some time before his decease the elder Darnell had
alienated the estate of West Broomshields to the Green-
wells, but he died wealthy ; and by his will, after making
provision for two surviving daughters, he left the bulk of
his property to his son. The latter remained in charge
of St. Mary-le-Bow till 1815, when he obtained from
Bishop Barrington the living of Stockton-on-Tees. Then,
resigning the Durham rectory, and his fellowship of
Corpus Christi, he married Elizabeth, daughter of the
Rev. William Bowe, headmaster of Scorton School, and
took up his residence in the Tees-side town. From this
period his rise in the Church was rapid, and his prefer-
ments were substantial. The year following his mar-
riage Bishop Barrington presented him to the ninth stall
in Durham Cathedral. In 1820, the Dean and Chapter
gave him the living of St. Margaret's, Durham, which
156
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/Aoril
t ISUO.
Mr. Phillpotts, his friend and predecessor, had resigned
for that of Stanhope ; the following year the bishop pro-
moted him to the sixth stall, and in 1827 he obtained
from the Dean and Chapter the vicarage of Norham-on-
Tweed. Nor was this all. By the marriage of his sister
Lucy to the Rev. William Munton, son of the Rev.
Anthony Munton, curate of St. Andrew's, Newcastle,
and his wife Dorothy Stephenson (first cousin to the
mother of Lady Eldon), a friendly relationship was estab-
lished among the Stephensons, Surteeses, and Scotts,
which tended to his advantage. It brought him under
the notice of the all powerful Lord Chancellor, who, ap-
preciating his merits, bestowed upon him the Crown
living of Lastingham, in the North Riding of Yorkshire.
He had resigned Stockton upon receiving the appoint-
ment to St. Margaret's, but this Yorkshire living he per-
mitted himself to hold along with his Durham prefer-
ments.
Between Mr. Darnell and the Rev. Henry Phillpotts
;in intimate friendship had existed from early youth.
They were boys together at Corpus Christi College, and
there was a family tie that helped to tighten their bonds,
for Mr. Phillpotts had married a niece of Lord Eldon.
In 1830, Lord Eldon raised Mr. Phillpotts from the
rectory of Stanhope to the bishopric of Exeter ; and this
high promotion enabled him to assist his friend Mr.
Darnell. Mr. Darnell resigned into his hands the sixth
stall at Durham, and received in lieu of it the coveted
living of Stanhope— one of the richest in the kingdom.
To that classic retreat, hallowed by the memories of
illustrious predecessors — Bishops Tunstall and Butler,
Keene and Thurlow — he removed his family, and there
he passed the remainder of his days. A trusteeship of
Bishop Crewe's charity, bestowed upon him in 1826,
enabled him to exchange occasionally the leafy shades
of Stanhope for the bracing breezes of Bamborough Castle,
and thus his life was prolonged beyond the usual span.
When he was eighty-eight years old, he lost his aged
partner, and a twelvemonth later, on the 19th June, 1865,
he also expired. He had been more than half a century
a beneficed clergyman in the diocese of Durham; for
thirty-five years rector of its richest living, and for some
time a canon of the Cathedral. It was, therefore, fitting
and proper that his remains should rest in the Cathedral
yard besides those of Archdeacon Basire, Dean Wadding-
ton, the Rev. James Raine, and other dignitaries whose
lives and works have helped to make and adorn the history
of the sacred pile which overshadows their tombs. An
inscribed grave cover preserves his memory at Durham ;
a street name perpetuates it in Newcastle.
"Mr. Darnell," writes Mr. Adamson, in the little book
before quoted, "was an accomplished scholar, a sound
Churchman, and able divine, whose judgment and
opinion, from his long experience, carried great weight in
the diocese; a gentleman of refined taste and feeling, a
patron of the fine arts, and himself, indeed, no mean
artist." The late Lord Ravensworth, publishing in 1858
a translation of "The Odes of Horace," names him as
one of three friends from whose critical acumen he had
derived advantage and received encouragement. His own
contributions to literature were chiefly theological. -He
published, in 1816, a volume containing eighteen sermons ;
edited, in 1818, an abridgment of Jeremy Taylor's "Life
of Christ " ; and issued at various times sermons preached
on special occasions ; " Aurea Verba," an arrangement of
the greater part of the Book of Proverbs, under general
heads; the "Wisdom of Solomon," with preface and
notes ; and a classified edition of the Psalter for private
devotion. But the book by which he is best known is
" The Correspondence of Isaac Basire, D.D., Archdeacon
of Northumberland, and Prebendary of Durham, in the
reigns of Charles I. and Charles II., with a Memoir of his
Life " (for an epitome of which see the Monthly Chronicle,
vol. ii., page 193). A ballad of 212 lines from his pen,
entitled "The King of the Picts and St. Cuthbert," illus-
trates Dr. Raine's sketch of the saint in his " History of
North Durham " ; a charming little song written by him
at Tynemouth in 1810, entitled " On the Loss of a Vessel
called the Northern Star," and commencing
. The Northern Star
Sail'd over the bar,
Bound to the Baltic Sea,
enjoyed a singular popularity ; while "Lines Suggested
by the Death of Vice-Admiral Lord Collingwood, by
W. N. Darnell," were reprinted by John Adamson in
1842, as one of the Newcastle Typographical Society's
tracts. He was a fellow of the London Society of
Antiquaries, and one of the originators of the New-
castle society. To him and two others were entrusted
the funds raised by public subscription for the purpose of
illustrating Snrtees's " History of Durham." Lastly, he
gave the site, and contributed liberally to the funds for
erecting a church at Thornley, in the parish of Wolsing-
ham, and founded the "Darnell School Prize Fund,"
for promoting the study of the Book of Common Prayer
in parochial schools.
Robert
A CHCKCH DIGNITABT AT THE REFORMATION.
At the beginning of the sixteenth century a family of
Davills or Davells came into prominence in Newcastle.
Their name occurs in local history so early as 1355, when
Alice Davill was elected prioress of the Nunnery of
St. Bartholomew, in this town ; and it may have been,
though there is no evidence either way, that this lady
was of the same ancestry. Actively engaged in commercial
life, they were persons of wealth and position. William
Davell, the head of the family, served the office of
Sheriff of the town in the municipal year 1497-98, his
son George was Sheriff for the year 1521-22, and Mayor
in 1545-46 ; his daughter, named, like the old abbess,
April
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
157
Alice, was the wife of Alderman Edward Baxter, four
times Mayor, and, later on, owner of the manor of
Hebburn ; his son Robert was the Church dignitary
whose name heads this chapter.
According to Anthony Wood, Robert Davell was
educated at Oxford, where, on the last day of October,
1S25, he was admitted Bachelor of Canon Law. In the
same year, Thomas Horsley, Mayor, provided by his will
for the endowment of a free grammar school in Newcastle,
and his municipal brethren, adding 'a rent charge of four
hundred marks per annum to assist the stipend of the
master, made " Robert Davell, clerk," one of the trustees
of their bounty. Mr. Davell was now on the high road
to preferment. He had been appointed one of the eight
prebends of the collegiate church of Norton, near Stock-
ton, and in 1527 he obtained from the Convent of
Durham the vicarage of Bedlington. In 1531 he
exchanged with Roland Swinburne, M.A., the stall
at Norton for the mastership of the Virgin Mary
Hospital in Newcastle. Anthony Wood states that in
the same year he was Archdeacon of Northumberland—
"being then or soon after LL.D." Thus in the short
space of four years he had been promoted to a vicarage,
a mastership, and an archdeaconry.
But perilous times for the Church and churchmen
were approaching. Deeper and deeper went the quarrel
between Henry VIII. and the Pope, until, in 1534, the
King proclaimed his independence of papal authority
and assumed the office of supreme head of the Church.
Archdeacon Davell accepted the situation and ordered
himself accordingly. The rebellion known as the
" Pilgrimage of Grace " broke out, and set the North-
Country on fire. Dr. Davell still held his own. He
evidently did not believe that any great change could
be effected by the capricious monarch to whose ecclesias-
tical headship he transferred his spiritual allegiance.
For in October, 1537, when the lesser monasteries of the
kingdom were being suppressed, and their revenues con-
fiscated, he signed an indenture which was to last for
ever ! By this document Roland Harding, prior of the
Black Friars in Newcastle, covenanted with him that for
the sum of £6 18s. the Friars every day "from the date
hereof for evermore " should pray for the souls of William
Davell, John Brigham, and others. In little over a year
from the date at which the prior signed that deed the
house was dissolved, the brethren dispersed, and their
property seized to the use of the King.
The Reformation made no alteration in the ecclesiastical
status of Dr. Davell. Adapting himself to the changes
of ritual, he pursued his course — upward and onward.
Retaining his vicarage of Bedlington, the mastership
of the Virgin Mary Hospital, Newcastle, and the Arch-
deaconry of Northumberland, he was appointed, on the
29th of May, 1541, prebendary of Holm, in York
Cathedral ; his name occurs, also, about the same time,
as a canon of Exeter, and prebend of the collegiate
church of Lanchester. With all these preferments in
hand, it is not to be supposed that he could properly
discharge the duties appertaining to them. A Royal
Commission appointed in February, 1546, to inquire
into the condition of colleges, chantries, &c., in North-
umberland and Durham, found that the Virgin Mary
Hospital was entirely neglected by its well-endowed
master.
John Leland, the antiquary, travelling through Durham
and Northumberland on his "Laboryeuse Journey and
Serche for Englandes Antiquitees," received from Dr.
Davell certain information respecting the neighbourhood
of Newcastle, the Picts Wall, and the families of Delaval
and Davell. The cautious old traveller could not accept
all that his informant communicated, and although he
wrote it down carefully in his elaborate manuscripts,
he took care to qualify it by the neutralising state-
ment — • " As Mr. Dr. Davelle sayith, but sufficiently
provid not."
Dr. Davell died in the early part of the year 1558.
He had lived through many changes, and held the
chief of his preferments to the end. Of him it might
be said as of Simon Alleyn, the vicar of Bray— "In
the reign of Henry VIII. he was Catholic till the
Reformation ; in the reign of Edward VI. he was
Calvinist ; in the reign of Mary he was Papist." If
Dr. Davell had not died in the same year as Queen
Mary, even the end of the quotation might have been
applicable to him — "in the reign of Elizabeth he was
Protestant." No matter who governed the realm,
or who ruled the Church, he was determined to live
and die Archdeacon of Northumberland and Vicar of
Bedlington.
j&tc
AN OCTOGENARIAN HERO.
High up on the wall in the north aisle of St. Nicholas'
Church, Newcastle, near the north entrance, is a dingy
monument, bearing a long Latin inscription, which may
be translated thus : —
In memory of Alexander Davison, knight, and Ann,
daughter of Ralph Cock, his dearest wife, by whom he
had five sons— Thomas Davison, knight ; Ralph Davison,
of Thornley ; Samuel Davison, of Wmgate Grange ;
Joseph, a wise captain (in the defence of this town against
the Scotch rebels he fought stoutly, even unto death, and
is buried hard by) ; Edward, a merchant, who died un-
married ; also two daughters— Barbara, married first to
Ralph Calverley, and then to Thomas Riddell of Fenham,
in the county of Northumberland, knight ; and Margaret,
married to Henry Lambton, knight. This Alexander, at
the time when that most treacherous rebellion was in pro-
gress, ever faithful to the good king and the royal cause,
suffered the loss of his property with great fortitude ;
and at last, during the siege of this town of Newcastle,
while fighting courageously the attacking army of the
Scotch rebels (almost eighty years of age) he bravely
breathed his last. On the eleventh day of the month of
November, in the year from the Incarnation of Our Lord
1644, his eldest son, Thomas Davison, knight, erected this
monument.
158
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{US?
The history of the Scottish invasion of Northumberland
in 1640, and of the siege of Newcastle in 1644, has been
told in these pages so often in connection with Vicar
Alvey, Robert Bewicke, John Blakiston, the Carrs, the
Coles, and others, that, in dealing with Alexander Davi-
son, another hero of the period, it seems desirable to vary
somewhat the style and method of treatment, and to
adopt a form which shall omit the repetitions of histori-
cal illustration and avoid the prolixity of biographical
narrative.
Alexander Davison, born in Newcastle in 1565, came of
a family of respectable skinners and glovers who had
long been domiciled in the parish of St. John. Nothing
certain is known of his early days, except that, in 1592,
his name appears in the Register of St. John's as a
surety at the baptism of Jean, daughter of Thomas Davi-
son, skinner and glover, and again, in 1603, at the
christening of a son of the same parents, named, after
himself, Alexander. On the 28th of August, 1597, he was
married at St. Nicholas' Church to Ann, daughter of
Ralph Cock, merchant — sister of the better known Ralph
Cock who became sheriff, alderman, and mayor of New-
castle, and the father of four handsome and well-dowered
daughters. Thenceforward his career, chronologically
arranged, ran as follows : —
1611. At Michaelmas, Sir George Selby " the king's
host," was elected Mayor of Newcastle for the third time,
and Alexander Davison was appointed Sheriff. The de
cay of the local hospitals had been under consideration
in the early part of the year, and Mr. Davison was one of
seven members of the Corporate body appointed to nego-
tiate for letters patent with the object of reorganising
these useful institutions upon a wider basis.
1621. In a subsidy roll of this year, Mr. Davison is
taxed for goods in the parish of St. Nicholas at the same
rate as his brother-in-law, William Hall, Henry Chap-
man (the Mayor), and Alderman Warmouth — indicating
that he was a merchant of good position.
1622. A special Court of the Hostmen's Company of
Newcastle appointed Mr. Davison one of a committee
of seven to regulate the production and sale of coal
on the Tyne, and to prevent abuses in the loading of
colliers.
1626. In the summer of this year piratical Dunkirkers,
hovering about the North-East coast, brought the
traffic of the Tyne to a standstill. Letters of marque
were granted to Mr. Davison, and three others, under
authority of which they fitted out the "Alexander," of
240 tons, to act as a convoy for the Newcastle coal
fleet, and protect it from foreign rovers. Still further
to prevent depredations at sea, the king prepared to
fit out ships of war, expressing a belief that "owners
of coal pits, the hostmen of Newcastle, owners of ships,
and merchants, buyers and sellers of Newcastle coal,"
would be willing to contribute and pay so much a
chaldron towards the cost of adequate protection. Of
this "freewill offering" (6d. a chaldron) he appointed
Mr. Davison collector. At the same time a special
contribution was demanded from the seaports and
maritime counties to provide means of strengthening
the navy. It fell to the lot of Mr. Davison (who had
been elected Mayor of Newcastle, and appointed an
alderman), to inform his Majesty that the proportion
which the town was called upon to bear — viz., £5,000 —
could not be raised. The loan money assessed on
Newcastle (£263 10s.) had been paid to the collector
"at once, no one refusing," but the other sum it was
out of their power to contribute.
1629. A house in the Close, at the foot of Tuthill
Stairs, occupied by the Rev. Yeldard Alvey, and soon
to be vacated by him for the Vicarage of Newcastle,
passed into Mr. Davison's hands. He had already
purchased the manor of Blakiston, near Stockton, The
Gore, at Thornley, and lands, &c., at Wingate Grange,
in the county palatine.
1638. Alderman Davison was elected Mayor for a
second term. By this time the North-Country was
agitated and the whole kingdom excited by the
threatening demeanour of the Scots. Gutw and stores
were sent to Newcastle, and the authorities were ordered
to put the town into a state of defence. On the 15th
November, the Mayor and his brethren wrote to Sir
Thomas Riddell, the Recorder, then in London, stating
that they had been already at excessive charges in
repairing walls, &c., and the town was so much in debt,
and the revenues were so greatly reduced by the small
trade of ships, that, if they were put to any further
charges, "neither the common purse, nor our particulars,
are able to support it."
1639. In April, the king came to Newcastle with a
considerable army. Anticipating his arrival, the Mayor
issued this curious proclamation : —
Whereas his Majesty intends shortly, God willing, to
be at this town, and it is very fitting and necessary that
the streets should be clean and sweet ; it is therefore
ordered by the Mayor, Aldermen, Mr. Sheriff, and the
rest of the Common Council, that every inhabitant shall
make the front of his house and shop clean presently, and
so from time to time keep the same ; and if any shall be
negligent herein, he or she forfeit for every such default
6s. 8d., to be levied by distress of the offender's goods,
rendering to the parties the overplus, if any be.
(Signed)
While his Majesty was in Newcastle, " magnificently
entertained, " he conferred the honour of knighthood upon
the Mayor and Town Clerk. Aft«r his departure, there
wag copious letter-writing from Sir Alexander to the
Privy Council about Puritans and Covenanters, their
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
159
coming and going, their meetings and sayings — all
tending to show that he was a most energetic and
devoted Royalist.
1640. Battle of Newburn, and peaceful entry of the
Covenanters into Newcastle. Puritan John Fenwick, in
that rambling tract of his, entitled "Christ Ruling in
the Midst of His Enemies," insinuates that when the
Scots entered the town Sir Alexander Davison, Sir John
Marley, and others took to their heels : —
Then there was flying indeed to purpose ; the swiftest
flight was the greatest honour to the Newcastilian new-
dubd knights ; a good Boat, a paire of Oares, a good
horse (especially that would carry two men) was more
worth than the valour or honour of new knighthood. . .
His Excellency Generall Lesley, accompanied with the
Lords and divers Gentlemen, rode into Newcastle about
noon, where they were met upon the bridge by the Mayor
and some few Aldermen who were not so nimble at Sight
as Sir Marloe, Sir Daveson, and Sir Ridles, and others
that were conscious of their guilt of their good service
against the Scots, for which they got the honour of
Knighthood.
1642. Sir Alexander Davison and Sir John Marley ruled
with a high hand, and made themselves exceedingly
obnoxious to Fenwick and the Puritan party. In a paper
of charges preferred this year against them and their
Koyalist colleagues, it is alleged that they compelled
divers inhabitants of the town to enter into bonds for
great sums of money to answer at the Council Table
for going to hear sermons ; cast some into prison for
doing the same ; threatened to root all the Puritans out
of the place ; countenanced and allowed Papists in the
town and commended them as good subjects, better to
be trusted than Puritans; compelled divers to "worke
and muster upon the Soboth daies to fill upp trenches
neere the towne, conceaveing that to bee the best waie to
discover Puritans " ; enjoined the ministers in the town
to preach against the Scots, and to defame their under-
taking as rebellious, &c., &c. These charges had the
desired effect. Parliament, on the 20th September,
passed resolutions ordering Sir Alexander and four other
leading Royalists to be sent for as delinquents.
1644. Siege of Newcastle. In the tedious negotiations
that preceded the final assault and storming of the town
Sir Alexander Davison took a prominent part. His
name is attached to the famous letter in which the
Royalists declared that they held Newcastle for the
king, and his son Thomas was one of the hostages sent
into the Scottish camp as security for the safety of
commissioners deputed by Lesley to make what proved
to be fruitless efforts for a peaceful surrender. In the
final struggle on the 19th October, he and another of his
sons, Captain Joseph Davison, were mortally wounded.
The captain was buried in St. Nicholas' Church on the
25th of October ; the brave old knight his father was laid
beside him four days later. Apparently ignorant of his
death, the House of Commons, on the 19th November
following, included his name in a list of twenty-seven
leading men of Newcastle who were ordered to be sent up
to London in safe custody ; and later, his three surviving
sons, like other Royalist gentry, were obliged to com-
pound for the estates bequeathed to them. The eldest,
Sir Thomas, who had married a daughter of Sir
William Lambton, inherited Blakiston ; Ralph, united
to Timothea Belasise, received the Thornley property ;
while Samuel, who married, as third husband, a daughter
of Bishop Cosin, obtained the manor of Wingate Grange.
For many generations, the Davisons of Blakiston ranked
among the leading gentry of the county palatine ; in the
fine old parish church of Norton, their beginnings and
endings and the good deeds they did are commemorated
upon monumental stone, and in enduring brass.
at
JJOOKING at Elsdon from the ridge above
Raylees, near Knightside, we are agreeably
impressed by the situation and aspect of
the village. The more so if we have
travelled over Ottercaps Hill and grown weary of gazing
at the moorland landscape. We see before us a quiet
pastoral valley which, in its "green felicity," contrasts
very strongly with the dun-coloured heights around it,
some of which are from a thousand to thirteen hundred
feet above the sea-level. On the northern slope of this
valley lies the village of Elsdon. A moorland burn from
the north, after passing Dunshield, makes a bend to the
south-east, sweeping round to the south, and then to the
west, half enclosing the village. We can trace its course
by the pine trees which rear their dark green heads above
its peat-stained waters.
Our gaze is insensibly drawn in the first place to the
fortified rectory-house — Elsdon Castle, as it is called, a
stronghold of the ancient lords of Redesdale. It stands
at the head of the village overlooking the little ravine
which protects it on the north and east. These dark-
grey walls cast the spell of antiquity over the whole scene.
Somewhat sombre is their influence, though nature has
endeavoured to mitigate it by covering the south front
with ivy. Three at least of the reverend tenants of the
tower were persons of some note : — The Rev. C. Dodgson,
afterwards Bishop of Ossory; Archdeacon Singleton,
grandson of the celebrated antiquary, Captain Grose;
and the Rev. Louis Dutens (or Duchillon), A.M.,
F.R.S., historiographer to the king, and honorary mem-
ber of the French Academy of Belles Lettres, author of
" Discoveries of the Ancients attributed to the Moderns,"
and "Memoirs of a Traveller now in Retirement."
Beyond the tower, on the opposite side of the burn, are
the mote-hills, their huge earthen ramparts distinctly
visible. With what interest we regard these diluvial
mounds which have been shaped so laboriously by the
early inhabitants of the district into their present form 1
Imagination conjures up to our gaze the assembled
160
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
chieftains deliberating on matters of importance, ad-
ministering justice, and promulgating their rude laws.
Imagination, however, may be wrong, as in so many other
instances where it acts as a substitute for definite know-
ledge. In thesn mounds, with their earthworks, we have
probably but a stronghold or camp of prehistoric times.
A little lower down the slope than the pele tower is the
church of St. Cuthbert, of which we can see the west wall,
the bell turret, and the slated roof of the nave. It was
founded in Norman times about the year 1100, and still
retains in its west gable two responds of that period. The
maiapartof the present building, however, dates from
about 1400. Some years ago a large number of skeletons
were discovered beneath the foundations of the north wall
of the nave and in the churchyard adjoining, packed in
the smallest possible space, the skulls of one row resting
within the thigh-bones of another. As the bodies had
evidently been buried at the same time, shortly before the
rebuilding of the church, it is believed that these skeletons
are the remains of warriors who were slain at Otterburn
in 1388.
From the green churchyard, with its crowded head-
stones, we direct our gaze to the village itself, which has
manifestly been very much larger at one time than it is at
present. It consists, roughly speaking, of a double line
of buildings separated by a large shelving green several
acres in extent. Conspicuous on the east side is the Crown
Temperance Hotel, with its long, low, plastered front.
It bears carved on its doorhead the name of its former
proprietor, "John Gallon," and the date of its erection
1729. To this Elsdon family belonged John Gallon, a
famous otter hunter in his day, who was drowned in the
river Lugar, South Ayrshire, on the 16th of Julv, 1873,
and is interred in the churchyard here. Continuous with
this old house are some of the better class houses of the
village, in the midst of them being a Methodist Chapel.
At the extreme south corner of the green is the ancient
pinfold for confining stray cattle. On the west side of
the green, the eye rests on the blue-slated roofs and
gables of the other line of cottages, and on the pastures
behind them, dotted with cattle and sheep. Lower down
are some old thatched cottages in a dilapidated condition.
A few stunted thorns by the roadside carry the eye down
to the burn which is crossed by a little stone bridge of a
single arch. Away to the west the valley opens out
towards Overacres and Otterburn.
The charm of the village is its seclusion. Here at any
rate you may feel yourself safe from the whistle of the
steam engine. In this valley one may hear many an old-
fashioned saying and quaint turn of speech, and take part
in the observance of time-honoured customs which are
only remembered in these out-of-the-way places. It is
not many years since the midsummer bonfires through
which cattle were driven to protect them from
disease were to be seen burning on Elsdon Green.
It is difficult to believe that the humorous strictures
of Mr. Chatt on the village folk in his poem
" At Elsdcn " have any foundation in fact. Hospi-
tality is one of the last of the old - world virtues to
leave a remote village like this. Suspicion of strangers,
thi
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
161
if indeed that is really a characteristic of the Elsdon folk,
may easily be explained as a habit inherited from their
ancestors, who were liable to be culled on at any time to
defend their homes from unwelcome visitors. A poet
who arrives at a village after dark, hungry and tired, and
wet through to the skin, is hardly in a proper frame of
mind to appreciate the charms of the place. A verse like
the following is a very likely outcome of such subjective
conditions : —
Hae ye ivver been at Elsdon ? —
The world's unfinished neuk ;
It stands amang the hungry hills,
An' wears a frozen leuk.
The Elsdon folk, like diein' stegs,
At every stranger stare,
An' hather broth an' curlew eggs
Ye '11 get for supper there.
For many months in the year, Elsdon can scarcely be a
desirable place to live in. One has only to read the ex-
perience of the Rev. C. Dodgson, who was rector here from
1762 to 1765, to learn what discomforts and hardships are
endured by the inhabitants of the village and district in
winter. In summer, however, when the heath is in bloom
on the hills, or in autumn, when the rime which has fallen
through the night is yet white on the bracken, Elsdon
may justly be described as a picturesque village.
The accompanying engraving is reproduced from a
water-colour drawing by Mr. Robert Wood.
W. W. TOMLINSOK.
JOLLY has stood in the Low Street, North
Shields, through all the changes and vicis-
situdes incidental to the development and
decay of an old seaport town over the past seventy or
eighty years. And who is there, far and wide, that
does not know her majestic form from personal observa-
tion ? or, not knowing her, has not heard of her attrac-
tive charms by popular repute? So widespread and
universal is her fair fame that old friendships have been
renewed and cemented, mingled associations of pleasure
and pain revived, and mutual introduction and inter-
course effected, by the mere mention of the magic
cognomen of the Wooden Dolly in almost every
portion of the world into which the hardy Shields sailor
has introduced his Tyneside dialect. Some there are who
will be ready to dispute the fact that the Wooden Dolly
has "braved the battle and the breeze" all through
those long years. True, she has been patched, cleaned up.
painted, renovated, re-fixed, and re-modelled. In fact, su
near had her venerable form approached utter demolition
atone time by a species of "Dolly worship " that seized
hold upon our superstitious sons of Neptune and induced
162
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f April
them to chip off pieces of the figure to carry over the
main with them as a sort of charm against the perils
to which their calling exposed them, that many be-
lieve that she was, some score years or so back, rejuve-
nated and reimbued with all her stately disposition of
drapery and other feminine adornments from a "break-
ing-lip yard,"
It is sufficient to state that there has been a Wooden
Dolly standing in the position of the present one, uninter-
ruptedly, over very many years, with the exception, so far
as can be learned, of an hour or so upon an occasion when
some carousing shipwrights and naval reserve men carried
her away, "lock, stock, and
barrel," and placed her at the
foot of the Wooden Bridge
Bank, at a time when there
was but a very narrow road-
way there, doubtless as a pro-
test against the passage of ve-
hicular traffic along the narrow
and circuitous thoroughfares
branching off on either hand.
Dolly's origin, and the puroose
which she wasintended to serve
when she was placed there,
have always been debatable
points. The most natural
theory is that long ago, when
the Custom House Quay — more popularly known as the
Wooden Dolly Quay — was formed, the Dolly was placed
at its entrance to preserve the right of way, and to
prevent the introduction of vehicular traffic.* Every-
thing round about seems to have incorporated itself
with the personality of the Dolly. Custom House Quay
has become Wooden Dolly Quay ; Custom House Steps
have become Wooden Dolly Steps ; and the Prince of
Wales Hotel, within reach of Dolly's right arm, if she
were able to utilise it for the purpose of slaking her
thirst, has lost its royal identity in the course oi the
popular homage, and is now much better known as the
Wooden Dolly " public-hoose. "
Dolly has always been a sort of landmark by which
to direct the inquiring stranger to his destination. She
was at one time, too, turned to practical account by being
ruthlessly subjected to the indignity of having a warp
turned round her ankles for the purpose of drawing heavy
spars and baulks of timber up the quay. Her career has
* A correspondent of the Weekly Chronicle (William Street,
North Shields) confirms this theory, adding; one or two other
items of interest. "lam," he says, "unable to give the exact
date, but, about the year 1811, Mr. Alexander Bartlernan owned
an old collier brig that was being put into dock for repairs, and
while here the figure-head was taken off and placed where the pre-
sent Dolly stands. The purpose for which it was placed there was
to prevent vehicles backing down the quay and causing inconveni-
ence to business people at that place. There were previously
posts, or a bar, across the quay. At the time the figure was
first placed in position there was a small garden plot on the
Custom House Quay, and also trees growing upon it— not trees
that grow in a flower pot, but trees nearly as high as the house
tape."
been in a great measure made noteworthy by the affection
and endearments that have been lavished upon her by the
seafaring population. Sailors coming home after long
voyages, after having got " half -seas over, "have frequently
been known to h'ug and kiss her as fervently as they
would an ancient female relative. Others who have suc-
ceeded in getting into a really "heavy sea," and, stagger-
ing along under all canvas, have rolled up against her,
have been known to "sheer off" with an oath ; but imme-
diately afterwards, on discovering their mistake, have
pulled up with a lurch and a " Hollo, old gal, ish't you aa's
broached ? Well, hoo ye gettin' on, eh ? Come an' hev a
drink, old gal !" Dolly proving obdurate to the allure-
ments of gallant Jack, occasions have been known where
he, with characteristic determination to " do the amiable, "
has entered the house at the corner, and, returning with
a glass of steaming spirits, has poured its contents over
her upturned face. Others in a like predicament, who
have not been favoured with her personal acquaintance,
have frequently ordered her to "shiver her timbers."
And so the fun has gone on over a longer time than the
proverbial " oldest inhabitant " can remember.
Although young children have always regarded Dolly
with a certain amount of awe, and their parents have held
her in respect and veneration, the "hobbledehoy" has
frequently had to be taken to task for exercising his
natural propensity for slashing and carving at everything
with his pocket-knife ; and so often was her aquiline
nose shaved off flat with her face that it was found neces-
sary to impose a fine on a youth who had despoiled her.
After this salutary lesson, Dolly underwent a somewhat
rough and unsurgical operation that resulted in her
appealing the following morning with a metal nose, which
was screwed into its place, and has to this day defeated
the efforts of her implacable enemy, the boy with a
knife.
Public attention was attracted towards Dolly to an
unusual degree awhile ago. It arose from the fact
that mine host of the adjoining hostelry had
taken practical steps to have her placed in a state of
becoming repair, and to that end had engaged workmen
to fill in the decayed and mutilated portions of her
figure with cement, during which unnatural process
she was made to accept the prevailing fashion as to the
arrangement of her drapery by the addition of an
"improver." Her new dress of emerald green gave
unqualified satisfaction to the greater portion of the
residents in the neighbourhood, who evinced the liveliest
interest in the proceedings. Dolly, if left alone, is now
in condition to last for many a year to come.
April!
1890.1
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
163
"SCfte Suite at
AMONGST the Durham notables of the last
century not the least remarkable was Thomas
French, better known as the "Duke of
Baubleshire, " who died on the 16th of May, 1796, in
Durham Workhouse, at the ripe ape of 85. The Duke
of Baubleshire was such an "institution" in the city of
St. Cuthbert that his portrait was lithographed and pub-
lished long before he died. His grace assumed the title
of his own accord, and without any bogus patent, as was
the case with his townsman, Baron Brown, whose history
has been given in the Monthly Chronicle, 1889, page 433.
When he assumed the title, he mounted a coloured paper
star on the breast of his coat — though that garment was
known as a spencer when his grace was in the flesh. As
a further mark of his quality, he wore a cockade in his
hat, while a liberal display of brass curtain rings on his
fingers completed his outfit.
It is difficult to conjecture, at this distance of time, the
origin of Thomas French's title. No doubt he assumed it
with the decline of his understanding, until which time
he was said to have been an industrious working man,
supporting himself by honest labour. French, in right of
his imaginary dukedom, publicly asserted his claims to
immense possessions. It was his usual custom to stop
and accost every one he knew, or could introduce himself
to, on points of business connected with the vast Bauble-
shire estates. Though at no time master of a shilling, he
incessantly complained of having been defrauded of large
amounts in cash and bank bills. He rarely saw a valuable
horse, or a handsome carriage, without claiming it, and
insisted on his fancied rights so peremptorily and per-
tinaciously as to be often exceedingly annoying to the
possessors of the property in dispute. His grace, how-
ever, was a " chartered libertine " in matters relating to
property, and his extraordinary conduct was generally
tolerated with good humour. He accordingly made
charges of misappropriation against individuals of all
ranks and conditions. Nor did he make any secret of his
intimate and frequent correspondence with the king,
" Farmer George," on the subject of raising men to carry
on the war, and other important affairs of State
His grace has been immortalised by the pen of the poet
as well as the pencil of the artist. The following, no
doubt by one of the " Durham Wags " (see page 301),
may do duty for his epitaph : —
Among the peers without compeer,
A noble lord of Parliament,
Upon his " country's good " intent,
Through Durham daily took his walk,
And talk'd, "Ye gods, how he did talk."
His private riches, how immense !
His public virtue, how intense !
Pre-eminent of all the great,
His mighty wisdom ruled the State !
His claims to high consideration
Brought deeper into debt the nation.
Was he not, then, a Statesman ? What
Else could he be? for I know not.
JirrrUm iltmtct
tftc
HE Brown Linnet (Fringilla cannabina, Bew.
*°k) *s a commou au(l well-known resident in
the Northern Counties, as it is, indeed, over
the whole kingdom. It is a favourite cage bird, and lias
quite a number of common names, most of which are
derived from its changes of plumage and nesting places.
The three species of linnets which are residents in North-
umberland and Durham are the brown linnet, mountain
linnet, and lesser redpole.
The brown or grey linnet, as Mr. Hancock points out,
has the breast sometimes red, sometimes grey. "When
the brown linnet is kept in confinement, it loses the red
on the breast on the first moult, and never afterwards
regains it, but continues in the plumage of the grey
linnet. The fact is that the males, from shedding the
nest feathers, get a red breast, which they retain only
during the first season ; they then assume the garb of the
female, which is retained for the rest of their lives, as
in the case of the crossbill. This does not seem to be
generally understood by ornithologists, though the bird
fancier is quite familiar with the fact. It is stated by
Yarrell that the male assumes the red breast in the
breeding season. This is not quite correct, for quite as
many are found breeding without the red breast as with
it." Thus we find that only the young birds have the
red breast.
The favourite haunts of the linnet are hilly or unculti-
164
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
vated tracks, where whin and broom grow plentifully;
but the birds also frequent cultivated districts, and may
likewise be found nesting in hawthorn hedges and bushes
bounding fields of grass or corn, though they are usually
most plentiful in upland countries.
The flight of the brown linnet is light, rapid, and
hovering, not unlike that of the titlark, but swifter.
When about to descend, the birds wheel round in circles,
and often almost touch the earth when on the wing, then
rise again into the air, and continue their flight some
distance before settling. They hop nimbly on the ground,
and when singing in trees are usually perched upon the
topmost branch, or on a projecting twig. The old birds
are in song from March to August, and the young sing
from the time of their moulting in autumn all through
the bright winter days of November and December. The
youiikr males easily learn to imitate the notes of other
birds, but forget them after a few repetitions. The food
of the linnet consists of the seeds of various plants, such
as the dandelion, thistle, rape, &c.
The linnet nests early, and the first brood, of which
there are generally two, are usually on the wing by the
end of May. The nest, a neat structure, is found in
various situations, such as whin bushes, heath, grass, in
small and scrubby bushes, and sometimes in thick haw-
thorn hedges, as the birds accommodate themselves to
their surroundings. The nest is deftly constructed of
withered stalks of grass, slender twigs, intermixed with
moss and wool, and lined with hair and feathers. The
eggs are from four to six in number.
The male is rather larger than the female — about five
inches and three-quarters long. But as the brown linnet
is so well known, and is so faithfully depicted in Mr.
Duncan's illustration, a detailed description of the plum-
age of the bird is superfluous.
The Lesser Redpole (Fringtila linaria, Bewick ; Linola.
linaria, Yarrell) is a resident in the Northern Counties,
as in many other localities, breeding in tall hawthorn
hedges, woods, &c.
The peculiar rosy-red tints of the breast and rump of
the lesser redpole, as Mr. John Hancock points out,
reminds one of the similar tints of the crossbill. The
colour does not appear to be retained for any length of
time, because many birds are found breeding without it ;
and it is a notorious fact that in cage specimens the rosy
hues never return after the birds have moulted, as has
already been noticed with respect to the linnet.
The lesser redpole, known also as the lesser redpole
linnet, or lesser flax bird, is an essentially northern
species, though its range over Europe extends from Den-
mark to Italy. It is a resident throughout the year in
the North of England, Scotland, and Ireland ; but it is
only an occasional winter visitor in the South of England,
where it is frequently seen in very large flocks around
woods and coppices. The food consists of the seeds of the
turnip, thistle, poppy, dandelion, mosses, and other
plants, as well as the seeds of trees and shrubs.
The bird breeds sparingly in Yorkshire and Lancashire,
but it is seldom found nesting south of Derbyshire, though
nests have been found in Warwickshire, and even in the
Isle of Wight. The nest is composed of moss and dry
stalks of grass, intermixed and lined with down from the
catkin of the willow, and the eggs are from four to five in
number.
The male redpole is rather under five inches in length.
The forehead, which is dull red in winter, crimson in
summer, is edged by a blackish band, the tips of the
feathers being yellowish grey, and the rest black ; crown
a mixture of dark and light brown, the centre of each
feather being the darkest; neck in front, pale brown,
with dark streaks ; on the sides the same ; chin with a
patch of black ; throat in front blackish, the tips of
the feathers being yellowish grey in winter, and the
rest black ; on the sides it is a pale brown with dark
streaks ; in the summer, fine red above, and on the sides,
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
165
fainter downwards, pale brownish white in winter, the
sides the most streaked. Back, yellowish brown, streaked
with blackish brown, darkest in summer, over the tail
dull red. The wings extend to the width of three inches
and three-quarters. The female is smaller than her
mate, and her plumage less marked.
(Eft*
of
(Sarlatttt
|oh.n £tokoe.
BOWLD AIRCHY DROON'D.
j|RCHIBALD HENDERSON is described by
Robert Gilchrist, the author of this song, as
" a man of great stature and immense mus-
cular power ; but, though his appearance was
to many a terrific object, he was very inoffensive in his
manners." Henderson was a keelman, and in early life
had been impressed into his Majesty's service, and had
fought in some of the naval engagements in the wars
against France and Spain. There were many excellent
traits in his character, among the rest attachment to his
mother being worthy of record. Archy, although noted
for his good humour, entered with prompt spirit into
BoJd, -tfrcly
the partisan quarrels of his day ; and, fierce as these
might be, the voice of his mother charmed him in one
moment into meekness. She was a little woman ; but it
was no uncommon sight to behold her leading Archy out
of any wrangle he might be engaged in, -and he would
follow her with the docility of a child.
Archy was never married. He once confessed himself
a little enamoured of a pretty servant girl who resided on
the Quayside : the highest compliment Archy paid her
was by observing that "she was almost as canny a
woman as his mother. " He died on the 14th May, 1828,
in his 87th year.
Our portrait is taken from the celebrated painting of a
group of fourteen "Newcastle Eccentrics," all living in
1819, painted by H. P. Parker, and engraved by Arm-
streng.
Bold Archy is immortalized in several other songs
written by Gilchrist, William Oliver, and other local
poets.
The song we now print is written to the melody of
"The Bowld D'ragoon," which enjoyed universal popu-
larity in the early years of this century, and to which
several of the best Tyneside songs have been written.
An account of Mr. Robert Gilchrist's life and works,
together with a portrait, appeared in the Monthly
Chronicle for May, 1888, page 234.
A - while for me yor lugs keep clear, Haw
spoke aw'll brief - ly
=^=F=J=
bray. Aw've
! ~J f ^ J
been se blind wi' blair - in' that Aw
scairce ken what to say. A
mot - ley crew aw late - ly met, Maw
C 1 x_
feel - ins fine they sair - ly wound - ed By
ax - in' if aw'd heer'd the news Or
if aw'd seen Bowld Airch - y drownd - ed.
Whack row de dow dow, Fal lal lal de da - dee
Whack row de dow dow, Fal de dal de dav.
166
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/April
\ 1890.
Awhile for me yor lugs keep clear,
Maw spoke aw'll briefly bray ;
Aw've been se .blind wi' blairin'* that
Aw scairse ken what te say.
A motley crew aw lately met ;
Maw feelin's fine they sairly wounded,
By axin' if aw'd heer'd the news,
Or if aw'd seen Bowld Airchy drownded.
The tyel like wild-fire through the toon
Suin cut a dowlyt track.
An' seemed te wander vip an' doon
Wi' Sangate on its back ;
Bullrug was there — Golightly's Will —
Te croon the whole, awd Nelly Mairchy, J
Whe. as they roon'd the Deed Hoose thrang'd,
Whing'd oot in praise of honest Airchy.
Whack, row de dow, &c.
Waes ! Airchy lang was hale and rank,
The king o' laddies braw ;
His wrist was like an anchor sha,nk,
His fist was like the claw.
His yellow waistcoat, flowered se fine,
Myed tyeliors lang for cabbage euttin's ;
It myed the bairns te glower amain,
An' cry, "Ni, ni, what bonny buttons !"
His breeches and his jacket clad
A body rasher-stright ; ||
A bunch o' ribbons on his knees,
His shoes and buckles bright.
His dashin' stockin's true sky-blue ;
His gud shag hat, although a biggin',
When cockt upon his bonny heed,
Luiked like a pea upon a middin',
The last was he te myek a row,
Yet foremost i" the fight ;
The first was he te reet the wrang'd,
The last te wrang the right.
They said sic deeds, where'er he'd gyen,
Cud not but meet a noble station ;
Cull Billy *[ fear'd that a' sic hopes
Were built upon a bad foundation.
For Captain Starkey word was sent
Te come witltoot delay ;
But the Captain begg'd te be excused,
An' come another day.
When spirits strong and nappy beer,
Wi' brede an' cheese, might myek 'm able
Te bear up sic aload o' grief,
An' do the honours o' the table.
Another group was then sent off,
An' brought Blind Willie doon,
Whe started up a symphony
Wi' fiddle oot o' tune : —
" Here Airchy lies, his country's pride,
Oh ! San'gate, thou will sairly miss him,
* To blair is to cry vehemently, or to roar loud like a peevish
child w hen touched or contradicted — a man or woman sympathetic-
ally drunk and giving full vent to his or her outraged feefines in a
maudlin outburst ; or a calf bleating for its mother's 'milk. It is
one of the many North-Country words borrowed from the Dutch,
in which blaer has the same meaning.
t Dowly means lonely, dismal, melancholy, sorrowful, doleful.
It is from the Celtic duille, darkness, obscurity, stupidity. It is,
perhaps, also cognate with the Danish dottye, conceal, hide, keep
in the dark.
J All characters once notorious, now difficult if not impossible to
identify.
II Aa straight as a rush.
U Cull Billy, properly William Scott, of whom Sykes gives a
long account under date July 31st, 1831. He also was one of the
fourteen Newcastle eccentrics immortalised by Parker and Arm-
strong. Captain Starkey was a still more famous character, whose
autobiography, with a portrait and fac-simile of his handwriting,
was published by William Hall, Groat Market, Newcastle. 1818.
12mo. 14 p.p. Hb portrait and memoir were also given in
" Hone's Every Day Book," ana formed the snbjeot of one of the
most quaint and pathetic essaj-s of Charles Lamb (Elia>
Stiff, drownded i' the raein' tide,
Powl'd** off at last ! E-ho ! Odd bless him."
While thus they mourned, byeth wives an' bairns.
Young cheps and awd men grey,
Whe shud there cum but Airchy's sel",
Te see aboot the fray—
Aw gov a shriek, for weel ye ken
A seet like this wad be a shocker —
"Od smash ! here's Airchy back agyen.
Slipped oot, by gox, frae Davy's Locker."
Aboot him they all thrang'd an' axed
What news frae undergound ?
Each tell'd about their blairin'
When they kenn'd that he was droon'd.
"Hoots!" Airchy mounged.tf "it's nowt but lees!
Te the Barley Mow let's e'en be joggin',
Aw'll tyek me path it .wasn't me,
For aw hear it's Airchy Logan."
Te see Bold Airchy thus restored,
They giv sic lood hurrahs,
As myed the very skies te split,
An' deaved a flight o' craws;
Te the Barley Mow for swipes o' yell
They yen an' a' went gaily joggin',
Rejoiced te hear the droond'it man
Was oney little Airchy Logan.
jjURHAM was first peopled by the monks of
St. Cuthbert in the year 995. In some way
the city was fortified very soon afterwards.
Amongst the historical literature of a very
early date which has come down to our time, is a
very curious tract, which has been ascribed, though
doubtless incorrectly, to Symeon of Durham. It is
entitled "Concerning the Siege of Durham and the
Valour of Earl Uchtred." It tells us that, near the
close of the tenth century, Malcolm. King of Scotland,
having wasted Northumberland with fire and sword,
laid siege to Durham. Aldhune, the bishop, had a
son-in-law named Uchtred, the son of Cospatric, "a
youth of great energy, and well skilled in military
affairs." He, learning that the land was devastated by
the enemy, "and that Durham was in a state of blockade
and siege, collected together into one body a considerable
number of the men of Northumbria and Yorkshire, and
cut to pieces nearly the entire multitude of the Scots ;
the king himself, and a few others, escaping with diffi-
culty. He caused to be carried to Durham the best
looking heads of the slain, ornamented (as the fashion
of the time was) with braided locks, and after they had
been washed by four women — to each of whom he gave
a cow for her trouble — he caused these heads to be fixed
upon stakes, and placed round the walls. "
It would be vain to speculate as to the extent of the
fortifications of Durham at the period of Malcolm's siege.
* * PmeFd, pushed oft the shore into deep water, launched like
a keel, with a long pole.
tt Xounge, moonj, moonge, to grumble lowly, to whine.—
Brocket!,
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
167
The city of that day was no doubt chiefly defended by
its strong natural position, and the walls whereon the
beads of the vanquished Scots were mounted were in
every probability only pallisades of stakes, enclosing the
inhabited plateau round the cathedral.
After a few years, Durham was once more besieged,
and this time also by the Scots. In or about the year
1040 Duncan, King of Scotland, invaded England. He
was attended by a countless multitude of troops. " He
laid siege to Durham, and made strenuous but ineffective
efforts to capture it. A large proportion of his cavalry
was slain by the besieged, and he was put to disorderly
flight, in which he lost all his foot-soldiers, whose heads
were collected in the market place and bung up on posts. "
Such is the brief narrative given by Symeon of Durham.
Unfortunately it is not supplemented by other historians.
Still, it affords evidence that the defences of Durham
were uninterruptedly maintained and were of an efficient
character.
Soon after the Norman conquest Durham was once
more the scene of bloodshed. In 1069 the Conqueror
appointed Robert Cumin to the earldom of Northumber-
land. "When the Northumbrians heard of this man's
arrival, they all abandoned their houses and made imme-
diate preparation for flight," but a sudden snow-storm
and a frost of unusual severity kept them at home. They
resolved, however, either to slay the earl or to die them-
selves. He, on coming northwards, was warned by the
bishop of his probable fate, but he spurned all counsel,
and proceeded on his way. "So the earl entered Durham
with seven hundred men, and they treated the house-
holders as if they had been enemies." This was not to
be meekly borne, and "very early in the morning, the
Northumbrians, having collected themselves together,
broke in through all the gates, and, running through the
city, hither and thither, they slew the earl's followers.
So great, at the last, was the multitude of the slain, that
every street was covered with blood, and filled with dead
bodies. But there still survived a considerable number,
who defended the door of the house in which the earl
was, and securely held it against the inroads of the
assailants. They, on their part, endeavoured to throw
fire into the house, so as to burn it and its inmates ; and
the flaming sparks, flying upwards, caught the western
tower [of the cathedral built by AldhuneJ which was in
immediate proximity, and it appeared to be on the very
verge of destruction " ; but, according to the chronicler, it
was miraculously saved, in answer to the prayers of the
people. "The house, however, which had caught fire,
continued to blaze ; and of those persons who were within
it some were burnt, and some were slaughtered as soon as
they crossed its thresholds ; and thus the earl was put to
death along with all of his followers, save one, who
escaped wounded."
From these narratives we learn all that we can know of
the earliest defences of Durham. The castle of Durham.
as we know it, is the work of many men and of many
centuries. It was founded by William the Conqueror,
when returning from Scotland in the year 1072. The
statement that he was the founder has been more than
once called in question, but, I think, without just reason.
The continuation of Symeon 's "History of the Kings "
says— "When the king had returned from Scotland, he
built a castle in Durham, where the bishop might keep
himself and his people safe from the attacks of assailants."
Of the work of William's day nothing remains beyond the
very remarkable chapel, with its tall cylindrical shafts,
grotesque capitals, and vaulted roofs — altogether one of
the most interesting portions of the whole fortress, or,
indeed, of any English castle. There can be little doubt
that the present keep, which, so far as anything visible is
concerned, is entirely modern — the work of the present
century — stands on the site of a keep built by the
Conqueror. The mound whereon the keep is raised is
pronounced, by consensus of opinion, to be artificial. If
this be so, we may safely associate it with the earliest
fortifications of Durham, of which doubtless it formed
the principal feature.
The See of Durham was held from 1099 to 1128 by
Bishop Flambard, by whom the defences of Durham
were strengthened and extended. " He strengthened
the city of Durham with a stronger and loftier wall,
although, indeed, nature herself had fortified it," says
the continuator of Symeon's "History of the Church
of Durham"; and, adds the same authority, "he built
a wall which extended from the choir of tho church [i.e.,
the cathedral] to the keep of the castle." It is net
improbable that parts of Flambard's walls still exist in
fragments of ancient masonry, which may be seen in the
gardens of some of the houses in the North and South
Baileys. Another of Flambard's works deserves to be
mentioned in this connection. To him we owe the large
open space between the cathedral and the castle, known
as Place or Palace Green. ' ' He levelled the space between
the church and the castle, which had hitherto been occu-
pied by numerous poor houses, and made it as plane as a
field, in order that the church should neither be endan-
gered by fire nor polluted by filth."
To Bishop Pudsey the castle of Durham owes much.
Some of the most interesting and beautiful parts of the
whole fortress must be ascribed to him. Unfortunately
the information afforded by the historians as to the works
he accomplished is disappointingly meagre. Galfrid of
Coldingham teHs us that " in the castle of Durham the
buildings, which, in the earliest periods of his episcopacy,
were destroyed by fire, he rebuilt." He built the great
hall on the north side of the courtyard, or, I ought rather
to say, the two great halls, the upper and the lower. A
much later gallery which runs along the whole south
front of these halls hides the principal entrance, a
magnificent and greatly enriched doorway, one of the
most splendid specimens of late Norman work to be
168
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/Ap
\1<B
found anywhere in this kingdom. It is needless to say
that this doorway was originally reached by a flight of
stairs leading up from the courtyard. The lower hall
presents none of its original features except this doorway,
for the whole of its interior is divided into modern apart-
ments. The upper hall is entered through a plain door-
way. It is, or rather was, surrounded by a beautiful
arcade, much of which is hidden by plaster and students'
rooms, but on the south side it is fortunately accessible
and visible, and fairly well preserved.
It is remarkable that, so far at least as I know, none
of the chroniclers mentions Bishop Anthony Bek as the
builder of any part of the castle. He held the see from
1283 to 1311, and to him we can have no hesitancy in
ascribing the great hall on the west side of the courtyard,
and which is usually associated with the name of Bishop
Hatfield. This hall must have replaced- a Norman struc-
ture, possibly of as early date as the chapel, but almost
certainly not later than the time of Flambard. Indeed, a
crypt or cellar, beneath the hall, is throughout of Norman
workmanship, and possesses features which appear to
belong to an early period of that style. Bek's hall (now
used as the dininc hall of Durham University) has
been much altered and restored, both in early and in
recent times, and the distinctive features of its original
character which still remain are slight. But the inner
doorway, and a window a little way north of the fire-
place, are comparatively unaltered, and enable the
student of architecture to establish the date of this
part of the castle.
We now come to the important episcopate of Bishop
Hatfield, whose period extended from 1345 to 1382.
William de Chambre, another of the Durham chroniclers,
tells us that Hatfield "renewed the buildings in the castle
EXTERIOR OF THE GREAT HALL, DURHAM CASTLE.
April
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
169
which by antiquity or age had been destroyed or become
dilapidated ; and he constructed anew both the episcopal
hall and the hall of the constable, as well as other edifices
in the same castle." The phrase, "he constructed anew,"
must be understood with considerable latitude. The
"episcopal hall" is undoubtedly the hall built by Bek,
whilst the "constable's hall " is most probably the upper
hall of Pudsey. Hatfield rebuilt neither of these; but
that he made considerable alterations in both is certain,
and, in addition to this, he no doubt put both halls into a
state of thorough repair. But Chambre proceeds to say
that Hatfield "rendered the city of Durham, which was
already sufficiently fortified by nature and a wall, still
stronger by means of a tower, constructed at his expense,
within the limits of the castle." That tower was the
keep. The walls built by Hatfield remained till within
living memory, and the present keep is raised on their
foundations. But Hatfield was clearly rebuilding an
earlier structure, which we have already attributed to
the time of William the Conqueror.
INTERIOR OF THE GREAT HALL, DURHAM CASTLE.
170
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
fAnril
\ 1890.
The later structural history of the castle I must record
as briefly as possible. Cardinal Langley, who was bishop
of Durham from 1406 to 1437, is stated to have built the
entire gaol of Durham, and to have constructed the gates
of that gaol with most costly stones, in the place of
gates of earlier date which had fallen into ruin. This
gaol and gateway, which stood at the foot of the North
Bailey — a most picturesque and interesting structure—
was taken down in 1818 or 1819. Bishop Fox, who
occupied the see from 1494 to 1502, made great alterations
in Bek's hall. Whereas, prior to his time, there were
two royal seats in the hall, one at the upper end and one
at the lower, he only allowed the upper one to remain,
and in place of the lower seat he made a larder with
pantries, and over these he erected two galleries for
trumpeters or other musicians in the time of meals. He
also erected a steward's room, a large kitchen, and other
apartments at the south end of the hall, and in this way
reduced its original length fully one-third. He had other
works in progress when his translation to Winchester put
an end to his plans. Cuthbert Tuustall, bishop of Dur-
ham from 1530 to 1560, partly rebuilt the inner gateway,
and also erected the present chapel ; besides which he
raised the gallery whicji hides the front of Pudsey's
halls. Bishop Neile still further reduced the dimensions
of Bek's great hall. Cosin, the first bishop after the
restoration of Charles II., built the portico which is now
the principal entrance to the castle, and to him also we
owe the magnificent oak staircase. Minor alterations
have been carried out by later prelates, but to these it
is not necessary to refer.
The castle of Durham has witnessed many scenes of
pomp and splendour. Monarchs and nobles of the land
have been royally entertained within its walls by the
great and powerful prince-bishops of the palatinate.
Here, in 1333, Bishop Bury entertained Edward III.
and his Queen, the Queen-Dowager of England, the King
of Scotland, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York,
five other bishops, seven earls with their countesses, all
the nobility north of Trent, and a vast concourse of
knights, esquires, and other persons of distinction,
amongst whom were many abbots, priors, and other
religious men. In 1424 Durham was crowded with the
nobility of England and Scotland on the occasion of
the liberation of the Scottish king and his marriage with
Jane Seymour. The royal pair arrived in Durham at-
tended by a numerous retinue, and remained here a
considerable time. In 1503 the Princess Margaret,
daughter of Henry the Seventh, on her way to Scotland
to become the bride of King James, arrived at Durham.
" At the entering of the said town, and within, in the
streets and at the windows, was so innumerable people,
that it was a fair thing for to see. . . . The 21st,
22nd, and 23rd of the said month [of July] she sojourned
in the said place of Durham, when she was well cherished,
and her costs borne by the said bishop, who, on the 23rd
day, held whole hall, and double dinner and double
supper to all comers worthy to be there. And in the
said hall was set all the noblesse, as well spirituals as
temporals, great and small, the which was welcome. " In
1633 Charles I. was for several days the guest of Bishop
Morton, who entertained the king with a degree of splen-
dour which cost him £1,500 a day. Six years later the
king was again entertained by Morton, but with much
less magnificence, for the shadow, which darkened day by
day, even to the end, had then already fallen across the
unhappy monarch's path. The last great scene of
festivity witnessed within these ancient walls was
enacted in 1827, when the Duke of Wellington, then
on a visit to Wynyard, together with many of his old
companions in arms, and the nobility and gentry of the
county, was entertained by Van Mildert, the last of
the prince- bishops of Durham. Sir Walter Scott was
amongst the guests, and in his diary gives a picturesque
description of the scene in the great hall, and speaks in
warmly eulogistic terms of the dignified bearing and
princely hospitality of the host.
J. R. BOYLE, F.S.A.
Cite
2CIlt*&
output," *
Northern
URING the palmy days of the Coal Trade,
when prices could be kept up to an un-
naturally high figure by a junta ot
monopolists agreeing together to " limit
the vend," or, as we would now say, to "limit the
a few great territorial magnates in the
Counties, popularly called " The Grand
Allies," were long the leading spirits. The association
consisted of the Russells of Brancepetb, now represented
by Lord Boyne, the Brandlings of Gosforth and the
Felling, Lords Ravensworth, Strathmore, and Wharn-
cliffe, Matthew Bell of Woolsington, and some others.
They were owners of the most noted collieries in the
North, the produce of which had always brought the
highest price in the London market ; and this enabled
them virtually to dictate terms to all the rest.
Wallsend Colliery, which had been sunk by the Chap-
* The compact styled the "Limitation of the Vend" has been
thus explained :— The plan was to apportion among the
different collieries the quantity which was to be raised and sold,
with reference to the probable immediate market demand. The
several interests of the Tyne and Wear were watched over by
their several representatives. The principal proprietors fixed
the minimum price at which they would sell their coals, and
the remaining owners acceded to their conditions. A committee
met at Newcastle twice a month, and there issued its mandates,
which all were bound to obey. The probable demand for each
succeeding fortnight was calculated on the average price in the
London market during the fortnight previous. If this had been
higher than the price fired by the coalownere, permission was
given to each member of the association to raise a large'r quantity
of coal, or vice versa, according to a pre-determined scale.
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
171
mans about 1777, bore the bell for two generations.
The area to which it gave its name, cut off from the
rest of the Northumberland Coal Field by the Ninety
Fathom Dyke, was the birthplace and nursery of
Northern coal mining. Its sole output was household
coal — the only description of much value before the
general introduction of steam. The Wallsend estate
comprised nearly twelve hundred acres, and the coal
raised from it was admittedly the finest in the world.
It was purchased in 1781 by William Russell, an enter-
prising timber merchant in Sunderland. This gentleman,
who was the second son of the Squire of Rowenlands,
in Cumberland, had commenced life with £20,000— an
immense sum at that time. His first investment in
land was at Newbottle, near the centre of the North Dur-
ham Coal Field ; his next, we believe, was at Wallsend.
Under his spirited management, "Russell's Wallsend"
became a familiar commodity at the uttermost ends of
the earth, and brought its owner vast wealth, makintr
him one of the richest commoners in England. He
subsequently bought the estate of Brancepeth, also
rich in coal and other minerals. William's son Matthew
rebuilt Brancepeth Castle. Another William, grandson
of the first William, represented the county of Durham in
three successive Parliaments. When he died without
male issue in 1850, the estates passed to Viscount Boyne,
Gustavus Frederick John James Hamilton (the husband
of his only sister, Emma Maria), who assumed, by Royal
license, the name of Russell, after that of his Scoto-Irish
ancestors, and the arms of Russell, quarterly. The
Brancepeth, Boyne, Brandon, and neighbouring collieries,
leased from Lord Boyne by Messrs. Straker and Love,
Messrs. Pease and Partners, and others, produce that
excellent description of coal which used formerly to be
known as "Brancepeth Wallsend." Other sorts identified
by the family name are Russell's High Main, Russell's
Hetton Wallsend, Russell's Lyons Wallsend, Russell's
Harraton, &c.
The viewers and managers of Wallsend were the
Buddies, father and son, both men of great adminis-
trative ability, and the latter so skilful and originative
as a mining engineer as to have merited the title of
the George Stephenson of colliery work. It is not too
much to affirm that the subsequent prosperity of the
place, which has given a name to all the household coals
of the Tyne, the Wear, and the Tees, was in a great
measure owing to the intelligent and indefatigable
exertions of the elder Buddie, who was the son of a
schoolmaster at Kyo, near Tanfield. When he died, in
1806, his son, who had for some years been his assistant,
succeeded him, and, it must be confessed, fairly outdid
him, being, like the famous Cooper of Fogo, "his father's
better." Before his time, little more than half the coal
in any mine had been worked, the remainder being left in
" pillars " to support the roof and so ventilate the pit.
But Mr. Buddie conceived and carried out the idea of
dividing the whole area into minor districts, defended
from each other by thick barriers of coal, and venti-
lated by distinct currents of air, so that, in the
event of a "creep" happening in one district, it was
effectually prevented from spreading beyond its fixed
boundary. The advantages of this system were the
getting out of nearly all the coal, uninjured by crush
or creep, and a great saving of expense, by curtailing the
quantity of waste or dead mine, otherwise needing to
be aired and travelled. It was brought into successful
operation at Wallsend about the year 1811.
The manors of North Gosforth and Felling came into
the possession of Sir Robert Brandling, five times
Mayor of Newcastle, in 1509, through his marriage
with Ann, co-heir of the ancient family of Surtees, who
had held them for upwards of four centuries. Charles
Brandling, one of his descendants, won Felling Colliery
in 1779. Charles's eldest son and heir, Charles John
Brandling, who, like his father, represented Northumber-
land in Parliament for many years, was, upon the whole,
the most dashing of the Grand Allies. He commenced
sinking Gosforth Colliery in 1825, and the coal was won
on the last day of January, 1829. Great expense was
incurred in the undertaking, from the intersection of
the great Ninety Fathom Dyke. The quality of the
coal was so deteriorated by the proximity of the dyke
that it became necessary to sink the shaft perpendicularly
to a depth of 181 fathoms, in order to come at the level
of the lower range of the seam. In this work many of
the succeeding seams were passed through, and all were
found to be more or less shattered, and singularly placed
at a higher level than the High Main, which, geologi-
cally, they underlie. On reaching the requisite depth, a
hoiizontal drift, 700 yards long, was worked in the solid
rock, through the face of the dyke to the seam of coal
that was sought a little above its junction with the
disturbing medium. So remarkable a winning deserved a
remarkable celebration of its attainment. Mr. Brandling
and his partners gave a grand subterranean ball !
The ball-room was situated at a depth of nearly 1,100
feet below the earth's surface, and was in the shape of the
letter L, the width being fifteen feet, the base twenty-two
feet, and the perpendicular height forty-eight feet. Seats
were placed round the sides of the ball-room, the floor
was dried and flagged, and the whole place brilliantly
illuminated with candJes and lamps. The company began
to assemble and descend in appropriate dresses about
half-past nine in the morning, and continued to arrive
till one in the afternoon. The men engaged in the work,
their wives and daughters and sweethearts, several neigh-
bours with their wives, the proprietors and agents with
their wives, and sundry friends of both sexes who had
courage to avail themselves of the privilege ; all these
gradually found their way to the bottom of the shaft.
Immediately on their arrival there they proceeded to the
extremity of the drift, to the face of the coal, where each
person hewed a piece of coal as a memento of the visit,
and then returned to the ball-room. As soon as a suffi-
cient number of guests had assembled dancing commenced,
• and was continued without intermission till three o'clock
in the afternoon. No distinction was made among the
guests, and born and bred ladies joined in a general dance
with born and bred pitmen's daughters. All now returned
172
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{US
in safety, and in nice, clean, and well-lined baskets, to the
upper regions, delighted with the manner in which they
had spent the day. It was estimated that between two
and three hundred persons were present, and nearly one-
half of them were females.
A younger brother of Mr. Brandling's, William Robert
Brandling, of Low Gosforth, barrister-at-law, was the
projector of the Brandling Junction Railway. In the
Parliamentary session of 1835, an Act was obtained for
" enabling John Brandling [another brother] and Robert
William Brandling to purchase or lease lands for the
formation of a railway from Gateshead to South Shields
and Monkwearmouth " ; and a company, with a capital
of £110,000, in £50 shares, was formed for the purpose of
carrying the scheme into effect. The first turf was cut at
the Felling, in the presence of Mr. R. W. Brandling and
a number of friends, on the 3rd August, 1836 ; and the
first cargo of coals, from Andrew's House Colliery, was
carried along the line, and shipped at South Shields, on
the 20th of July, 1840. On this occasion a party of the
directors and their friends returned to Newcastle in
seventy waggons and carriages, being the largest train
that had ever been seen in the North. The Monkwear-
mouth branch had been opened in the previous year,
when the trip from Gateshead, with passengers and
goods, was performed in forty-six minutes, which was
thought a wonderful feat.
"The last of the long roll of Brandlings of Gosforth"
— the Rev. Ralph Henry Brandling, vicar of Rothwell,
county of York, and perpetual curate of Castle Eden,
Durham — succeeded his brother Charles John in the
family estates. But there seems .to have been imperative
reasons why the estates should be dispersed ; and they
were accordingly sold by auction, at the Queen's Head
Inn, Newcastle, by order of the Court of Chancery, in
October, 1852 : Mr. Alderman Fairbrother, of London,
acting as auctioneer. Amongst the principal lots
were : —
The manor of North and South Gosforth, 790 acres in
extent, comprising the mansion of Gosforth House and
its extensive pleasure-grounds, which was bought by Mr,
T. Smith for £25,200 ; Low Gosforth estate, 287 acres,
with the mansion, &c., was purchased by Mr. Joseph
Laycock for £20,100 ; Seaton Burn House, Six-Mile
Bridge Farm, and Coxlodge Farm, 510 acres, were sold
to Mr. Riddell Robson for £24,800 ; High and Low
Weetslade, Wideopen, and Brunton Farms, 1,313 acres,
were knocked down to Mr. Smith for £46,150 ; South
Gosforth Farm, 281 acres, was bought by Mr. William
Dunn for £19,300. Gosforth and Coxlodge Collieries and
royalties, and a few other lots, were withdrawn ; but the
total proceeds of the sale fetched £155,620, exclusive of
the timber. The biddings for the property reserved
amounted to £106,920.
The Coxlodge, Fawdon, Denton, and Dinnington
royalties were subsequently purchased by Mr. Joshua
Bower, of Leeds ; and in 1873 the whole of them were
Bold by Mr. Bower to Messrs. Lambert and Co. Gosforth
Colliery, again, was bought by Charles Mark Palmer, •
now Sir C. M. Palmer, on behalf of the £rm of
Messrs. John Bowes and Co. The Rev. R. H. Brand-
ling died in Newcastle in his eighty-second year, in
July, 1853 ; and his only son, Colonel John Brandling,
died at Middleton, near Leeds, aged 58, in June, 1856 —
thus closing the genealogical roll.
The next great territorial magnate among the Grand
Allies was the Right Hon. Sir Thomas Henry Liddell,
Baron Ravensworth. He entered into partnership with
the Brandlings and Russells, Lords Wharncliffe and
Strathmore, Matthew Bell, of Woolsington, and others,
as aforesaid, and superintended for many years the
extensive and lucrative business in the coal trade which
was carried on by them in virtual partnership. Lord
Ravensworth (then Sir Thomas Henry Liddell, Bart.,
his elevation to the peerage not having taken place
till 1821) was singularly privileged with regard to the
chief persons in his employment. One of these was
that distinguished colliery viewer and mining engineer
Nicholas Wood, whose long and active life was almost
all devoted to the discovery and carrying out of practical
improvements in connection with mining operations.
Born in a farm-house on the banks of Stanley Burn,
near Bradley Hall, and educated at Winlaton, he
came, while yet only a lad, under Sir Thomas Henry's
notice, that gentleman, who was his father's landlord
and friend, discovering the uncommon abilities he was
endowed with. In April, 1811, when he was about
seventeen years of age, his appreciative patron sent
him to Killingworth Colliery, of which he was part
owner, to learn the business of a viewer. The after-
wards still more celebrated George Stephenson, whose
birthplace was within a mile of his, on the other
side of the Tyne, was at this time brakesman at the
neighbouring colliery of West Moor, where he had
already attracted notice by his ingenious mechanical
contrivances ; and almost immediately after young
Wood had entered upon his apprenticeship, Stephen-
son became directing engineer of the Killingworth High
Pit, to which he was promoted in consequence of the
skill he had displayed in rendering the pumping engine of
the pit effective, when several other engineers had failed.
The intelligent youngster was irresistibly attracted to
Stephenson, of whom he soon became the intimate
friend and confidant. His name will ever occupy a
prominent place on the honourable role of eminent
men to whom mankind generally, but the people of the
great North-Eastern Coal Field in especial, are indebted
for countless blessings.
Sir Henry Thomas Liddell married, in 1796, Maria
Susannah, daughter of John Simpson, of Bradley, and
granddaughter maternally of Thomas, eighth Earl of
Strathmore, whose wife was Jane Nicholson, daughter
and heiress of James Nicholson, of West Rainton. The
Ravensworth and Strathmore interests were thus in a
manner conjoined. Other family alliances favoured the
formation of the Grand Alliance. Thus, in the year
1767, John, ninth Earl of Strathmore, married Mary
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
m
Eleanor, only child of George Bowes, of Streatlam
Castle and Gibside, and assumed thereupon, by Act
of Parliament, the surname of Bowes. He came
into possession, in right of his wife, of her father's
vast property in the North, Miss Bowes being, as the
" Annual Register " informs us, " the richest heiress in
Europe, her fortune being one million and forty thousand
pounds, besides a great jointure on the death of her
mother, and a large estate on the demise of an uncle."
The eldest son of this wealthy pair, John Bowes, who
succeeded his father as tenth Earl of Strathmore in 1776,
and was enrolled among the peers of the United King-
dom in 1815 by the title of Baron Bowes, of Streatlam
Castle, became one of the chief magnates of the great
coal ring. He married, in 1820, Miss Mary Milner, of
Staindrop, but died two days after his nuptials, and with
him the English barony expired, and the Scottish estates
passed, with the Scotch title of Earl, to his younger
brother Thomas. But the whole of the Durham property
was bequeathed by him, in his last will, to his nephew,
John Bowes, who continued firm to the alliance. Mr.
Bowes sat as member for the Southern Divison of his
native county in four successive Parliaments, and spent
upwards of thirty thousand pounds in two of the elections,
which were very hotly contested. The mining property
of himself and partners comprised the Marley Hill, An-
drew's House, Byermoor, Burnoptield, Pontop, Kibbles-
worth, Springwell, and other collieries. Some of the work-
ings date as far back as the year 1600, but several of the
pits are comparatively modern, dating from about 1826,
when the adoption of the locomotive principle of traction
on railways led to the opening out of the lower seams, the
value of which began to be fully known only about 1840.
The four collieries of Killingworth, Gosforth, Seaton
Burn, and Dinjiington Winning, form another section of
the mineral property of John Bowes, C. M. Palmer, and
Co., the area belonging to or leased by the firm, under
this section, being 8,242 acres.
Another of the conspicuous Grand Allies was James
Archibald Stuart Wortley Mackenzie, second son of the
second son of John, third Earl of Bute, who married
Mary, only daughter of Edward Wortley Montagu, of
Wortley Hall, near Sheffield, afterwards created a peeress,
as Baroness Mountstuart, and vested, as her father's sole
heir, in great estates in both Yorkshire and Cornwall.
Her grandson, above named, but commonly known as
Stuart Wortley, represented the county of York for
several years in the House of Commons, and was raised
to the peerage in 1826, as Baron Wharncliffe. He had
shares in the Killingworth and other collieries along with
Lords Ravensworth and Strathmore, and other partners,
and took an active steering hand in the management of
their joint concerns. It is perhaps worth noting, that his
family seat, Wortley Hall, on the banks of the river Don,
near the old turnpike road between Sheffield and Halifax,
was an occasional residence of the celebrated Lady Mary
Wortley Montagu, and is also identified as the scene of
the well-known mock antique ballad of "The Dragon of
Wantley."
Matthew Bell, of Woolsington, brother-in-law of Mr.
C. J. Brandling, of Gosforth House, whose sister, Sarah
Frances, he married in 1792, comes next on our list. He
was owner, in whole or in part, of a number of collieries,
some of them only worked for landsale, others for export,
and several now exhausted. One of the most valuable
was at Coxlodge. His son and heir, likewise named
Matthew, married the only child and heiress of Henry
Utrick Reay, of Killingworth, and thereby came into
possession of some more mining property. He represented,
first, the county of Northumberland, and, after the Re-
form era, the southern division, from 1826, when he suc-
ceeded Mr. Brandling, down cill 1852. He was virtually
launched into public life when but eighteen years old, on
his father's death in *1811 ; and during the whole of his
long career (he died in 1871 in his 79th year), he was one
of the most popular as well as one the most prominent
country gentlemen in the North.
The Messrs. Grace and partners, owners of Walker Col-
liery, were members, we believe, of the Grand Alliance ;
and so, if we mistake not, was Mr. Bigge, of Little Ben-
ton, father of the late Rev. J. F. Bigge, vicar of Stamford-
ham. Another once famous colliery of the system was
Percy Main, near North Shields. Many of these Tyne-
side pits were eventually filled with water, or " drowned
out " ; and to empty them by means of pumping, so as to
recover the valuable coal which is still left in them, has
taxed the ingenuity of our best engineers and lightened
the purses of some of our wealthiest citizens, being an
undertaking almost rivalling in magnitude and import-
ance the drying up, by a similar process, of the Dutch
polders.
The monopoly was brought to an end in 1845, railway
competition being the chief compelling cause. There havn
been, since that time, several abortive attempts to regu-
late the vend, and a number ef companies have been
formed, with more or less success, on the model of the
Grand Allies ; but, while some of these, such as the North
of England Coal Mining Company, expended the whole
of their large capital, and nearly as much more, in un-
lucky adventures, and others, like the South Hetton Coal
Company, encountered the most provoking engineering
difficulties before they at length won success, none of
them ever exceeded the profits, or equalled the fame, of
the Grand Allies.
174
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
EODAND is a term given to a personal chattel
which was the immediate cause of the death
of a rational creature, and which therefore was
forfeited to the Crown or lord of the manor, though the
chattel was generally released on payment of a fine. I
have copied two local instances from the Castle Eden
Registers : —
"Mem. On Tuesday, the 20th day of August, A.D.
1776, a bay mare, belonging to George Atkinson, of North
Leases Farm, in this manor and parish, having in a cer-
tain field, called the High Severals, in this manour, by a
kick or stroke given to John Horden, occasioned his
death, the said mare was this day seized by Rowland
Burdon, Esquire, lord of the manor of Castle Eden, as a
deodand, and the said George Atkinson having petitioned
the said Rowland Burdon to restore him his said mare,
he, the said Rowland Burdon, did graciously consent
thereto on payment of one shilling, which was paid in
our presence, and the said mare was thereupon restored.
As witness our hands, August 28, 1776.
".JOHN Toon, Minister.
"WILLIAM HARDING, Churchwarden."
"Beit remembered that on the 25th day of October,
1836, Pickering Craggs, landlord of the Railway Tavern
in Castle Eden, was, in consequence of slipping his foot
and falling, run over by a wheel ol the Thornley locomo-
tive engine, then passing along the Hartlepool Railway,
near to the said tavern, which injured him so much that
he died the same evening. That on the 27th day of the
same month the coroner's jury returned a verdict of acci-
dental death, and fixed a deodand of one shilling upon the
said wheel, which was claimed by and given to the poor
by Row hind Burdon as Lord of the Manor."
R. B.
Efftrtf at tfte gtartft Cauntm.
flAIRD is a well-known title all over the Borders
and in the South of Scotland for a landowner,
and answers pretty nearly to the word squire
as formerly used in England. The term, of frequent
occurrence in Scottish literature, is well known to readers
of Scott and Burns. Then there is the old rhyme : —
A knight of Gales (Calais),
A squire of Wales,
A laird of the North Countree :
A yeoman of Kent
With his yearly rent
Would buy them out all three.
Mr. Thomas Robson, the last Laird of Falstone of that
name, who died at a mature age some forty years ago,
was a worthy man of the old school, well known all
over North Tyne by his territorial designation. He
was a bachelor ; and his sister. Miss Robson, was the
mistress of his household, where an old-fashioned hos-
pitality prevailed. Miss Robson, whose name was Mary,
was generally known a* "Mally o' FaSsteean." A
brother named John also lived with them, and acted as
steward or overlooker of the estate, which the laird farmed
himself. The property lay on both sides of the Tyne,
extending to the moorlands on the north and south. On
the south side, where the laird "marched " with Smale,
there were frequent disputes between the shepherds of
the two farms, because of the trespassing of their flocks
beyond the boundary line, which was not fenced. This
trespassing, sometimes wilful, led to quarrels, and gome-
times to blows. "Johnny o' Faasteean," in one of these
encounters, was so severely mauled by the enemy, and
his head was so much swollen, that he was compelled to
trudge home with his hat in his hand.
The house at Falstone where the laird lived had for-
merly been one of the Border peel towers, with its thick
walls and arches over the lower storey. There is a large
kitchen, in which the laird used to sit ready to receive
and chat with all comers. And the wandering beggars
always had a night's lodging in an outhouse, with a
supper and breakfast of "crowdi«," at Falstone.
At Mr. Robson's death the estate descended to his
nephew, Thomas Ridley, whose mother, a widow, kept
the Falstone inn, the Black Cock. He was a bachelor,
and acted as parish clerk. In his uncle's lifetime he
assisted in the work of the farm. A man of delicate
health, he did not live long to enj-oy his property. He
was succeeded by his brother John, also a bachelor, tnd
past middle age when he came to the estate. • He, how-
ever, married when he was old, and at his death left a
widow and an infant daughter, who, I believe, now owns
the Falstone property, but does not live upon it.
The farm has for some time past been occupied by
Mr. Fergus Robson, who came of a worthy Tynedale
stock. His father, Adam Robson, of Emmethaugh, was
a highly respectable man, a rigid Presbyterian, an
elder of the kirk, and for that reason was generally
known as " Yeddie the Elder."
Before coming to Falstone Mr. Fergus Robson lived
long at Aikenshaw, or Oakenshaw, Burn, amidst the moor-
land solitudes between North Tyne and Llddesdale. Vet
this place, scarcely known to any but shepherds and
grouse shooters, has recently been made famous by one
of the sweetest singers of the Victorian era— A. C. Swin-
burne, whose grandfather, Sir John Swinburne, owned a
wide area of land in the district. In the recently pub-
lished "Poems and Ballads, " Third Series, by A. 0.
Swinburne, by far the best piece in the collection is " A
Jacobite's Exile, 1746." In that poem these lines occur : —
O, lordly flow the Loire and Seine,
And loud the dark Durance ;
But bonnier shine the braes of Tyne
Than a' the fields of France ;
And the waves of Till that speak sae still
Gleam goodlier where they glance.
On Aikenshaw the sun blinks braw,
The burn rins blithe and fain ;
There's nought wi' me I wadna (fie
To look thereon again.
On Keilder side the wind blaws wide :
There sounds nae hunting horn
That rings sae sweet as the winds that beat
Round banks where Tyne is born.
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
175
How few people even in Northumberland who read this
beautiful poem will know where to find Aikenshaw Burn.
It ia one of the affluents of the Lewis Burn, which joins
North Tyne nearly opposite Plashetts Station. In a letter
written in 1536 by Lord Eure to Cardinal Wolsey respect-
ing the Tynedale freebooters, Lewis Burn is described
as " a marvellous stronge grounde of woodes and waters."
The freebooters are gone, and the woods also. But the
waters still flow on and the burn still runs " blithe and
fain" as Swinburne saw it in his youth.
T. D. R.
antr
JESWICK may be regarded as the metropolis
of the English Lake District. The cheerful
little town consists of two or three consider-
able streets, the houses being of stone and
well built. In the outskirts there are
generally
numerous villas and hotels, many of which occupy
delightful situations.
the gross amount of wages paid annually being nearly
£4,000. It may be mentioned that most of the lead now
used is imported from Mexico and Peru.
Keswick was once celebrated for its woollen trade; but
a "rune," cut into a flagstone,
May God Almighty grant His aid
To Keswick and its woollen trade,
lately occupied a position in some part1 of a pencil manu-
factory. There are no woollen mills in the town now.
Some of the old writers took an unfavourable view of
Keswick. Leland calls it "a lytle poore market town."
Cair-den, in more gracious mood, refers to it as "a small
market town, many years famous for the copper works,
as appears from a charter of King Edward IV., and at
present inhabited by miners." A contributor to the
Gentleman's Mayazine, in 1751, stated that "the poorer
inhabitants of Keswick subsist chiefly by stealing, or
clandestinely buying off those that steal, the black lead,
which they sell to Jews or other hawkers." Hutchinson,
hardly less severe, avers that "Keswick is but a mean
village."
The miners of Keswick in the old time would most
probably be employed at the Newland mines, which
were discovered in Queen Elizabeth's time by Thomas
Thurland and Daniel Hetchletter, the latter a German
from Augsburg. A lawsuit took place between her
Majesty and Thomas Percy, Earl of ^Northumberland,
GRETA HALL.
The place is best known lor its black lead pencils,
which are made in large quantities, although the supply
of the celebrated mineral (or "wad," as the inhabitants
call it) has ceased, the mines in Borrowdale having been,
it is supposed, exhausted. It was feared at one time
that inferior pencils made in Germany and shipped to
England' would destroy the trade ; but the astute
Cumbrians quickly changed their tactics, and, producing
wood and varnish of equal quality to the Teuton manu-
facturers, overcame them in the markets by the quality
of the lead. The total number of lead pencils made in
one year is about 13,000,000, whilst the number of hands
employed of both sexes, including children, is about 200,
From Harper'* Magazine.
Copyright, 1881, by Harper & Brothers.
ROBERT SOUTHKT.
176
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/April
\1890.
the lord of the manor, which esded in favour of Queen
Bess and her prerogative, because more silver and gold
than copper, it is stated, was found ; the royal minerals
belonged to her, and the less precious metal to the
Percy.
Another industry, which deserves to flourish, has
lately been commenced in Keswick. This is beaten
metal of artistic design. The new industry has been
practically introduced by Mrs. Rawnsley, wife of the
Vicar of Crossthwaite, the Rev. H. D. Rawnsley.
There are few public buildings of any moment in
Keswick. The town hall is an unpretentious erection,
where eggs and butter are sold at the Saturday market.
This privilege dates from the time of Edward I., and
was obtained for the town at the instance of Sir John de
Derwentwater, the then lord of the manor. Certain
fairs for cattle, cheese, and hirings, are held at different
times of the year. The old Morlan fair which gave rise
to the proverb,
Morlan fluid
Ne'er did guid,
has long since been numbered with events of the past.
The floods in the neighbourhood are sometimes very
serious, and Derwentwater and Bassenthwaite Lake are
not unfrequently joined together. During a Morlan flood
a local clergyman was drowned at High Hill. Morlan is
from Maudlin, a corruption of Magdalen. An object of
interest in the town hall is the old bell upon which the
clock strikes, which has the date 1001 and the letters
H. D. R. 0. carved upon it, It was brought from
Lord's Island, and is supposed to have been a curfew
bell. In three establishments in Keswick may be seen
models of the Lake District, which are of great assist-
ance to tourists.
A short distance outside Keswick is Greta Hall, once
the residence of Robert Southey, Poet Laureate. It is a
beautiful retreat, and commands delightful prospects.
Here he wrote most of those works which gained for him
so high a position in the literary world of his day.
Southey breathed his last moments at Greta Hall in
184-3, having resided there for some thirty years. The
murmuring Greta flows past Southey's house, and the
banks of the stream were favourite haunts of the poet.
Crossing Greta Bridge from Keswick, we come to the
AND DERWENTWATER, FROM LATRIGG.
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
177
old village of Crossthwaite, and the parish church,
dedicated to St. Mungo, or St. Kentitrern, which lie at
the base of Skiddaw. The edifice is large, with heavy
buttresses and battlements, and a massive tower. It was
restored in 1845 by Mr. James Stanger, of Lairthwaite,
at a cost of £4,000. Amongst its ancient monuments is
one of Sir John Ratcliffe, who led the Cumberland men
to Flodden Field, an ancestor of the Earl of Derwent-
water, and Dame Alice, his wife, recumbent, in alabaster.
The font is curious, and bears the arms of Elward III.
The devices on it represent the Tree of Knowledge, the
Passion, the Trinity, Aaron's Rod, &c. Perhaps the
most important object in the church is the monument
to Southey by the Tyneside sculptor, John Graham
Lough, the epitaph on which was written by Words-
worth. The vicarage at Croasthwaite was the birth-
place of Mrs. Lynn Linton, the celebrated novelist.
The present vicar is an earnest student of Lake
literature, and himself a poet of deserved fame.
Derwentwater, sometimes called Keswick Lake, and
by the natives Daaran, is a compendium of most of the
Lake District. It is unnecessary here to enter into
comparisons with the other lakes ; but it may be briefly
stated that it is the most beautiful of them all on account
of the variety afforded by its wooded islands, the charm
of the adjacent valleys, and the grandeur of its surround-
ing mountains. Three miles in length, and over one mile
in breadth at its widest part, it partakes less of the char-
acter of a broad river than Windermere or Ulleswater.
Derwentwater is remarkable for the clearness and pla-
cidity its water, which reflects all the neighbouring objects
like a mirror. But there are times when the lake is
lashed into fury by storms ; then woe betide the occu-
pant of any frail boat that may be floating upon its
bosom. Not long since a young Newcastle man named
William Henry Porter came thus to an untimely end.
Trout, perch, pike, &c., abound in the lake. Attempts
have been made to naturalise the char, but without
success. Sometimes a bright, silvery fish, with heart-
shaped brain in a translucent skull, and with a mouth
• devoid of teeth, is found in a dying state, floating on the
surface of the water. It is supposed to be the vendace,
which until recently was thought to exist only in the
Castle Loch of Lochmaben, in Annandale.
Several islands and islets adorn Derwentwater. That
nearest to Keswick is Derwent Island, or Vicar's Island.
It is well wooded, is about six acres in extent, and has a
mansiou on it. This island formerly belonged to Foun-
tains Abbey in Yorkshire. St. Herbert's Island is about
a mile and a quarter from the Keswick shore, and near
the centre of the lake. Here dwelt a hermit named
Herbert who maintained a loving 'correspondence with
St. Cuthbert of Durham. The recluse of the island died
about A.D. 687. Tradition relates that St. Herbert and
St. Cuthbert died at the same hour.
Lord's Island derives its name from its having been in
the possession of the Earls of Derwentwater, whose resid-
ence was erected thereon, with materials obtained from a
stronghold on Castle Rigg, an adjacent eminence. But
the family relinquished the mansion when they went to
reside at Dilston, in Northumberland. The island was
formerly a peninsula, but was severed from the main land
by a deep, wide fosse, spanned by a drawbridge. The
foundations of the walls and the walks and gardens can
yet be traced. Almost all the land on the north-east
nf the lake belonged to the Derwentwater family until
VILLAGE OF GRANGE, BORROWDALB.
12
178
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
1715, when it was forfeited to the Crown. (See p. 1, ante.)
The Derwentwater estates were then transferred to the
trustees of the Greenwich Hospital. A hollow in Wallow
(or Walla) Crag, on the east of Derwentwater, is still
known as the Lady's Rake, from the circumstance that
the wife of the ill-fated Earl of Derwentwater is said to
have escaped to it with the family jewels at the time of
her husband's capture.
The floating island of Derwentwater and the cascade
of Lodore have already been described in the Monthly
Chronicle. (See pp. 64, 500, vol. iii.)
Our view of Derwentwater is taken from Latrigg Fell,
to the north of Keswick, which lies at the feet of the
spectator. The rounded eminence seen in the middle
distance to the left is CastleheaJ or Castlet, near which
are Lord's Island and the islet of Bampsholm. St. Her"
bert's Island is in the centre of the lake. The peak to
the right is Catbell ; and the lesser eminence to the left
of the view at the entrance to Borrowdale is Castle Crag.
Among the mountains seen in the extreme distance are
Scawfell and Glaramara.
A short distance from the head of Derwentwater, and in
the very "jaws of Borrowdale," is the hamlet of Grange.
It is a favourite subject with artists, the combination of
wood and water, bridge and mountain, being of a striking
character. The name is derived from the fact that it
was there that the monks of Furness, who had consider-
able landed possessions in the neighbourhood, stored their
grain. Near to Grange there is a remarkably fine echo.
Some of the cottages in this neighbourhood are ancient.
Our drawings of Greta Hall, Grange, and Derwent-
water are taken from photographs by Mr. Pettit, of
Keswick.
tft* itfntt, liittij at
j|HE exact limits of England and Scotland
were for a long time undetermined. North-
umberland as far as the Tyne, as well as
Cumberland, was as often under Scottish as
under English rule, while, on the other hand, the basin
of the Tweed and its tributaries, and even Lothian, were
during more than one prosperous Southern and feeble
Northern reign reckoned part of England.
On the accession, in the year 1163, of William the Lion
to the Scottish throne, that monarch was resolved to pro-
secute his claim to what he deemed his ancestral inherit-
ance lying southward of the Tweed and Solway, forfeited
in a previous reign ; and Henry II. of England, being
then at war with his rebellious vassals on the Continent,
soothed him with fair promises to end all disputes as to
territory as soon as he should have leisure to attend to
the matter. But seven years elapsed, and William got no
redress. Irritated at this delay, he responded to an ap-
plication made by King Henry's sons, who had risen in
rebellion against their father. William laid the case
before his baronage, in plenary Parliament asembled, so
as to get their advice. The Earl of Fife counselled hii
liege lord to demand his rights from King Henry "with-
out any subterfuge," and then, if the demand were
acceded to, to go to his succour with all speed against
his sons. Messengers were accordingly sent off to King
Henry, then in Normandy, offering that, if he would
fulfil his promise, King William would forthwith assist
him with a thousand knights armed, and thirty thousand
"unarmed," that is, not sheathed in mail, who, he gua-
ranteed, " would give his Highnesse's enemies wonderful
trouble." Henry, it seems, was not apprehensive at
that juncture of anything that his sons or the King of
France or the Count of Flanders could do against him ;
and so gave the Scotch ambassador a somewhat saucy
answer, reported to be of the following tenor : —
You ask me for my land as your inheritance,
As if I were imprisoned as a bird in a cage ;
I am neither a fugitive from the land nor become a savage,
But I am King of England in the plains and the woods ;
I will not give you through my need, in this first stage,
Any increase of land. This is my message,
But I shall see whether you will show me love and friend-
ship.
How you will behave, foolish or wise,
And act accordingly.
Incensed by this reply, William at once resolved to
invade England. Eugelram, Bishop of Glasgow, Wai-
theof, Earl of Dunbar, and others, tried to dissuade him,
but in vain. Determining in the first place to take the
castle of Wark-on-Tweed, he mustered his forces at a
place on the Tweed called Caldonie, now Caddonlee, in
Selkirkshire, between Galashiels and Innerleithen, famous
of late years for its extensive vineries. There were as-
sembled Highlanders from Ross and Cromarty, Lochaber,
Badenoch, Strathspey, Mar, Athol, Appin, Lorn, Bread-
albane, Angus, and the Lennox ; Lowlanders from Moray,
Buchan, Formartine, the Mearns, Strathmore, Gowry,
Fife, and the Lothians ; West-Countrymen from Lanark,
Renfrew, Cunningham. Kyle, and Carrick; South-
Countrymen from the Merse and Teviotdale, Tweeddale,
Ettrick Forest, Eskdale, Liddesdale, Annandale, and
Nithsdale; and Galwegians from the Stewartry, the
Machars, and the Rinns, "men almost naked, but fleet
and remarkably bold, armed with small knives at their
left sides, and javelins in their hands which they could
throw to a great distance, and setting up, when they went
to fight, a long lance." There were also a stout band of
Flemish auxiliaries, fully equipped. More than three
thousand barons, knights, squires, and men-at-arms,
clad in ring-armour, and so many "naked people" that
the chronicler hesitates to enumerate them, followed the
Scottish lion-rampant on this campaign, the first in
which it was hoisted.
Crossing the river Tweed by one or other of the numer-
ous fords, William arrived before Wark, and summoned
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
179
the constable, Roger d'Estuteville, to render up the castle.
But Roger, "who never liked treason nor to serve the
devil," was not disposed to do so till he should be driven
to extremity. Feeling his powerlessness against so great a
host, the like of which, says Joseph Fantosme, Chancellor
of the Diocese of Winchester, who wrote a metrical
account of the events, " came not out of Scotland since
the days of Elias," Roger begged for a forty days' truce,
so that he might send beyond the sea his "letters upon
wax," to get assistance from King Henry, if possible.
The King of Scots granted his request, and meanwhile
determined to make his way through Northumberland.
Hugh de Pudsey, the warlike and turbulent Bishop of
Durham, the late King Stephen's nephew, either indif-
ferent to the quarrel or favourable on the whole to the
invader, sent messengers to say that he wished to remain
at peace or neutral, and that neither from him nor his
should the Scots have any disturbance, if they only made
no ravages nor spoliation on their march through St.
Cuthbert's patrimony.
So " the great host of Albany," as Fantosme designates
it, came away from North Durham direct to Alnwick ;
but, being apparently without siege apparatus, and Wil-
liam de Vesci, illegitimate son of the lord of that castle,
who had been entrusted by his father with the command,
being resolutely determined to hold out so long as his
provisions should last, William incontinently marched
onward, past Warkworth Castle, " pillaging and destroy-
ing the land next the sea, not leaving an ox to draw a
plough behind him," but not deigning to stop at Wark-
worth, "for weak was the castle, the wall, and the
trench," so he thought he might safely leave it in his
rear. Arrived before Newcastle, the lord of which,
Roger Fitz Richard, replied to his summons with a taunt
of proud defiance, William soon saw, unless he could
starve the garrison out, or bribe some of the subalterns,
he was not at all likely to get possession of the place ;
and so he turned aside, up the rich valley of the Tyne, his
people "overrunning all the country like heather."
Prudhoe Castle, defended by Odonel de XJmfraville, was
left in the meantime intact, though William had sworn
to give Odonel no terms nor respite, wishing that, if he
did, he might be "cursed, excommunicated by priest,
with bell, book, and candle, shamed and discomfited."
Carlisle was next beleaguered. But its valiant com-
mander, Robert de Vaulx, well seconded by John Fitz
Odard, defended the place resolutely, though their assail-
ants, " if Fantosme does not lie " (this is his own expres-
sion), exceeded forty thousand. The invaders, however,
broke open the churches and committed gnat robberies
wherever they went throughout Cumberland, so that the
land, which had been " full of property, was now spoiled
and destitute of all riches, there being no drink but
spring water, where they used to have beer every day in
the week."
But news being brought King William that a powerful
English army, under Richard de Lucy and Humphrey de
Bohun, was advancing northwards to repel the invasion,
his counsellors, with some difficulty, got him pertuaded
that it would be best to retire for a while to their own
country with the booty they had secured ; and he
accordingly marched slowly and moodily homeward,
spreading wreck and ruin wherever he went. For
"never was there a country, from here to the passes of
Spain," says Joseph Fantosme, who was himself an
eye-witness to the devastation, "once so fruitful in soil
and so plenished with people, now so wofully harried as
these North Countries are."
Still determined to vindicate his claims, William again
crossed the border in the beginning of April, 1174, with a
large army, composed of Flemish auxiliaries, horse and
foot, as well as of Scottish soldiers, both Lowland and
Highland, estimated to be in all eighty thousand strong,
though this may be an exaggeration. Dividing his forces,
for commissariat as well as other good reasons, he directed
his brother, Earl David, to march straight through the
heart of the country, and co-operate with the rebellious
Earls of Leicester and Ferrers, Earl Hugh de Bigod,
Lord Roger of Mowbray, and other malcontent barons,
who were then in Norfolk and thereabouts, "getting the
land on fire," at the head of a strong body of Flemings.
Earl David, says the chronicler, "in England warred
very well. " "Whatever maybe said of him," adds he.
" he was a most gentle warrior, so God bless me. For
never by him was robbed holy church or abbey, and none
under his orders would have injured a priest or canon who
knew grammar, and no man would be displeased on any
account." He carried off, notwithstanding this courtesy
to the religious of both sexes, " such a booty as seemed to
him very fine." But his royal brother, though as brave
as 1:3, did not fare so well. He again invested Wark
Castle, but with as little success as before. Then he pre-
pared at night a great number of chevaliers, and imme-
diately despatched them to the castle of Bamborough, on
the way whither they committed all sorts of atrocities,
sacking the town of Belford, burning villages, hamlats,
and farm-onsteads, emptying the cattle pens and sheep-
folds, surprising the men asleep in their beds, leading
them off prisoners "in their cords like heathen people,"
and ravishing the women, who fled to the nearest
churches, "naked without clothes."
After suffering the loss of many men before Wark,
William went away, "with his great gathered host,
towards Carlisle the fair, the strong garrisoned city,"
where Roger de Vaulx still held the chief command. But
the place being an bravely defended as before, h» left part
of his army to carry on the siege, and employed the rest
of it in subduing and wasting the neighbouring lands
belonging to the English king and the barons faithful to
him. He took the castle of Liddel, »t the confluence of
the Lid and the Esk, and those of Brough and Appleby
in Westmoreland, as well as those of Warkworth and Har-
180
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
(•April
bottle in Northumberland Then he returned to Carlisle ;
and, having continued the siege until the provisions of the
garrison began to fail, De Vaulx agreed to surrender the
place at the following Michaelmas, if he should not in the
interval receive succour from the English king. William
next marched from Carlisle to Prudhoe, where he met
with a brave resistance, which gave time to the lord of
the castle, Odonel de Umfraville, to collect a considerable
force, on the approach of which William raised the sieee
of Prudhoe, and retired once more towards his own
country, burning and wasting by the way whatever had
yet been left, and sanctioning the most horrid barbarities
by the wild Galloway men as they passed Warkworth,
where three priests in the church were shockingly muti-
lated, and several hundred men were massacred in cold
blood, besides women and children. (See page 28.)
With a third part of his army, William himself now
blockaded Alnwick, while the other two-thirds were em-
ployed in pillaging and laying waste the adjoining terri-
tory. One chronicler says the king remained at Alnwick
with no more than his domestics or guards ( cum privata
familia sua), and that William de Vesci's people, aware
of this, gave their friends outside such intelligence of his
unguarded situation as encouraged William d'Stuteville,
Ranulph de Glanville, Ralph de Tilly, Bernard de Baliol,
and Odonel de Umfraville, to form the project of sur-
prising him in his quarters. For this purpose, having set
out with four hundred horse, at the dawn of day, from
Newcastle, they marched with such speed that before five
they arrived in the neighbourhood of Alnwick. A thick
fog had covered their march, but at the same time made
them doubtful of their own situation, which raised in
some of the company such apprehensions of hazard that
they were prepared to return. Bernard de Baliol, however,
swore that he would go forward and brave all risks, even
though he and his men should have to proceed alone ; and
the rest of the lords having been persuaded to push on
accordingly, and the fog happily dissipating, the party
soon had the pleasure of discovering, at a short distance,
the castle of Alnwick, which they knew would afford
them a secure retreat in case their enemies should turn
out to be over numerous.
As they came nearer, they perceived the King of Scots
riding out in the open fields, accompanied only by a troop
of about sixty horsemen, free from all apprehension of
danger, and taking his royal pleasure. On noticing their
approach, William naturally mistook them for some of
his own "men returning from foraging, or rather ravaging ;
but the display of their ensigns soon undeceived him,
The king disdained to turn his back. So, putting himself
at the head of his small company, he attacked his foes
with the most undaunted resolution, confiding, as William
of IJewbury tells ns, in the multitude of his forces in the
country round, though at too great a distance to help him
on the instant, but certain to come to his succour as soon
as the alarm should be raised.
Before any such help could come, however, William
was surrounded by his enemies. The first of them who
encountered him he struck to the earth by a single blow.
And the issue of the fierce contest that ensued would
have been very doubtful, had not an English sergeant
pierced the flank of the grey horse on which the king
rode, whereupon the gallant charger sank to the ground,
and his rider found himself unable to rise. In this
dilemma he was taken prisoner, as were almost all his
attendants. The chronicler says he saw the whole affair,
" with his two eyes." William at once surrendered him-
self to Ranulph de Glanville. " He could not do other-
wise ; what else could he do ? " He was disarmed,
mounted on a palfrey, and led away to Newcastle, where
he was lodged over the night. From Newcastle the cap-
tive was carried to Richmond, and detained in the castle
there, until orders should be received from the King of
England how to dispose of him. The intelligence of this
disaster, of course, soon spread through the widely-scat-
tered bands of the Scottish army, and threw them into
the greatest consternation. The fierce Highland Scots
and Galloway men, who hated the English inhabitants
of the towns and boroughs in the southern and eastern
parts of Scotland quite as much as they did the English
south of the Tweed, being now free from restraint, cut off
all their English fellow -subjects who came in their way,
so that only those escaped who could flee to places of
strength.
In the meantime, King Henry returned from the Con-
tinent, " stung to the heart with repentance and of a
contrite spirit," if the Chronicle of Melrose is to be-
believed, on account of the murder, at his instigation,
of Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. Imme-
diately on his arrival, walking barefoot, clothed in
woollen garment?, he visited the sepulchre of the now
canonised saint, attended by a numerous body of bishops
and nobles, and there and then, as a penance, submitted
to be soundly flogged by the monks of Christ Church,
laying, besides, rich offerings on the saint's shrine, and
thereby making his peace with Holy Mother Church. It
was on the morrow after Henry had humbled himself in
this manner that the King of Scots was taken prisoner.
Moreover, sooth to say, a fleet which was to have invaded
England, setting sail from Flanders, was scattered by a
tempest on the very day that the old king's excommuni-
cation was taken off. Both these pieces of good fortune
were generally attributed to the powerful intercession of
St. Thomas of Canterbury at the court of high heaven.
However this may have been, Henry lost no time in im-
proving such quite unforeseen advantages. He marched
against his rebel barons, and in less than a month com-
pelled them all to surrender their castles as well as their
persons at discretion.
The Scottish prisoner was forthwith brought to King
Henry at Northampton, having his feet tied under the
belly of the horse that carried him. Thither also came
A mill
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
181
Bishop Pudsey, the only one of the English prelates who
during these harassing civil broils had given Henry any
cause to suspect his loyalty. He had allowed the King of
Scots to pass without opposition through his palatinate in
the preceding year, and had this year sent, without asking
his liege lord's permission, for a body of Flemings, con-
sisting of forty knights and five hundred foot, under his
nephew, Hugh de Bar, who landed at Hartlepool on the
very day when the King of Scots was taken prisoner. On
that event transpiring, the foot were immediately sent
home, but the knights were detained to meet contingen-
cies, and lodged in the bishop's castle of Northallerton.
All this looked very like high treason ; but Pudsey
managed, notwithstanding, to molify the king by paying
him a large sum of money — 2,000 marks (about £1,350
sterling), and delivering up to him not only his North
Yorkshire fortress, but likewise the much more important
castles of Durham and Norham, which latter he had only
lately strengthened at considerable cost.
And now Henry, having re-established his power in
England, returned in great haste to Normandy, where
danger still threatened, carrying with him the King of
Scots, whom he imprisoned, first at Caen, and afterwards
at Falaise. He wajs everywhere victorious, and so, on the
8th of December, 1174, he concluded a treaty with Wil-
liam, by which that unlucky monarch regained his per-
sonal liberty, but as the price of it brought himself and
his kingdom into a state of vassalage to the King of Eng-
land as his superior lord, in testimony of which he paid
homage and swore fealty.
The bondage into which the King of Scots had con-
sented to bring himself and his subjects continued till the
year 1189, when Richard Cceur de Lion, desirous, before
his departure to the Holy Land, of gaining the friendship
of William and his Scottish subjects, restored to him by
charter the castles of Berwick and Roxburgh, which the
English had held for about twenty-five years, and with-
drew all claim to any superiority over Scotland itself, re-
cognising only the feudal arrangements with regard to
the lands and honours held by the Kings of Scotland on
English ground. For this great boon 10,000 marks
was paid by the Scots to the King of England.
A monument, erected about the middle of last century
within a plantation on the south side of Rotten Row,
close to Alnwick, marked the spot were tradition says
William was captured. Mr. Tate, the historian of Aln-
wick, says it was in the pseudo-Gothic style, which pre-
vailed at the time of its erection, and was interesting as
an illustration of the style of the period. When Mr.
Tate wrote, it had recently been taken down and replaced
by a large, square, smooth, block of sandstone nearly
three feet in height, resting on two steps, with a polished
granite tablet inserted in the face of it, and inscribed as
follows: — "William the Lion, King of Scotland, besieging
Alnwick Castle, was here taken prisoner MCLXXIV."
Ranulph de Glanville, who took William captive, was
one of the greatest men of his time, being "a perfect
knight, skilled in the art of war, a good classical scholar,
and a profound lawyer." He is supposed to be the author
of one of the oldest treatises " on the laws and customs
of the kingdom of England," a work which ranks with
those of Britton, Bracton, and Fleta, and which, having
been the first attempt to bring English law under fixed
principles, entitles Glanville to be called the father of
English jurisprudence. He accompanied King Richard
in the crusade, and fell at the siege of Acre in 1190.
G. F. ROBINSON.
|| HE subject of this notice, George Finlay Robin-
son, was born at Whickliam, in the county of
Durham. Mr. Robinson served his time as
an engraver with the late William Collard, of Newcastle,
the publisher of "Collard's Views of Newcastle." It
may surprise many of his contemporaries to learn that he
both drew and engraved the principal subjects of that
collection, although the names of old T. M. Richardson
and J. W. Carmichael appeared on the engravings.
Mr. Robinson also made original drawings for Hodgson's
"History of Northumberland," and engraved many of
the views which appeared in that work. Having secured
an engagement with Messrs. M. and M. W. Lambert, of
Newcastle, he undertook the management of the artistic
section of their establishment, and he was connected
with that firm for nearly half a century.
As a lithographic draughtsman, Mr. Robinson made
original drawings of many important buildings for the
late John Dobson and other architects in the North.
These drawings often secured for his temporary em-
ployers valuable prizes in competitions, and several of
them were exhibited at the Royal Academy. He also
made original drawings and engravings of many views in
Sunderland and other places for the River Wear Com-
missioners.
In his early years, Mr. Robinson was an ardent student
of art. He was one of a group of amateur artists (which
included Mr. J. H. Mole, the landscape painter, Mr.
Brown, engraver, and Mr. Thomas Harper, water-colour
artist) who some half a century ago met together in
Newcastle to study drawing. Of these, only Mr.
Harper and Mr. Robinson survive. His great delight
was in water-colour painting, but it was not often that he
could find time to indulge his tastes. Now and again he
exhibited his works. Even so far back as 1837 he was in
evidence at one of the local exhibitions. His principal
efforts have, however, been put forth during the last
182
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/April
I 1890.
dozen years. When the daguerreotype process of photo-
graphy came into vogue, Mr. Robinson gave it his careful
consideration, and, for a time, he practised the art-science.
He, in fact, was the first to introduce it into the North.
Like many other artists, he did not find it very
satisfying, and he soon relinquished it for his favourite
art of water-colour painting. Mr. Robinson has been
represented by pictures in every art exhibition
held in Newcastle since the year 1837.
ceived his early education at the school thera, and,
under the tuition of a Mr. Hoch, first developed a liking
for drawing and painting. It was his wish to study art,
but family prejudices were too strong, and he had to be
content with drawing, as he himself puts it, in "an aim-
less, hopeless way," with no one to teach or advise him,
until 1860, in which year he was articled to an architect.
Having spent five years in attempting to see something
During the course of his long life, Mr. Robinson has
been acquainted with most of the local celebrities or art
masters. In addition to those previously mentioned,
he was intimate with Thomas Carrick, the miniature
painter ; T. A. Prior, the engraver of Turner's
"Heidelberg"; J. W. Carmichael, who urged Mr.
Robinson to become a professional artist, promising him
every assistance ; J. W. Ewbank, whose later years were
embittered by poverty due to his own improvidence and
excesses ; H. H. Emmerson, who was apprenticed to Mr.
Robinson as an engraver ; and John Surtees, who made
his first sketch from nature in Mr. Robinson's company.
ARTHUR H. MAKSH, A.R.W.S.
Mr. Arthur H. Marsh was brought up at the Moravian
village of Fairfield, near Ashton-under-Lyne. He re-
artistic in the building of certain villa residences, Man-
chester warehouses, engineering workshops, &c., Mr.
Marsh threw aside his T square and compasses, and de-
voted himself wholly to painting. He had now to learn
his adopted profession after having wasted many valuable
years. He commenced at the bottom of the ladder,
attended lectures on anatomy, and studied at the life
class. Mr. Marsh was fortunate in meeting Mr. J. D.
Watson, the well-known artiit, who became at once " his
guide, philosopher, and friend." Acting upon his advice,
Mr. Marsh went to London, and worked hard in the day-
time at the British Museum and National Gallery, and
every evening at the life class of the Artists' Society,
Langham Place. Mr. Marsh commenced the practical
work of his life by painting Shakspearian and other ro-
mantic subjects. Then he went to Wales, and there de-
picted rustic life from nature, and more particularly the
people who carry on the pearl fishery at the mouth of the
river Conway. In 1869, shortly after having been elected
an associate of the Old Water Colour Society, Mr. Marsh
met, at the house of Mr. Birket Foster in Surrey, Mr.
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
183
A. S. Stevenson, of Tynemouth. That gentlemen had
asked Mr. Orchardson, R.A., Mr. J. D. Watson, and his
youngest brother, Mr. T. J. Watson (now an associate of
the Old Water Colour Society also), to visit him in the
North, and kindly extended the invitation to Mr. Marsh.
This was his first appearance in Northumberland, and
since then, with the exception of a period of about three
years from 1877, he has continued to reside there. He
was much struck by the fine physique and picturesqueness
of the Northumbrian fisher folk, as well as by the rugged
fierceness of its rock-bound coast — all so different from
what he had been accustomed to. He believes that in
Northumberland there is a mine of wealth in subjects for
the painter, from the toilers of the fields, among whom,
though sometimes sombre in colour, many attractive and
beautiful groups are seen, to the toilers of the sea, whose
life is an endless source of suggestiveness to the fancy of
the painter, whether it be lively or whether it be sad.
Some years ago Mr. Marsh became a member of the
Society of British Artists, but after a time resigned. He
has exhibited principally at the Royal Academy, the
Society of Painters in Water Colours, the Grosvenor
Gallery, at Manchester and Newcastle, and at the Paris
International Exhibitions of 1876 and 1889.
J. ROCK JONES.
Mr. J. Rock Jones was born in the Isle of Man. His
father, a portrait painter with Mr. Sass and Mr. Ramsey
in London, came to Newcastle in 1840, and was on inti-
mate terms with H. P. Parker and the elder T. M.
Richardson, Young Jones evinced a taste for art at an
early age, and took especial
delight in copying pictures
by Richardson, Copley Field-
ing, David Cox, and others,
that were lent out by Mr.
Kaye, artist colouruian and
stationer, Blackett Street,
Newcastle. Educated pri-
vately, he had every oppor-
tunity given him for the
study of drawing. Mr.
Jones occupies a high posi-
tion as an art instructor, which profession he has followed
with conspicuous success for some years. He was one of
the first members of the Newcastle Life School, which
afterwards developed into the present Bewick Club, on the
art council of which he is a most active member. Mr.
Jones is the author of a book entitled " Groups for Still-
Life Drawing and Painting," and a series of papers called
"Leisure-graphs, or Recollections of an Artist's Rambles.'"
Moreover, he has delivered several lectures on popular
art subjects, and in 1887 he wan elected a member of the
Society of Science, Letters, and Art, London.
STEPHEN BROWNLOW.
Mr. Stephen Brownlow, a well-known 'member of the
Bewick Club, is a painter of river scenes and general
landscapes. Confining him-
self almost entirely to sub-
jects in the immediate vici-
nity of Newcastle, he may
be regarded in the light of a
local recorder. He has suc-
cessfully exhibited at all the
art exhibitions held in New-
castle during the last dozen
years. Born in Jesmond in
1828, he devoted himself at
an early age to the study of
pictorial art. For some time he received instructions in
drawing from Mr. W. B. Scott, but is in a great measure
self-taught.
knows, or ought to know, the
story of John Scott and Bessie Surtees ; it
is told at length on page 271 of the Monthly
Chronicle for 1888 ; and our only reason for
alluding to it now is to introduce the sketch made by
Mr. J. Gillis Brown of the house on the bridge crossed
by the future Lord Eldon and the slim maiden whose
exit from a slimmer window has always puzzled students
of Newcastle history.
The house is situated, of course, at the Scottish end of
Coldstream Bridge, so that runaway couples had only to
cross the Tweed before they found a " priest " ready to
discharge functions which, though self-assumed, wer«
none the less binding. The "priest" would be familiar
with the rattle of wheels approaching from the high
ground at Cornhill, and little time would be lost in
going through the easy formalities which made the
young people man and wife. Coldstream Bridge, the
scene of these escapades, is situated midway between
Cornhill, a station on the Kelso branch of the North-
Eastern Railway, and Coldstream, a small town lying
pleasantly on the north bank of the Tweed and a short
distance westward.
Coldstream was the town where General Monk rained
the regiment which first introduced the Coldstream
Guards into the British army. A convent of Cistercian
nuns was here founded by Cospatrick (the last of this
name), Earl of Dunbar, and Derder, his Countess. The
nuns were brought from the Cistercian convent at
Withow, in England. This foundation was probably
made soon after the end of the reign of that pious
184
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
(Acril
\ 1890.
monarch, David I.; for the last Cospatrick succeeded
his father in 1147, and died in 1166. The convent was
dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and was endowed so
liberally as to be one of the richest monasteries in
Scotland. The prioress of Coldstream, no doubt, sub-
mitted to Edward I., as in 1297 he gave her a writ of
protection for her person, her nuns, and her estates.
After the battle of Halidon Hill in 1333, the prioress,
with the Master of Coldstream, submitted to the
conqueror, and was received into his protection. In
1419, John de Wessington, the prior of Durham,
confirmed the lands of Little Swinton to the nuns of
Coldstream. When Margaret, the queen mother, with
her husband, Angus, fled from the Scottish Regent, the
Duke of Albany, in 1515, the monastery of Coldstream
furnished them a sure sanctuary till they were kindly
received into England. Hardly a trace of this institu-
tion remains.
A correspondent of the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle
writes as follows : —
The foundation stone of the bridge over the Tweed at
Coldstream was laid on May 24th, 1763 (the Gentleman's
Magazine says the 18th) by Alexander, seventh Earl of
Home (of the Hirsel, Coldstream), brother of that Lord
John Home who was taken prisoner in the Rebellion of
1715 and found guilty of high treason, but reprieved in
1717.
A toll-house was built on the north side, the Scotch
end, and tolls continued to be collected up to about 1820,
when, the bridge having been paid for, Sir John Marjori-
banks, of the Lees, was instrumental in bringing about
their abolition. The toll-house, which had always served
as a hymeneal altar for the performance of Border
marriages, was turned into an inn, and remained so
till within a few years ago, when I think the last inn-
keeper was Willie Lauder. The runaway marriages were
not the only ones performed. I know several couples who
were joined together there, and it appears to have been
commonly regarded as a sort of register office.
The centre of the bridge was generally the spot selected
for the rendezvous of excise officers, and two of them,
mounted, used to patrol the bridge to prevent the
smuggling of whisky and salmon. I have heard more
than one good anecdote of encounters with these gentle-
men.
The "priest" at the toll-house was not always the
proverbial blacksmith. I believe the office was held at
various periods by tailors and shoemakers as well. There
was another I have heard of who united the profession of
a mole-catcher with his clerical duties.
I believe the last " priest " was also the town-crier of
Coldstream. He was, like all his predecessors, fond jf
his cups, and on one occasion he is said to have fallen
from the omnibus that travels between the town and the
railway station, the fall resulting in a bioken leg, which
had to be amputated.
Another correspondent gives the following account of
an exciting incident that occurred at Coldstream
Bridge :—
Mr. Parker, a farm student with Mr. Smith, of New
Etal, was driving homewards from Coldstream in a high-
wheeled dogcart. The horse was a high-spirited chestnut,
which Mr. Parker used for hunting purposes as well as for
driving. No one sat in front of the trap along with Mr.
Parker, but the groom sat behind. On passing the
manse of Coldstream, the horse bolted and ran away
at full speed. The groom held on until he reached the
turn of the road, a short distance past the Marjori-
banks Monument, when he jumped off and broke his leg.
Mr. Parker stuck gallantly to the reins, bearing to the
left with all his strength in the hope of being able to run
the horse into the vacant piece of ground at the north end
of the Bridge Inn (the old toll-house), or, failing that, to
NORTH-COUNTRJ LORE AND LEGEND.
185
steer on to the bridge by a wide turn so as to clear the
corner of the right hand parapet. Unfortunately for Mr.
Parker's tactics, the horse was not sufficiently eased when
he reached the bridge, and the result was that the near
wheel of the trap struck the left hand parapet with such
force that Mr. Parker shot up almost perpendicularly to a
considerable height into the air, and dropped about forty-
five feet into the river. He alighted outstretched on his
back in about two feet of water, and about a yard from
the land. His escape from the water was so quickly
•effected that his clothing was only superficially wet, and
lie was unhurt, not having sustained the slightest injury.
Singular to relate, the horse did not fall, but galloped off
homewards with the shafts dangling at his heels. In
commemoration of Mr. Parker's miraculous feat, my son
cut the words "Parker's Leap" on the stone coping of
the parapet of the bridge at or about the place where the
accident happened.
JJNE of the oldest and most interesting of North-
umbrian peles is Crawley Tower, which is
situate about half-a-dozen miles to the west
of Aluwick. It occupies the east angle of a Roman
camp, and appears to have been constructed out of
the ruined masonry of the ramparts. The camp is 290
feet long and 160 feet broad, and is surrounded by
a fosse 20 feet wide, and an agger 20 feet thick. As
the Devil's Causeway— a branch from the Watling Street
— crossed the Breamish just below, this strong military
station was, no doubt, says Mr. Tomlinson, intended to
guard the passage and keep in subjection the tribes who
occupied the numerous camps of the district. Crawley
was anciently spelt Crawlawe, supposed to be a corruption
of caer, a fort, and Ian; a hill.
ft
atttt Cira»ittirtari*&
THE OAK-TREE COFFINS OF FEATHERSTONE.
About three miles to the south-west of Haltwhistle,
close by the river Tyne, stands the historic castle of
Featherstone. In a field or haugh, on the Wydon Eals
Farm, have been found, from time to time coffins, of great
antiquarian interest. This field has a history. A deed
exists bearing date A.D. 1223, relating to what is called
"Temple Land." The field is part of it, and, until re-
cently, from time immemorial, the owner of Featherstone
has had to pay a charge of nineteen shillings per annum
on account of it to the Dean and Chapter of Carlisle,
being the only property that that body possessed in
Northumberland. They had no title to it but prescrip-
tion. It is situated about 200 yards from the river, and in
it have been found the foundations of ancient buildings.
In the year 1825 some drainers carne upon what
they took to be buried trees of the olden time. They lay
mostly east and west, and were from five to six feet from
the surface. The wood, however, sounded hollow, and on
unearthing one they found that it was in two halves,
and hollowed out in the middle to the extent of about the
size of a man's body. Some bones were also found in it,
which, on being exposed to the air, crumbled away. The
cavity had evidently been made by human hands
with rough implements. Other coffins were brought to the
surface, one of which contained a human skull. All the
coffins were similarly fashioned.
Several similar coffins have been found since. In Aug.,
1869, Mr. T. W. Snagge and Mr. Clark, the land steward,
made a systematic exploration of the
whole field. A boring-rod was driven
down in various parts, and almost
constantly touched coffins five or six
feet below the surface. In one place
a trench was made fifteen feet long
and four feet wide, where many
coffins lay together, one of which was
bared and brought to the surface. It
contained a few bones, and had evi-
dently never been disturbed before.
It was similar to all the others, being
a huge bole of an oak tree, split or
riven from end to end by rough
wedges, hollowed out sufficiently to re-
ceive a human body, and fastened to-
gether again by oaken pegs driven
into holes made with hot irons. The
outside of the coffin1 was roughly
rounded off at the ends, and a wooden
" patch " had been fastened on to a
knot-hole in the same way. It mea-
sured as follows : — Length, 7ft. 4in. ;
girth, 5ft. 4in. ; inside hollow, 5ft
186
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
lOiin. by 1ft. Tin. ; depth of hollow, including the lid,
1ft. lin. The foot of the hollow space was indented,
apparently to receive the feet.
Antiquaries are by no means agreed as to the age of
the coffins. From two centuries B.C. to two or thrae cen-
turies A.D. appears to be about the date fixed.
THOMAS CARRICK, Keswick.
CURIOUS CUSTOMS OF THE LAKE DISTRICT.
One remarkable custom in the Lake District, in which
I spent many years of my youth, is not mentioned in
the article that appears in the Monthly Chronicle, page
130. I allude to that of firing guns over the house of
the bride and bridegroom on the night of their marriage.
It is (or at least in my day used to be) a common thing
for a party of young men, friends of the bridal pair, to go
to the house about ten o'clock, or later, and give them
this noisy salute. I suppose good fellowship, coupled
with drink, is the anticipated result. The same custom
prevails in Norway, the birth-place of the Cumberland
race. But since its origin must date later than that of
the invention of powder, and Norwegians seem to have
had possession of our mountain country quite 800 years
ago, it would seem that the custom in Cumberland has
little or nothing to do with our Scandinavian descent.
J. R. C., Charing, Kent
FAIRY PIPES.
Fairy pipes seem to be pretty well distributed in these
islands wherever there are old mounds, old rubbish heaps,
or undisturbed foundations. Some years ago, in pulling
down theLeadenhall Press buildings, at the back of which
once ran a purling trout stream through a large farm,
many ancient tobacco (?) pipes were found, all broken off
short as described by previous correspondents of the
Monthly Chronicle. (See Tol. iii., page 561.) I have met
with them elsewhere, but have never seen a perfect one.
ANDREW \V. TUER, London.
Her rtlT=C0imtrt> tlltUV Wttnuntr.
THE ATLANTIC CABLE.
Several workmen met in a public-house at Felling
Shore, and conversed on various topics. One of the sons
of toil described the various important jobs at which he
had assisted, and added: — "Aa helped te myek the
Atlantic cable." "When and whor did ye help te de
that ? " asked a companion. " Wey," was the reply, " aa
struck te the chainmakor that myed it at Haaks's ! "
THE INFLUENZA.
A working man of mature age went into a tradesman's
shop in Sunderland the other day. As he had a glove on
one of his hands, the shopkeeper said to him, " Hollo !
what's the matter with your hand!" "Oh! aa dinnet
knaa," was the reply, in a dull dispirited way, "aa've
lost aall poo'er in't ; aa think its that new thing gannin'
aboot ; influenzy, or whativvor they caall't!"
THE PITMAN AND HIS FRIENDS.
A pitman went to visit some friends. As he was
coming away, it began to rain, and his friends asked him
to stay all night. He said he would, but was soon after-
wards missed by his friends. About an hour later he
returned, his clothes being wet through with rain. Asked
where he had been, he replied : — "Aa've been telling ma
wife that aa's ganning te stay from hyem the neet ! "
ARMSTRONG'S MEN.
Not many mornings ago, as Armstrong, Mitchell, and
Company's night-shift men were coining out, on* of
them went for a refresher to a public-house, where he
encountered two pitmen, one of whom said : — " Whaat a
lot o' men, mistor ! Whaat plyece is that ?" " Oh ! de
ye not knaa? That's Armstrong's." "Is't? Wey, aa
nivvor seed se mony men i' ma life." " Oh ! them's nowt
te what ye see at neets." " De ye say se ? By gox. then,
whaat a row thor wad be if she wes laid in !"
THE EIGHT-DAT CLOCK.
A good story is told of an old Newcastle gentleman
who sometimes went home happy. The staircase of the
house he occupied had a wide well and an eight-day
clock on the landing. One night, as the master of the
mansion, after letting himself in with a latch key, was
struggling up the stairs, he was startled by an ominous
"Ugh!" from above. He stared about in a dazed
fashion for a few minutes, and then, throwing his arms
around the clock, exclaimed, "Dear Bella, how your
heart is beating !"
PERPLEXED.
A good old dame who resides in the East End of Sun-
derland was perplexed as to what she should purchase for
her better-half's dinner. The thought struck her that he
might like a " bit fish." And then she ejaculated to her
daughter: " If aa cannot get a bit fish, aall hev a few
haddocks !"
WATERPROOF.
The other day as some workmen were coming down the
river Tyne on board one of the General Ferry Company's
steamers, one of them lighted his pipe, when a spark fell
on his trousers. A comrade told him that he was on
fire. " Hoots, man, " he replied, " aa'll not tyek fire ; aa's
wettorproof !"
THE UBIQUITOUS TYNBSIDER.
One lovely evening, in Melbourne Harbour, as Captain
Walker, of the clipper ship Waverley, hailing from the
Tyne, was pacing the deck, he heard the sound of a
splash not far away. It was evident that somebody was
in the water, so he ordered a boat to be lowered, and pro-
ceeded to the spot where he thought he might be able to
render assistance to anyone in danger of drowning. He
was not surprised when he found a man struggling in the
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
187
water ; and it was not long before he had dragged him
into the boat. The unfortunate individual was much
exhausted, but he managed to gasp out in the unmistak-
able Tyneside dialect, " Aa's much obliged te ye. Begox,
aa wes varry nigh gyen that time ! "
On the 8th of February, Mr. John Clarke, of the firm
of Hudswell, Clarke, and Co., engineers, Hunslet, Leeds,
died in that town, at the age of 65 years. The deceased,
who was a native of Allendale, Northumberland, served
his apprenticeship with Messrs. Hawthorn, Newcastle.
A telegram received from Johannesberg, South Africa,
on the 12th of February, announced the death there of Mr.
W. R. Robson, formerly of Saltburn, and a gentleman
well known in the engineering trade of the Cleveland
district.
Mr. Thomas Smith, landlord of the Butchers' Arms,
Chester-le-Street, who was formerly a soldier, and went
through the Indian Mutiny of 1857 and 1858, died on the
12th of February, at the age of 63 years.
Mr. E. G. Fitzackerly, iron tool maker, &c., and one of
the representatives of the West Ward in Sunderland
Town Council, died on the 15th of February.
Mr. John Oliver Scott, coalowner and shipowner, and
also an alderman and magistrate of Newcastle, died on
the 17th of February, at his residence, Benwell Cottage,
i lie rman Jofin.O- Scoff
near that city, at the age of 70 years. While yet a young
man, he became fitter to the Seaton Delaval Coal Com-
pany, a position he held for thirty-three years. In 1863,
Mr. Scott was elected to a seat in the Newcastle Town
Council. In 1874-5 he served the office of Sheriff, and in
1876-7 he filled the mayoral chair, his term of the latter
office being signalised by the visit of General Grant,
ex-President of the United States, to Newcastle.
At the age of 70, Mr. William Brown, of Prospect
House, Leadgate, one of the oldest servants of the Consett
Iron Company, died on the 15th of February.
As the result of an accident received while following his
employment at Messrs. Palmer's Works, Jarrow, about
three months previously, Mr. Joseph Longmore died on
the 17th of February. For six years he had had a seat
on the Jarrow School Board as representative of the
working men. Mr. Longmore was 49 years of age.
Mr. Frederick Jobling, engineer to the Tees Conser-
vancy Commissioners, and a native of Sunderland, also
died on the 17th of February.
On the 17th of February, the remains of Miss Jane
Burnup, a liberal contributor to the leading local chari-
ties, were interred in Jesmond Cemetery, Newcastle.
The deceased lady left, by her will, bequests to a number
of charitable institutions, amounting, in all, to upwards
of £2,000.
The Rev. John Wilkins, vicar of the parish of the Ven.
Bede, Gatesliead, died suddenly on the'23rd of February.
The deceased was born at Cheltenham in January, 1840,
and was a graduate of London University. The position
which he occupied at Gateshead he had held since April,
1887.
On the 25th of February, Mr. John Fleming, solicitor,
died at his residemce, Gresham House, Newcastle, aged 83.
He had long retired from the active exercise of his profes-
sion, and had latterly devoted himself to works of benevo-
Fleming.
lence and philanthropy, the chief outcome of his efforts
in this direction being the magnificent Children's Hospital,
which, in memory of his wife, he erected and furnished
on the Moor Edge, and which he personally handed over
to the trustees on the 26th of September, 1888. (For a
view of this building, see vol. ii., page 525.) Mr. Flem-
188
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
ing, who was a native of Perth, came to Newcastle when
a youne man, and served his articles with Messrs. Carr
and Jobling, an old firm of attorneys in that town.
Mr. Thomas Innes Walker, a young man of great
ability and promise as an artist, died at Blyth on the 18th
of February.
Dr. David Page, Local Government Medical Inspector
for the Northern Counties, died in Dublin on the 20th of
February. The deceased gentleman was a son of the late
Dr. Page, Professor of Geology in the College of Physical
Science at Newcastle.
Dr. Thomas Young, an old medical practitioner in
South Shields, and for many years a member of the Town
Council of that borough, died on the 25th of February, at
the age of 68 years.
On the 25th of February, the remains of Mr. E. J.
Edwins, comedian, late of the Tyne Theatre and Theatre
Royal, Newcastle, were interred in Elswick Cemetery.
On the 26th of February, Mr. John Cutter, who repre-
sented South St. Andrew's Ward in the Newcastle Council
for upwards of ten years, died at his residence, Portland
Terrace, in that city. For many years he had carried on
the trade of a butcher in the Market, but had, a consider-
able time ago, retired from business. He had also been a
member of the Board of Guardians. Mr. Cutter was :i
native of Newcastle, and was 69 years of age.
John Davidson, who until within the last six or seven
years had carried on the occupation of a carter, died at the
village of Felton, in Northumberland, on the 26th of Feb-
ruary, his ape, which was not exactly known, being sup-
posed to be 101 years.
The death was announced, on the 27th of February, of
Mr. W. Green, of East Wood burn, who for many years
carried on the Old Bridge Colliery in that district,
Mr. James Smith, the draughts champion of Englandj
died at Tudhoe Grange, near Spennymoor, on the 27th of
February,
On the 28tli of February, the death was announced,
from influenza, of the Rev. David Young, of the Presby-
terian Church of England at Chatton.
On the 1st of March, the death was announced of Mr.
Joseph Mellanby, formerly timber merchant, at West
Hartlepool. For upwards of ten years he was a Guardian
of the Poor, and for two or three years a member of the
West Hartlepool Improvement Commission .
On the 2nd of March, the Rev. Charles Friskin sud-
denly died in the pulpit of the Mount Pleasant Presby-
terian Church, Spennymoor, ef which he had been pastor
over thirty years. He was 64- years of age.
On the 1st of March, the Rev. William Henry Philip
Bulmer, late Rector of Boldon, died at Doncaster, in the
S8th year of his age.
Mr. J. M. Lennard, head of the firm of Messrs. Lennard
and Sons, shipbrokers and shipowners, Middlesbrough,
and a member of the Tees Conservancy, died at his
residence, Coulby Manor, near that town, on the 3rd of
March.
Mr. Jonathan Hall, chemist and grocer, Market Place,
Barnard Castle, one of the oldest members of the Local
Board of Health, and a governor of the North-Eastern
County School, died suddenly on the 5th of March.
On the 6th of March, tbe death was announced, in his
52nd year, of Mr. Thomas Charlton, for many years fore-
man joiner under the Corporation of Newcastle.
Mr. Henry Milvain, shipowner, and alderman of New-
castle, died on the 28th of February, in the 86th year of
his age. In his 17th year, he came from Wigtonshire, in
Scotland, to Newcastle, having on his arrival 25s. in his
pocket, and of this amount he returned £1 to his mother,
thus starting life on Tyneside with a capital of 5s.
He served his time with Mr. McKinnell, a draper, in
Westgate, and by steady application soon obtained his
master's confidence. On Mr. McKinnell's retirement,
Mr. Milvain was afforded an opportunity of taking over
the business, but this he shortly afterwards abandoned for
shipping, becoming, in the course of years, one of the
largest shipowners on the Tyne. The deceased entered
the Town Council on the 1st of November, 1850, and, with
the exception of an interval of three years, he was con-
nected with the Corporation from that time till his death,
his election to the aldermanship dating from the 21st of
July, 1880. Mr. Milvain was also for many years a
member of the Tyne Improvement Commission, as well
as of several other public bodies. He was likewise a magis-
trate for Newcastle, Gateshead, Northumberland, and
Cumberland.
On the same day appeared an announcement of the
death of Mr. Robert Murray, millwright, for many years
in the employment of Messrs. Palmer and Co., Jarrow,
and a prominent member of the Amalgamated Society of
Engineers.
On the 3rd of March, at the age of 81, died Miss Mary
Cottsford Burdon, sister of the Rev. John Burdon, Castle
Eden.
On the 8th of March, the death was announced, in his
46th year, of Mr. Matthew Dryden, of Herbert Street,
Newcastle. The deceased, during the engineers' strike
for the nine hours, in which he took part, composed a
song, entitled "Parseveer, or the Nine Hours Movement,"
which gained considerable popularity.
On the 7th of March, Mrs. Elizabeth Beck, widow of
Mr. John Horsley Beck, and familiarly known as " Old
Betty Horsley," died at Blanchland, in the 83rd year of
her age.
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
189
The death was announced on the same day, at the age
of 83, of "Auld Will Ritson," formerly of Wastdale
Old, Wi
Head, who was long known to tourists in the Lake Dis-
trict as a sturdy dalesman, a keen huntsman, and a good
story-teller. (See vol. iii., pp. 185 and 473.)
Mr. J. L. Robson, an old Felling schoolmaster, who
had taught two generations of children, died on the 9th
of March.
SUnnrtr 0f
©ccurrencw.
FEBRUARY.
11. — The ceremony of starting the new clock and chimes
in the tower of the Town Hall, Fawcett Street, Sunder-
land, was performed by the Mayoress, Mrs. Shadforth,
in the presence of a large gathering of the members of the
Corporation.
12. — A number of the members of the local press and
the performers engaged in the pantomimes at the Tyue
and Royal Theatres, Newcastle, took part in a series of
sports in that city in aid of the Hospital Sunday Fund.
13. — The Durham County Mining Federation Board,
including the Mechanics', Cokemen's, Enginemen's, and
Miners' Associations, resolved that the notices of the
cokemen, mechanics, and miners should be tendered to
the owners on the 24th of February. At a conference in
Newcastle on the 22nd, between the Durham miners and
the Coalownera' Wages Committee, the latter offered an
advance of 5 per cent., or to refer the whole matter to
arbitration. These proposals were submitted to the men,
who decided by ballot to accept the 5 per cent.
— Mr. W. S. B. Maclaren, M.P., lectured on "Women's
Place in Politics," under the auspices of the Newcastle
and Gateshead Women's Liberal Association, in the
Central Hall, Newcastle.
— In the Northumberland Hall, Newcastle, Mr. J. E.
Muddock, F.R.G.S., delivered, in connection with the
Tyneside Geographical Society, a lecture on "Norway:
its Scenery and its People."
— The West Hartlepool steamer Constance was sunk in
the Tyne by the Newcastle steamer Nentwater, the latter
vessel being seriously injured.
14-. — William Jackson, 25 years of age, known as
"Steeple Jack," fell from the scaffolding on the top of
the chimney of Messrs. Sadler and Co.'s Chemical Works,
Middlesbrough, and was killed on the spot.
—Mr. William Black, Mr. Henry Charlton, and Mr.
Charles R. Greene qualified as magistrates of the borough
of Gateshead.
15. — The Newcastle plumbers came out on strike for an
advance of id. per hour.
— The pantomime of "The Babes in the Wood " was
brought to a close at the Tyne Theatre, Newcastle.
— From the final official lists of the Newcastle Hospital
Sunday Fund collections, it appeared that the total sum
realized from the places of worship was £2,080 17s. 6d.
against £1,956 6s. 2d. in the previous year. The col.
lections in manufactories, collieries, and other worlcs
amounted to £2,124- 18s. 2d., as compared with £1,804
Is. lid. in the corresponding period of last year. The
total sum was afterwards augmented by £160 or £170
from the Press and Theatrical Sports.
16.— Mr. Edmund William Gosse. lectured on "Leigh
Hunt," at the Tyne Theatre, Newcastle. Mr. Gosse is
the only son of Mr. Philip Henry Gosse, F.R.S., and was
born in London in 1849. He has written several volumes
of verse, while his prose writings consist of a number of
"Northern Studies," a "Life of Gray," a complete
edition of that poet's works, and many essays on Eng-
190
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
lish literature. In 1884 Mr. Gosse was elected Clark
Lecturer on English Literature at Trinity College, Cam-
bridge.
17.— A new circus was opened in Bath Road, Newcastle,
by Mr. G. Ginnett.
— In the Central Hall, Hood Street, Newcastle, the
Rev. Canon Talbot, lecturer for the dioceses of Durham,
Ripon, and Newcastle, delivered the last of his series of
six lectures on "The Bible."
— Mr. Justice Day and Mr. Justice Grantham arrived
in Newcastle in connection with the Winter Assizes for
Newcastle and Northumberland. George Kelly, aged 661
labourer, who was indicted for the manslaughter, of his
wife, Elizabeth Kelly, at Kitty Brewster, on the 7th of
December, 1889, was acquitted. On the 21st of February,
William Row, shoemaker, was convicted of the wilful
murder of Lily McClarence Wilson, a woman who had
accompanied him to Newcastle, and with whom he had
been cohabiting ; but the jury strongly recommended the
prisoner to mercy. Sentence of death was passed in the
usual form. (See ante, page 95.) Efforts to obtain a re-
prieve having proved ineffectual, the sentence was carried
out on the morning of March 12, Berry being the execu-
tioner.
18. — At a meeting held at Durham, it was decided, on
the recommendation of the committee to whom the matter
had been referred, "that if the requisite funds can be
obtained, the restoration of the Chapter House of the
Cathedral of Durham would form the greatest and most
appropriate memorial to Bishop Lightfoot, and that a
tgure or effigy of Bishop Lightfoot should, under any cir-
cumstances, be also erected to his memory."
—In St. Mary's Roman Catholic Cathedral, Newcastle,
the Very Rev. T. W. Wilkinson was duly enthroned as
West Hartlepool. The latter vessel sank, and five of her
crew were supposed to have been drowned.
20. — The dead body of a widow named Sophie Carr,
about 30 years of age, and that of a little girl, her
daughter, were found on the sands near St. Mary's
Island, Whitley ; but at the inquest no evidence was
adduced to throw any light on the circumstances under
which the mother and daughter had come by their death.
—At South Shields, Sir W. G. Armstrong, Mitchell,
and Co., Elswick, were summoned for having, as alleged,
unlawfully carried on the manufacture of explosives at
Jarrow Slake, contrary to the provisions of the Explosives
Act, 1875. The prosecution arose out of the fatal explo-
sion which took place on board the wherry Fanny, on the
3rd of October last. (See vol. iii., page 526.) The case
was remitted to the Assizes at Durham, where, on the
4tb of March, owing to a legal difficulty, it was adjourned
sine die.
— Captain A. J. Loftus, F.R.G.S., Knight-Commander
of Siam, delivered a lecture on that country, in the
Northumberland Hall, Newcastle, under the auspices of
the Tyneside Geographical Society. Mr. W. D. Stephens,
Biehop of Hexham and Newcastle, in succession to Dr.
O'Oallaghan, who resigned the see in September last.
— A collision occurred off Hartlepool between the
steamer Brinio, of Rotterdam, and the Coral Queen, of
J.P., presided, and the lecture was illustrated by interest-
ing maps, pictures, and photographs. The lecturer is a
descendant of Mr. William Loftus, of the old Turf Hotel,
Newcastle. (See vol. ii., page 327.)
22. — The foundation stone of the new church of St.
Hilda, at Hedgefield, in the parish of Ryton, was laid by
Mrs. J. B. Simpson.
— A young labourer named James Watson quarrelled
in a common lodging house at Stockton with James
Wilkie, a puddler. Blows were said to have been ex-
changed, and Wilkie, who was heard to cry "Murder,"
died scon afterwards in the street. Watson was arrested,
and was subsequently tried at Durham Assizes. The
prisoner pleaded guilty, and was bound over in his own
recognisances.
—A strike among line-fishermen at North Shields was
brought to an amicable termination.
April
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
191
23.— In the Tyne Theatre, Newcastle, Mr. E. D.
Archibald, M.A., delivered a lecture on "Edison's
Latest Phonograph." Some remarkable demonstrations
of the capabilities of the phonograph were given by the
lecturer.
24. — It was announced that the will of the late Mr.
Joseph Robinson, of Etal Villa, Tynemouth, J.P., ship-
owner, who died on the 24th of September last, had
been proved, the value of the personalty being £104-,187
12s. 9d.
— Mr. Edward Henderson was elected an alderman of
the Gateshead Town Council, in the room of the late Mr.
Alderman Affleck.
— At the auction rooms of Messrs. R. and W. Mack,
Pilgrim Street, Newcastle, a five days' sale was com-
menced of the extensive and valuable collection of books
which formed the library of the late Mr. T. W. U.
Robinson, of Hardwick Hall, in the county of Durham.
25. — The engineering employers of the Tyne and Wear
offered to the men an advance of 6d. in wages, but in-
timated that they could not see their way to shorten the
hours of labour to 53 per week.
26. — The last of the course of lectures by the Rev. F.
Walters on the British poets was delivered in the new
Assembly Rooms, Barras Bridge, Newcastle. The sub-
ject was "Robert Browning," and the chair was occupied
by Mr. Alderman Barkas.
— At the Newcastle Assizes a verdict of £1,000 damages
was awarded to a man named Ling, in an action against
the Gatling Gun Company and a man named William
Wright, for injuries caused at Elswick by a live instead
of a dummy cartridge being inadvertently placed in a gun
during a testing experiment. In the Northumberland
Court, an indictment was preferred by the Wallsend
Local Board against the North-Eastern Marine En-
gineering Company and the Wallsend Slipway Company,
the object being to establish the public right to what is
known as the Pilot Track from Walker along the river-
side to Willington Quay. The jury returned a verdict
for the defendants.
27. — A series of special services, extending over several
days, was commenced in Brunswick Place Wesleyan
Chapel, Newcastle, in celebration of the centenary of
the Sunday School established at the Orphan House
by the Rev. Charles Atmore, on the 28th of February,
1790.
— Mr. and Mrs. John Fenwick, of Preston House,
North Shields, celebrated their golden wedding.
28. — On the occasion of the annual meeting of the
Newcastle Branch of the Royal Society for the Preven-
tion of Cruelty to Animals, under the presidency of the
Mayor, the prizes given by the branch, by Uncle Toby
of the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, and by Lieut. -Colonel
and Mrs. Coulson, were distributed to the successful
children by the Mayoress, Mrs. Thomas Bell.
MARCH.
1. — Great interest was aroused by the publication of
the details of the will of the late Mr. John Fleming,
solicitor. The deceased gentleman had left bequests to
almost forty local and other charities, to the amount of
nearly £70,000. To the Fleming Memorial Hospital,
erected by him in his lifetime, he bequeathed £25,000,
and to the Newcastle Infirmary £10,000. The other
legacies ranged from £4,000 to £100. The testator
devised the rest of his real and personal estate in trust
for his five grandchildren and for his great-grandchild.
— At the petty sessional court at Bellingham, a license
was granted to Sir W. G. Armstrong, Mitchell, and Co.,
to erect on the private range of the company on Ridsdale
Common two powder magazines, each to hold 50,000 Ibs.
of powder.
—The last performance of the pantomime, "Blue
Beard," was given at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle.
There was much unseemly horseplay on the occasion.
2.— Mrs. Cunninghame Graham, wife of Mr. Cunning-
hame Graham, M.P., lectured in the Tyne Theatre, New-
castle, under the auspices of the Tyneside Sunday Lecture
Society, on "Forgotten Corners of Spain."
3.— The Prince of Wales, accompanied by Prince
George of Wales, the Duke of Fife, General Elliot,
and members of his suite, passed through Newcastle,
en route for Edinburgh, to open the Forth Bridge.
— The shipwrights at Sunderland received an advance
of Is. 6d. per week in their wages.
—At a vestry meeting held in All Saints' Church, New-
castle, a letter was read from the firm of Messrs. Abbot
and Co., Gateshead, stating their willingness, through the
good offices of Mr. L. W. Adamson, to undertake the com-
plete restoration of the " Thornton Brass " (a memorial
of the celebrated Roger Thornton, which is said to be one
of the finest brasses in the country), and the offer was
unanimously accepted.
4. — It Was announced that, at a meeting of the directors
of the Palmer Shipbuilding and Iron Company, Jarrow,
the final steps had been taken for the manufacture of
ordnance of all kinds, including guns and carriages.
— An outline waa published of the will of the late Mr.
Christian Allhusen, of Stoke Court, Bucks, and of the
192
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
Newcastle Chemical Company, whose personalty had
been sworn at £1,126,852 Is. lOd.
5. — Mr. W. D. Stephens was unanimously elected an
alderman of Newcastle, in the room of the late Mr.
Alderman Scott.
— The first annual meeting of the Newcastle and Gates-
head Aids Committees of the National Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Children was held in Newcastle
under the presidency of Bishop Wilberforce.
—The body of a young man named Henry Robson, a
grocer, was found in the lake at Heaton Park, Newcastle,
supposed to have been a case of suicide.
5.— William and Isabella Lyall, of Ancroft, near Ber-
wick, a couple who had been married at Lamberton Toll
Bar, celebrated their golden wedding.
6. — The mine-owners of Cleveland granted the men an
advance of ?i per cent, in wages, to extend from the 3rd
February to the 28th June.
— Considerable damage was caused by a fire which
broke out in the Priestgate Flour Mills at Darlington.
— The Darlington Town Council resolved to present a
memorial to the directors of the North-Eastern Railway
Company, asking them to remove No. 1 engine from its
position opposite the North Road Station to a position
where it would be protected from the effects of the wea-
ther, and from other damage.
— A two nights' debate was commenced in the Lecture
Hall, Nelson Street, Newcastle, on the question, " Is an
Eight Hours Act desirable for all workers ? " the affirma-
tive being taken by Mr. Alexander Stewart, representing
the Labour party, and the negative by Mr. William
Thornton, representing the Newcastle and Gateshead
Radical Association.
7. — It was announced that a series of entertainments,
entitled "Uncle Toby's Lantern Entertainment," and
intended to inculcate the advantages of kindness to
animals and birds, had been given by Mesrs. Robson and
Morgan in the principal schools of Sunderland.
—Lady Dilke addressed a meeting in Newcastle in fur-
therance of the formation of trades unions among the
working women in the district.
— George Edward Conyers Hardy, a young man 17 £
years old, and employed as a clerk, committed suicide by
shooting himself on the Newcastle Town Moor, after
attending a ball at the Assembly Rooms, Barras Bridge.
9. — Dr. R. S. Watson was the lecturer at the Tyne
Theatre, in connection with the Tyneside Sunday Lecture
Society, his subject being " Labour : Past, Present, and
Future."
— The Rev. A. S. Wardroper took farewell of the con-
gregation of All Saints' Church, Newcastle, of which he
had for several years been vicar, previous to his departure
for Otterburn, to which he had been transferred.
10. — It was announced that the Rev. Robert Alfred
Tucker, curate of St. Nicholas', Durham, had accepted
the Bishopric of Eastern Equatorial Africa.
(general ©crarrcnccg.
Parliamentary representative for the Partick Division
of Lanarkshire. Mr. Smith polled 4,148 votes, while
the defeated candidate, Sir Charles Tennant, Gladstonian
Liberal, polled 3,929.
12. — The Duo d'Orleans was sentenced by the Correc-
tional Tribunal of the Seine to two years' imprisonment
for entering France in violation of the law which banished
the families of pretenders to the French throne.
13. — The report of the Parnell Commission was pub-
lished. It was considered in some measure to be favour-
able to Mr. Parnell and his Parliamentary associates.
14. — The body of Amelia Jeffs, a girl of fifteen, who
had lived at 38, West Road, West Ham, Essex, and
who had been missing since January 31st, was found
violated and strangled in an empty house, about a hun-
dred yards from her own home. A coroner's jury re-
turned a verdict of wilful murder against some person or
persons unknown.
15.— Sir Louis Mallet died at Malta, from influenza, at
the age of 67.
18. — Count Julius Andrassy, late Austro-Hungarian
Minister of Foreign Affairs, died at Volosca. He was
born on the 28th of March, 1823, at Zemplin, his family
being one of the oldest and most illustrious in Hungary.
19. — Mr. Joseph Gillis Biggar, M.P., died suddenly at
his residence, Sugden Road, London.
23. — A large dam across the Hassa Yamfa river, Ari-
zona, U.S., gave way, and submerged the town of Wick-
enburg. The loss of life and property was very great.
28.— Mr. Henry Labouchere was suspended from the
House of Commons, for having refused to withdraw an
imputation of untruthfulness which he had made against
the Premier, Lord Salisbury.
FEBRUARY.
11. — The fifth session of the twelfth Parliament of
Queen Victoria was opened by Royal Commission.
— Mr. Parker Smith, Liberal Unionist, was elected
MARCH.
1. — The Quetta, a British ship bound from Brisbane to
London, was wrecked near Somerset, Torres Straits. She
had 280 souls on board, of whom only 116 were saved.
2. — Sir Edward Baines, proprietor of the Leedi Mer-
cury, died in his 90th year.
4. — The Forth Bridge was formally opened by the
Prince of Wales. This remarkable structure, which is
built on the cantilever principle, was begun in 1883. Its
total length is a little over a mile and a half. The clear
headway under the centre of the structure is 150 feet
above high water, while the highest part is 361 feet.
— A Parliamentary election took place in St. Fancras,
London, the result being as follows : — Mr. Thomas Henry
Bolton, Gladstonian Liberal, 2,657 ; Mr. H. R. Graham,
Conservative, 2,549 ; and Mr. J. Leighton, Labour
Candidate, 29.
— Owing to the brakes failing to act, a Scotch express
train ran into an engine at Carlisle. Four people were
killed, and sixteen injured.
8. — The result of an election at Stamford was declared
as follows :— Mr. H. J. C. Gust, Conservative, 4,236;
Mr. Arthur Priestley, Liberal, 3,954.
—At Nottingham Assizes, WUhelm E. Arnemann was
sentenced to twenty years' penal servitude for having shot
Judge Bristowe on November 19th, 1889.
10. — A terrible explosion occurred at the Morfa Col-
liery, near Port Talbot, in Glamorganshire, causing a
loss of about one hundred lives.
Printed by WALTKB Soon, Felling-on-Tyne.
Gbronicle
OF
NORTH-COUNTRY*LORE*AND*LEGEND
VOL. IV.— No. 39.
MAY, 1890.
PRICE GD.
jjAMBOROUGH KEEP was the stately home
of a brave and mighty king. The blessing of
the good St. Aidan girdled it with strength
and filled it with peace. Yet death could
not be shut out by wall or charm ; and when the lot fell
upon the wife of the king, the beautiful and kindly queen
of his youth, there was woe in the halls of Ida. Of fruit
from the royal union there was none save the heir and
one fair maiden, the Princess Margaret. The son had
left his father's roof in search of spoil or fame ; and as
the years went by, and no word came of him, the blank
became a silent madness. The king pined in his lonely
keep ; but when the sorrow of his double loss abated, he
went forth once more into the world. Many comely
virgins far and near cast wistful glances at the stricken
chief, and fain would comfort him if only for the crown
he wore. But his eyes were dulled with weeping, and
his heart was proof against the wiles of simple maidens.
One there was, indeed, whose lustrous beauty might have
proved too strong a spell for any heart not wholly wo-
begone ; but she was dowered with the fatal gift of
magic. Bewitched in childhood, she had sold her soul
to evil, and her gain was the hurtful power to wither,
crush, and curse. Withal she had the arts that lure, as
the snake beguiles its prey and covers it with slime.
Darkly she plotted, yet more and more brightly she
shone : foul within, without all sweetness and delight-
* The legend of the Laidlev Worm of Spindlestone Heugh
(laidley is a corruption of loathly or loathsome, and Spindlestone
Heugh is a lofty crag near Bamborough Castle) is related in a
ballud which was printed in Hutchinson's " History of Northum-
berland," from a communication by the Rev. Robert Lambe,
vicar of Norham, "who pretended," says Richardson, "to have
transcribed it from a very ancient manuscript." Lambe himself
claimed that the legend originated in a song " made by the old
mountain-bard, Duncan Frasier, living on Cheviot, A.D. 1270."
some to the eye. On bended knee the proud king tended
his love in barter for her loveliness. Word came to
Bamborough Keep that the king was wed, and would
full soon bring home his royal bride. Great was the
glee of lord and serf, of seneschal and groom, of all within
the castle and all throughout its wide domain. Of all ?
Nay, there was one who, though she murmured not, was
afraid with jealous fear. Fair Margaret was glad as she
thought of her sire's return, for she had wearied for him
long. Brotherless and motherless, she clung to the king
her father as the ivy to the smitten yet sturdy oak. But
this noble step-dame ! Could she call her by the saintly
name of mother, and greet her with a filial kiss ? Ah,
would that it might be so ! She would wait, she would
try, she would pray for the grace she sorely needed.
Restless as the fledgling on the rim of its mother's nest,
and fluttering bird-like in and out, she watched the live-
long day for the flash of the kingly pennon streaming
among the distant woods, and listened for the well-known
horn that should change to melody the moan of the
surging sea.
THE PRATEB.
The lords of the isles and chieftains of high renown
through all the Northern land drew near with goodly
retinue, that they might give their homage to the king,
and loyal greeting to his chosen queen. At length the
basalt caves resound with echoes other than old ocean
makes unceasingly, and the battlements throw back the
shock of martial notes to the woodlands whence they
come. The royal company are climbing the winding
steep ; the barbican is passed ; the shouts of warriors
are silenced by the whispered welcome of a daughter's
love. And as she makes obeisance to the new mother
13
194
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
of her home, if not of her heart, she makes a covenant
of kindness, sealed with kiss and tear. The bride gazed
with jealous pangs upon the stooping figure and the
modest face of her husband's child. She had won his
love by devilish arts ; but Margaret had learned her
art of love from a dead mother's eyes, and the beatings
of a heart that had been true to death. And yet the
handsome lady looked all tenderness, and pledged her
tenderest nurture to the pale flower of the North. But
aa ill-chance or mischievous imps would have it, the
courtiers and gallant knights who had come to welcome
her could not turn their gaze from the pearl of the sea-
swept rock ; and one, on sudden impulse of wonder,
spoke -aloud of Margaret's beautiful form and virtuous
spirit, pronouncing her peerless among women. The
queen, hearing this rhapsody, bridled in her envious
pride, and rallied the courtier in that he had uncour-
teously forgotten her when he talked of the peerless
Margaret. Said the knight never a word, but bowed
and fell back, afraid of those glaring eyes and of the
passionate hate they revealed. The chafed woman
scowled on the drooping maid, and muttered a dreadful
curse. Spite, envy, malice, these were the keepers of
the soul in the foul fiend's name and right. They
rent her womanhood to rags, and left the queen a
hateful sorceress — nothing more. With venomous tongue
she said her unholy prayers to the spirits that filled her
heart, and darkened the air around her, as flies around
some loathsome carrion. She prayed that Margaret
might cast her lithe and elegant form, and become a
noisome worm ; a dragon with hideous maw ; a monstrous
reptile crawling in the mud ; a blight bearer shunned and
banned by all ; as loathsome in person as she herself was
loathsome in soul. Merrily laughed the maiden at the
idle prayer of anger and mortified pride. She could not
love a mother like that ; but she came of a line of kings,
and would not stoop to craven fear. The curse could not
run on conditions and terms. The evil one himself could
not hurt the pure maiden for aye. So it fell to be part of
the pact, that when the Childe of the Wynd, the heir of
the enslaved but comfortless king, should return, the
spell would be broken. Now the queen laughed within
herself as she spake of the home-coming heir ; for surely
did she think that the grave or the deep sea had long
since claimed the son of her royal lord.
THE SPELL.
And Margaret laughed in her maidenly glee, and
blushed as she thought of that gallant knight who had
spoken her praise with the fervour of love. Might she
not hope to find shelter in his stalwart arm, if danger
threatened ? Her bosom rose and fell to the changes of
maidenly fancy ; and how could she think that the words
of the step-dame's rage could clothe that bright breast
with ugly scales, or twist those falling locks to a matted
mane, or flatten those twinkling feet to taloned paws?
So she sat in her bower, and softly sang old rhymes of
the brave and the good and the pure, while the presence
of her dead mother came down upon her as a ministering
angel, with wine and balm and sweetest perfume. And
so she slept— as twilight lingers into night, so gently yet
so deeply. When morning came, she awoke, and strove
to rise, but the primal curse was on her. She could but
crawl. She would fain have cried for deliverance, as one
newly awakened from some hideous dream, but her voice
broke into a hissing shriek, and when her maidens came
to tend her they fled aghast. The virgin's bower was
now a serpent's den. The loathly worm lay coiled and
quivering where at eventide they had seen the beautiful
princess. They filled the keep with their yells of horror ;
and the sea birds mocked their frantic cries as if with
echoes. With blazing eyes and gaping jaws the dragon
unwound its coils, and, gliding in sinuous waves, made
for the castle gate. Grim warders shrank and ran,
leaving the gates ajar for the fearful beast to pass.
Down the step, and across the moat, and away to the
woods, the dragon quickly sped until it reached the
heugh of Spindlestone ; there it rested and wound its
supple joints about the rock, coil on coil, with its huge
head poised upon the summit. When the first night
came, the dews of heaven, mingling with the sea-borne
fret, laved the dry and thirsty beast fevered with its own
malignant venom, and the monster crawled to a darksome
cave. As the day dawned — day by day — the pangs of
hunger drove it forth to feed upon the pastures and
gardens of the king and his retainers. Full seven miles
west, south, and north the land was soon laid waste with
its devouring rage. The herdsmen lefb their kine, the
shepherds forsook their flocks, the hale forgot their sick,
the living left their dead. The scaly dragon blighted with
fierce fumes the herbage that it did not crop for food.
Then the sage of the ancient hold gave word that the
fiend worm must be appeased with daily offerings. Seven
kine were set apart, and their milk was carried night by
night to a great stone trough within the cave, that the
dragon might quench its thirst before it slept. Haggard
and worn with constant dread, the people drooped and laid
them down to die. The tidings travelled far. The panic
spread. Woe and fear were on the world, for that none
could tell how wide the range of blight might grow. It
was told by ingle-nooks at midnight hours, in cot or
castle, by villein, knight, and lord, how that the deadly
blight had come upon the old king's lovely daughter, and
that she whom Heaven had made and sent to bless and
purify the hearts of men was "now a curse and erief
to see."
THE KKLKASK.
But where was the Childe of the Wynd ? "Ah, where ? "
the people cried, for well they knew that till the lost
were found the captive must be bound. The Ohilde was
fighting with the Franks against the brave and stubborn
Gauls, not that he loved oppressive conquest, but that he
would fain grow strong and warlike. Alas ! it were a
Mityl
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
195
thousand pities that he should wax valiant and wise in
battle only to find that he had lost his heritage, and to
hear that the only daughter of his house was in the bonds
of devilry. At last the ill news, flying fast, came to his
ear as he was sitting at the feast of victory. Up rose he
with solemn mien and darkening brow. With grinding
teeth and sobbing breath he muttered the tale of doom to
his chosen band. Then out flew falchions from their
sheaths, and, standing up amidst the festal scene, the
brave band swore they would feast or rest no more till
they had crossed the sea and broken the witch's spell.
The memory of home was on them now, and the sweet
vision of the infant maiden seemed to beckon to perilous
effort and high emprise. Deftly they built a ship, and,
wotting well the power of sacred things, they timbered it
with rowan wood, such as once on Calvary bore the
precious burden of the world's redemption. Midst
priestly prayers and the hearty cheers of cherished
comrades, they loosed from the Frankish coast, and,
spreading their silken sails to the winds, flew forward
to the gleaming English shore. Seven days and nights
had passed when in the matin twilight the watcher hailed
the prince and bade him look to the west-by-north. Not
long did the brave youth gaze till he cried out, " It is my
father's keep, the castle on the sea." But while he fixed
his longing eyes upon his childhood's royal home, from
out the towers there peeped strange eyes, the light of
which he knew not ; for, though the eyes were bright as
crystal, they had no gleam of mother-love, no softness
of a woman's pity. The watching queen descried the
gallant bark, and as it neared the castle rocks made out
its shining sails and buoyant form. It was no common
boat, she knew. Her guilty heart misgave her.
Could it be that it was bearing homeward the
long lost child of her husband's early love ? If so,
she well might tremble, for her spell would soon be
broken, and her hour of doom was nigh. And now she
plied her magic arts to foil the plans of virtuous love.
The imps were never far to seek. Were they not her
keepers as well as her slaves ? They were sent to work
her will that they might make sure her power. She
bade them fly to meet the homeward bound ; she charged
them at their peril to let the heir set foot on land. They
must raise a storm, or sink the ship, or slay the prince —
he must not touch the shore. Away they flew in glad-
some haste, for mischief was their very breath of life and
wine of joy. Anon they fluttered back to the royal dame,
discomfited and sorely beaten. They could not come
nigh a ship that was built from the sacred tree. Strive
as they would the invisible hand pressed them back and
crippled their bat-like wings. Then the raging queen
arose in her wrath, and commanded her braves to man a
boat and attack the dreaded ship. These, too, came
back, for they were men to men, and Heaven was for
the right. Yet something there was on which she had
not counted. The curse had wrought so well upon the
hated maid, that the serpent feared the brother whom
the maid so greatly loved and longed for. The dragon
raged against the redeeming one — then as ever — and in
its wild fury lashed the inshore waves to foam, that it
might drive the vessel seawards. Quickly the skilful
Childe put the ship about and ran for Budle Creek
before the cumbrous worm could gather itself up and
change its place. The Childe leaped out upon the sands,
sword in hand, rushed fearless at the advancing dragon,
threatening instant death from his own keen blade and
thirty clothyard shafts from out the ship. Oh, mystery
of evil I Oh, greater mystery of mercy ! Not by might
or power, not with angry threats and raging hate, but
by the gentle mightiness of love, must ill be met and
conquered. From out the dragon's blood-red jaws there
came the still small voice of sorrow, bidding him quit
his sword and bow, bidding him stoop low as the dust,
bidding him save his sister from sickness. Wise to win
the imprisoned soul, he bent his towering form until his
knee sank in the sand, and, caressing the loathsome
worm, he gently kissed its scaly brow. In an instant
the dragon's rage was gone ; silently and swiftly it crept
to the gloom of Spindlestone Heugh ; and while the
Childe knelt wondering, and in prayer, there stepped
from the cave the sister of his youth, the fairest of the
fair, the gleaming pearl of the Castle Rock. Like a
second Eve, she shone upon his sight with unclad beauty.
With brotherly thought, he unbuckled his mantle and
threw it round her, enfolding her and bearing her up in
his strong embrace. And now new wonder seized upon
the warders on the tower. Their old eyes dimmed with
gathering tears as they made out the form of their
princess beneath the crimson cloak of their long lost
prince. Good tidings have wings as swift as ever
carried the news of ill. Out trooped the maidens of
the keep and of the king's wide vassalage to welcome
their youthful lord and lady — the returning brother and
the ransomed sister. Gaily they tripped to music of
cymbal, tabouret, and harp, and merrily chanted the
greeting of love. The kindly sire stood in the ancient
gate to give God thanks for his rescued ones, and to bid
them back to their homes. The queen alone was absent.
Her noxious spell had passed away, leaving her fair
victim a thousandfold more fair ; while her own bright
face paled and withered from an inward blight. Her
mind was a prey to terrors. Full well she knew the
price she had soon to pay for her short-lived triumph.
She dare not face her victim, nor her husband's son, nor
the injured sire of the recovered ones. The part of the
demon had served her turn, and now she must bide her
dismal bargain. The Childe so pure and brave was also
stern and strong. "Fetch forth the miscreant witch," he
cried, in judge-like tones. And her they sought both
high and low, until they found her with shaking limbs
and chattering teeth trying to shape her clammy lips to
prayer. No prayer could save her now. With what
196
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
1 1890.
measure she had dealt she must be dealt with, and this
more, the judgment should be pressed down and running
over. No Childe of the Wynd from over the sea could she
look for in her hoar of need. No term could be put to
the doom of the just, albeit there had been limits to the
crimes of the proud upon the lowly. "Fair semblance of
sweet womanhood, thou hast the soul of a base reptile.
Be thy form henceforth the outward image of thy soul.
Down, down from thy stately mien and graceful gait.
Squat, crawl, hiss, spit, in likeness of an ugly toad." So
spake the youthful doomster, and his words were still
resounding when down fell the haughty dame, and her
stature shrivelled as if in fire, and her shape changed as
if in some rude potter's hands she were nought but
coarsest clay. Her diamond eye, alone unchanged, shone
forth with fiercest light. The froth of her madness
gathered on her thick toad's lips ; and, as she slowly
lifted her sprawling lips, she hissed and spat. The
shocked maidens screamed and ran for safety, each
behind some favoured swain. The warders pricked the
loathsome toad with their spears, and drove it forth
from the royal keep. Yet no man slew the crawling
beast. By night and by day the venomous toad dragged
its huge carcase on the sands, or in the moss-green walks,
or in the leafy lanes, wherever she might hope to meet a
maiden fair as she once was and pure as she had never
been. Then would she hiss and spit, and rear her scraggy
neck in rage. Hence grew the custom of the place — still
holden to this day — that maidens, strolling with their
lovers, if they see a murky toad, scream softly and
clutch the stalwart arm on which they lean, as though
they never would unloose their grip.
3>ruuro
j|EWCASTLE has had many famous school-
masters— the Moiseses, the Bruces, and the
rest. None, however, has left a more
lasting impression on the minds of his
pupils than the Rev. James Snape, D.D., the head
master of the Grammar School for a period of nearly
twenty years.
Dr. Snape had reached the age of sixty-five years when
he died on November 7, 1880. His connection with
Newcastle commenced upwards of forty years before,
when he came from Blackburn, Lancashire, to assume
the position of second (or mathematical) master in the
Grammar School. In this subordinate position he toiled
and taught for a period of thirteen years, when, on the
death of Mr. Wood, the full control of the establishment
was entrusted to him. About this time the ancient
school had reached almost the lowest depth of decline ;
but, under the new management, it began rapidly to
When modern improvements required the removal of
the old Grammar School in Westgate Street, the master,
and their pupils found refuge in a quaint old house in the
Forth. That house, with its "seven gables," also disap-
peared, and the grassy square of the Forth along with it.
Another change took place, a private house in Charlotte
Square being selected as the temporary habitat of the
school. Here Dr. Snape was virtually "monarch of all
he surveyed," the Schools and Charities Committee of the
Corporation, although the governors and administrators
of the institution, rarely putting in an appearance
save at the periodical examinations at midsummer ; but
notwithstanding these drawbacks, the school continued
steadily to advance, both in numbers and popularity.
Thus "cabined, cribbed, confined," however, the limit
of extension was, in the course of a few years, reached,
and the desirability of providing a new and more com-
modious building forced itself on the consideration ofthe
Town Council. After many an animated and heated de-
bate, the question was brought to an issue on the 3rd of
July, 1861, by the selection of a site adjoining the Virgin
Mary Hospital in Ryehill. It was not, however, until
the 23rd May. 1866, that the foundation-stone was laid
by the late Lord Ravensworth. On the conclusion of the
interesting proceedings, Dr. Snape was presented with a
handsome salver, neatly engraved and finely chased
bearing the following inscription : — " In commemoration
of the 23rd of May, 1866, when was laid the foundation-
stone of the New Royal Free Grammar School, New-
castle-on-Tyne, this salver, as a lasting tribute of their
May!
1690. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
197
affection and esteem, was presented by his pupils to the
Rev. James Snape, Head Master." Dr. Snape was
deeply affected by this exhibition of good-will. As a
fitting termination of the events of the day, the learned
doctor delivered an excellent lecture, in the theatre of the
Literary and Philosophical Society, on "Literature."
This was not his first contribution to the promotion of
the objects of that useful institution. For many years he
had taken an active part in the management of its affairs,
and, about the same time, he had just completed an ad-
mirable course of lectures on "Mathematics," which he
delivered, without remuneration, to the members.
It may seem a little strange that, during all these
years, Dr. Snape, though nominally, was not really
head master of the Grammar School. The explana-
tion is that, on the occurrence of the vacancy in
that office, Mr. Snape was not "in holy orders,"
and consequently was not considered, in the terms of
the charter, "a learned and discreet man." In the
interim, however, he was duly licensed as a clergyman,
being, besides, a Master of Arts and a Doctor of Divinity.
In prospect of the completion of the new building in
Ryehill, a general desire was evinced that he should be
formally installed in the position which for so many years
he had practically and efficiently filled. Accordingly, on
the 7th of April, 1869, Mr. Alderman Sillick, as chairman
of the Schools and Charities Committee, moved— "That
the Rev. James Snape be appointed head master of the
Royal Grammar School." The motion was seconded
by Mr. Alderman Ingledew, supported by Mr. Alderman
Harle, and carried unanimously. Dr. Snape, who was
called into the Council Chamber, and had the announce-
ment made to him by the Mayor, returned thanks in very
feeling terms.
The new schools were opened on the Itth of October,
1870, and the occasion afforded the scholars another oppor-
tunity of evincing their regard for their esteemed master,
to whom they presented a handsome claret jug in com-
memoration of the event. What might, not unreasonably,
have been regarded as the most auspicious and pleasing
incident in the history of the Newcastle Grammar School
and in the life of its accomplished head master, proved to
be the beginning of years cf acrimony and contention.
It is not necessary here to enter into the differences with
the Corporation which embittered the last years of Dr.
Snape's life. Suffice it say that the claims which were
made by Dr. Snape when he retired from the manage-
ment of the Grammar School were never acknowledged :
so that he died with the full conviction that he had
not been honourably treated.
Dr. Snape left one son and one daughter, the former of
whom— the Rev. W. R. Snape— is now vicar of Lamesley.
The portrait of Dr. Snape which accompanies this
article was taken some years before he died, and represents
him, as will be seen, in the prime of life. All through his
connection with Newcastle, he was a familiar figure in its
streets. Wearing a broad-brimmed hat, a seamless waist-
coat, and a swallow-tailed coat, he was well-known to all
old residents. Nor was he less remarkable for his
courtesy than for his apparel. Dr. Snape, indeed, was
the politest man in Newcastle of his time ; for he never
addressed even a clerk at a counter without first taking
off his hat.
An old scholar of Dr. Snape's, recounting his recollec-
tions in the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, told the follow-
ing stories : —
It is more years than I care to count — almost 34 —
since I left the Grammar School, then in Charlotte
Square. Dr. Snape was then in the prime of his manly
vigour, and well I remember his stately stride as he
walked into the first class, slamming the door after him,
and brandishing his cane. "I'm here," he announced,
and woe to the wight who dared to speak. I, too, well
remember his thoroughly practical way of teaching. His
black-board was a never-failing way of illustrating
algebra, drawing donkeys, grotesque figures, &c., instead
of letters, as is usual. And, further, when some one
thought himself well up in Euclid, I remember he would
draw the Pons Asinorum, or fifth proposition first book,
upside down. Woe, then, to the sharp youth if he could
not prove it.
One day a dull boy, who never had his Latin off,
brought a note from his father, saying " he did not con-
sider Latin of any use to his son." This Dr. Snape read
to the whole class, and finished with the declaration —
"No, sir, not for the riches of Peru, nor the cattle on a
thousand hills, nor rivers of gold, etc., &c., will I excuse
you ! If you were going to be a chimney sweep, I would
make you learn Latin, Greek, and mathematics ! "
The worthy master was a capital story-teller. Some-
times you could have heard a pin drop, we were all so
enchanted with his interesting tales and vivid descrip-
tions. To impress us with love of country, he often told
us how Leonidas and his three hundred Spartans defended
the pass, quoting Sir Walter Scott's lines—
Breathes there a man with soul so dead
Who never to himself hath said
This is my own, my native land!
I well remember his fine, handsome face when telling how
a Spartan said to Leonidas —
The darts of the Persians darken the air —
So much the better, we will fight in the shade.
A Miss Fleck had a ladies' boarding school in Clayton
Street, and complained of the Grammar School boys
annoying her young ladies. One morning, after prayers,
we knew something was wrong. Dr. Snape suddenly
went to his desk, and, taking a cane out, commenced a
speech something like the following :— "Now, boys, some
of you have committed a most dastardly outrage on some
young ladies, whom, as English gentlemen, you are bound
to protect. I will flog every boy in the class if he acknow-
ledges to being a party to such outrage. 1 11 ask you all
individually, and if you say ' I was one, I will Bog you.
If you say ' I was not one.' I will not flog you. even if.
knew that you were there, the very head and front ot tee
affair. My cane was made for men, and not for liars. 1
believe every one in the class was flogged.
One day, in construing our Greek— "Midas had the ears
of an ass "—when the boy came to the word ass, Dr. bnape
said "No, sir; that's not the proper translation. It
means an alderman, as a former master of this school
always had it translated, and so will I.
Dr Snape always tried to make the boys feel proud of
their school, and I am sure they all revere their dear,
kind master's memory. He would often reprimand thus :
-"Sir. such conduct in anyone is disgraceful, but more
especially in one who is a schoolfellow of Lord Eldon
Lord Stowell, and the great Admiral Lord Collmgwood.
198
MONTHL Y
CHRONICLE.
/May
\1890.
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SAWNEY OGILVIE'S DUEL WITH HIS WIFE.
BT THOMAS WHITTLE, OF CAMBO.
j|ACKENZIE'S "History of Northumber-
land " contains the following record :—
"Cambo was the favourite residence of the
ingenious and eccentric Thomas Whittle,
whose comic productions often beguile the long winter
evenings of our rustic Northumbrians. His parents and
the place of his birth are unknown. It is believed he
was the natural son of a gentleman of fortune, and that
he was called Whittle from the place of his nativity, which
some say was in the parish of Shilbottle, and others in the
parish of Ovingham, Long Edlingham also claims the
honour of giving him birth. However this may be, cer-
tain it is that Thomas, either in consequence of ill-usage
or from a restlessness of disposition, left his native home
when a boy, about the beginning of last century, and
made his appearance in Cambo mounted on an old goat,
•which he had selected from a flock he had in charge, in
order that it might be his assistant and companion in his
intended adventures. On his arrival he was engaged by
a miller, with whom he continued for some years. About
the close of his servitude he became a disciple of Bacchus,
and continued attached to the service of the drouthy god
while he lived. Possessing a fertile imagination, a bril-
liant wit, and a happy command of language, the tempta-
tions to assume the character of a boon companion were
irresistible. Occasionally he worked with exemplary
industry, and became remarkably expert in many of the
branches of art which he practised, but particularly in
painting. The versatility of his talents enabled him to
personate different characters during his various pere-
grinations through the county and the South of Scotland.
Some relics of his workmanship in painting, executed in
a very superior style, may be seen in Belsay Castle,
Hartburn, Ponteland. and other churches in Northumber-
land After experiencing all the vicissitudes
of a poet's life, he died in indigent circumstance at East
Shaftoe, * place he had celebrated in a poem, and was
buried at Hartburn, on the 19th of April. 1736, where he
is described in the parish register as 'Thomas Whittle,
of East Shaftoe, an ingenious man.'" Whittle's songs
"The Mitford Galloway," "Whimsical Love," and
"Poetic Letter to the Razor Setter," are replete with
wit and humour. His poetical works were published in
1815, from an original manuscript in the author's own
handwriting, by Mr. William Robson, schoolmaster,
Cambo.
Good peo - pie, give ear to the fa - tal-est duel That
Mor-peth e'er saw since it was a town. Where
fire is kin • died and
much fuel, I
wou'd not be he that wou'd quench't for a crown.
Poor Saw-ncy, as can -ny a North Brit-ish hal-Hon Aa
e'er crost the Bor-der this mil - lion of weeks. Mis
car-ried and mar-ried a Scot-tish tar -paw - lin That
pays his pack shoul - ders and will have the breeks.
Good people, give ear to the fatalist duel
That Morpeth e'er saw since it was a town.
Where fire is kindled and has so much fuel,
I wou'd not be he that wou'd quench't for a crown.
Poor Sawney, as canny a North British hallion*
As e'er crost the border this million of weeks,
Miscarried and married a Scottish tarpawlin
That pays his pack-shouldersf and will have the breeks.
I pity him still when I think of his kindred.
Lord Ogelby was his near cousin of late ;
And if he and somebody else had not hindered
He might have been heir unto all his estate.
His stature was small, and his shape like a monkey,
His beard like a bundle of scallions or leeks ;
Right bonny he was, but now he's worn scrunty,
And fully as fit for the horns as the breaks.
It fell on a day, he may it remember,
Tho' others enjoyed it, yet so did not he,
When tidings were brought that Lisle did surrender,
It grieves me to think on't, his wife took the gee.
These witches still itches and stretches commission,
And if they be crossed they are still taking peeks,?
And Sawney, poor man, he was out of condition,
And hardly well fit for defending the breeks.
She muttered and moung'd, and looked damn'd misty.
And Sawney said something, as who could forbear ?
Then straight she began, and went to't handfisty,
She whitber'd about and dang doon all the gear :
The dishes and dublers went flying like fury.
She broke more that day than would mend in two weeks,
And had it been put to a judge and a jury
They could not tell whether deserved the breeks.
* Alien.
t Sawney was one of the frugal and industrious fraternity of
Scotch travelling chapmen.
t Piques.
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
199
But Sawney grew weary and fain would be civil,
Being auld and unfeary, and fail'd of his strength ;
Then she cowp'd him o'er the kail-pot with a kevil,
And there he lay labouring all his long length.
His body was Boddy,|| and sore he was bruised,
The bark of his shins was all standing in peaks ;
No stivatlT e'er lived was so much misused
As sare as auld Sawney for claiming the breeks.
The noise was so great, all the neighbours did hear them,
She made his scalp ring like the clap of a bell ;
But never a soul had the mense to go near them,
Tho' he shouted murder with many a yell.
She laid on whisky whaskey, and held like a steary,
Wight Wallace could hardly have with her kept streaks ;
And never gave over until she was weary,
And Sawney was willing to yield her the breeks.
And now she must still be observed like a madam :
She'll cause him to curvet and skip like a frog ;
And if he refuses she's ready to scad him.
Pox take such a life, it wou'd weary a dog.
Ere I were so served, I would see the de'il take her,
I hate both the name and the nature of sneaks ;
But if she were mine I would clearly forsake her.
And let her make a kirk and a mill of the breeks.
(Sties! awtf (Suittca
Qtrlu
JJEAHAM VILLAGE, in the county of Dur-
ham, has been rendered famous by the several
notable folk that have lived there during the
present century. Very early in the century, nearly as
far back as 1800, Mr. Giles Brown, a well-to-do farmer,
whose homestead formed part of the straggling sea-coast
village, "shuffled off this mortal coil." Farmer Brown
had been, according to tradition, an eccentric mortal, one
marked craze of his being the collecting of farthings,
of which he is said to have ferreted out no less than
"a bushelful."
Not long after his death, the Rev. Richard Wallis,
vicar of Seaham, took it upon himself to write, in rhyme,
a sort of burlesque of the old farmer, which he entitled
"Farthing Giles." In this production, it seems, Giles
Brown's little eccentricities were much overdrawn, and
the getting of pelf was grotesquely shown to have been
his Bole delight and ruling passion. Now, it was no
secret in and around Seaham that the vicar himself was
just as fond of the golden guineas as his neighbour Brown
had been of his brass farthings and "proputty." Indeed,
as regards the farthings, at least in getting them, Giles
had certainly betrayed no sordid spirit, for, in bis haste
to get the boasted "bushelful," he would freely part
with the biggest penny for any three old farthings he
could acquire. East-Country folks thus in general—
though Fanner Brown was no special favourite — resented
the idea of Vicar Wallis, of all men, posing, though in a
sportive way, as a censurer of avarice. It savoured too
I Sodden through having the broth spilled over him.
IT A Btiftard is one whose limbs are stiffened with hard work
rather than with age.
much, they thought, of "Satan reproving sin." An
eminent divine, however, a friend of the Rev. Richard
Wallis, was oddly prompted to pay him back in his
own coin in a ludicrous reply to "Farthing Giles,"
which he headed "Guinea Dick." The author of this
piece was, it appears, no less a writer than the great
Dr. Paley, who was at that time (about ninety years
since) rector of Bishopwearmouth.
Both " Farthing Giles " and " Guinea Dick " were
printed and issued in pamphlet form, and both were
written in a serio-comic vein in verse, not a little after
the style, I fear, of the notorious "Peter Pindar, Esq.," a
contemporary of the reverend writers. Giles Brown
himself was very popular in certain villages on the
Durham coast, the old farmer being a well-known
character. James Ford, a blacksmith in Ryhope village,
could recite the whole of "Farthing Giles," and it
was commonly known that Mr. Wallis was the author.
There was more mystery, though, about the authorship
of "Guinea Dick," and copies of this production were
not easily obtained. The "great attorney" Gregson, oi
Durham, however, possessed a copy both of it and
"Farthing Giles," on which, as literary curios, he set
no small value. It is now nearly sixty years since my
father heard that popular lawyer (who seems to have
been in the secret) relate with gusto, to an appreciative
company, tbe whole history appertaining to the origin
and authorship of the two famed pamphlets. Mr.
Gregson was emphatic in regard to the learned Paley
being the writer of "Guinea Dick."
Dr. Paley and the Vicar of Seaham not infrequently
met and dined at Seaham Hall, with other of the
literati whom Lady Milbanke loved to see round her
board. Her ladyship, though cultured, was, tradition
says, the very "spirit of mischief," and hence it has
been suggested that this sprightly lady, to astound as
well as humble the vicar — the situation was admirably
adapted to her humour — may have prevailed on the
jocund old doctor to pen the droll answer to "Farthing
Giles." However that may be, it does not seein probable
that that very serious poet, Joseph Blackett, had any
hand in writing "Guinea Dick." (See Monthly Chronicle,
1890, p. 42.) The comic poem was not at all in his
vein ; and, moreover, the Rev. Richard Wallis, like
Lady Milbanke, was one of his best friends and
patrons ; and poor, meek Blackett, we know, was
eminently grateful. When he contracted the illness of
which he died at the age of 24, the Vicar of Seaham,
who dwelt near the poet's cottage, was about the first
person whom he apprised of the fatal nature of the
malady. "He continued," says the historian, Mac-
kenzie, "to be visited by that gentleman till the 22nd
of August, 1810, on the morning of which day he
signified with his hand that Mr. Wallis should ait
down on the bed near him, when he with difficulty
said, 'Miss Milbanke (Lady Byron) and you will fir
200
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
upon a spot, a romantic one, for me to lie in ; and
the management of the rest I leave to Lady Milbanke
and you."' N. E. R.
dfirtft Jkrtto Crrllier,
j]ANY interesting articles have been published
at various times on the progress of iron ship-
building on Tyneside. It may, however, be
worth while to note the beginning of this industry, more
particularly in regard to the building of a certain vessel
bearing the title of Q. E. D. This vessel is of as much
interest, from an engineering point of view, as the
Rocket and Number One engines of George Stephenson.
Stephenson's engines were the pioneers of the system of
traffic by rail which it now fast overspreading the globe.
So the vessel built on the banks of the Tyne forty-six
years ago was one of the first of the screw steamers which
now cover the seas The Q. E. D. marks the period
of transition from the wooden sailing vessel to that of
the iron screw steamer. It has usually been considered
chat the first screw collier was the John Bowes. As
such it has frequently been mentioned. The John
Bowes was built by Messrs. Palmer, at Jarrow, in the
year 1852, to the following dimensions : — Length, 150
feet ; breadth, 25 feet 7 in. ; depth, 15 feet 6 in. ;
registered tonnage, 270 tons. Yet it is evident that the
screw collier Q. E. D. was launched at Mr. Cootes's yard,
Walker, eight years before the John Bowes was built.
Mr. Wigham Richardson, in a speech delivered on the
occasion of the launch of the Spanish mail steamer
Alfonso XII. at Walker, referred to the fact that the yard
from which the Alfonso XII. was launched had formerly
been in the occupation of Mr. Cootes, who had con-
structed the first iron vessels on the banks of the Tyne,
and had the oldest shipbuilding yard on the river. The
Alfonso XII. was made of steel, and was the largest mer-
chant vessel built in a Tyne shipyard, the gross tonnage
being over 5,000 tons, with engines indicating 4,500 horse
power. The following particulars of the Q. E. D. are ex-
tracted from the Illustrated London News, dated Septem-
ber 28, 1844, from which also the illustration is copied : —
A perfected novelty in the coal trade arrived in the
river Thames last week, and took in her moorings at the
Prince's Stairs, Rotherhithe, where she has attracted con-
siderable attention and curiosity. This was an iron
vessel of handsome appearance, barque rigged, with taut
masts and square yards, the masts raking aft in a manner
that is seldom seen except in the waters of the United
States. The vessel was built by Mr. Cootes, who is the
owner, at Walker, near Newcastle, and is of peculiar
construction, with a 20 horse-power engine by Haw-
thorn, which turns a screw propeller, a compound
of several inventions, having four flies or flaps
at right angles with each other, the bend of
each flap at an angle of 45 degrees from the centre. Her
length over all is 150 feet; breadth of beam, 27 feet
6 inches ; and she is capable of carrying 340 tons of coals.
With this weight, her draught is 11 feet 9 inches abaft,
and 10 feet 3 inches forward. Her hold is divided into
separate chambers, so that injury to the bottom in one
chamber will not affect the others, and each chamber has
a false floor of sheet iron hermetically sealed ; while be-
tween the bottom and these floors are spaces, to be filled
with water by means of large taps, for the purpose of
ballast, so that her only ballast is the liquid element,
which may, if required, be pumped out again in a very short
time by the engine. Her bows are like the sharp end of A
wedge rising to alof ty billet head, and heroverhanging stern
projects much more than is customary ; but, though low,
_
Mayl
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
201
the flatness of what is usually termed the counters must
lift her to every swell, so as to render it next to impossible
for a sea to break over her tatf rail. On her stern is an
armorial bearing with the motto, Spes mea Christus, and
also her name, the Q. E. D., of Newcastle. The cabin is
commodious, with a raised roof surrounded with window
lights. There are four sleeping apartments, and a state-
room for the captain. A swinging compass is suspended,
having a magnet on each side, and one before it, to coun-
teract the attraction of the iron. Her shrouds are wire
rope served over with a strong double screw to each,
to set it up when slack with the smallest difficulty and
scarcely any labour ; her mainmast from the step to the
cap is 65 feet in altitude ; her mainyard 52 feet in square-
ness ; from the keel to the royal-truck the height is about
130 feet. The other masts and yards are in proportion,
the mizenmast being of iron, and hollow, so as to form a
funnel for the engine fire. It is not the least curious point
about her to see the smoke issuing from the mizenmast-
head. This vessel was launched on St. Swithin's Day (15th
July) ; took in a cargo of coals at Newcastle, about 20
keels, but, getting aground on the Hook of the Gunfleet
Sands, was obliged to heave two or three keels of coals
overboard. She lay ashore several hours, but got off
without any damage. She steers with ease, sails
remarkably well, and, when tried with the screw pro-
peller, exceeded expectation. Much ingenuity has been
displayed in putting her together, and we feel confident
that the time is not far distant when our ships of the line
will be fitted with engines and screws in a somewhat
similar manner. JAMES HUNTER.
Ccrttjilantr Castk.
IllTUATED on the banks of the Glen, a
tributary of the Till, about five miles from
Wooler, Northumberland, Copeland or Coup-
land Castle is pleasantly surrounded by trees. When the
survey of Border towers and castles was made in 1552, it
would appear that no " fortress or barmkyn " was to be
found at Coupland. The oldest portion of the building,
which dates from the early part of the seventeenth
century, consists of two strong towers, containing eleven
rooms and a somewhat remarkable stone cork-screw
staircase. In some places the walls are six or seven
feet in thickness. At the corners of the castle are
" pepper-pot " turrets, the only other examples south
of the Tweed being at Duddo and Dilston. After the
ancient family of the Copelands (to which Sir John
de Copeland, who distinguished himself at Neville's
Cross, is supposed to have belonged) had died out,
the place came into the possession of the Wallises.
The initials G. W. and M. W. are inscribed over
the chimney piece in one of the rooms known as the
"Haunted Chamber," with the date 1619. From
the "History of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club,
1885-1886," we gather that in 1830 the late Mr. Matthew
Oulley succeeded to the whole of the Coupland Castle
estate, in right of his mother, Elizabeth, who died in
1810, and who was the only sister and heir-apparent of
Mr. Thomas Bates.
Not far from Coupland Castle is Ewart Park, the seat
of Sir Horace St. Paul, Bart. In February, 1814, there
were discovered in the park two swords, buried perpen-
dicularly, as if they had been thrust down for con-
cealment. The Glen, which curves round the southern
boundary of the park, falls into the Till a short distance
to th'? east. In this angle, forming the south-east corner
of Millfield Plain, King Arthur, according to Nennius,
is said to have achieved one of his great victories over the
Saxons. A Saxon fibula was found here, and is now in
the possession of the proprietor of the mansion.
Above Coupland Castle, on the west, rises Lanton
Caafthni Css
202
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/May
\1880
Hill, on which is an obelisk erected by Sir William
Davison, of Lanton, to the memory of his father, Mr.
Alexander Davison, of Swarland Park, and that of his
brother, Mr. John Davison. GEO. JOHNSON.
at JHarfe
anftf
flicljarb SHelforu.
Jlich.arb parocg,
THE LEARNED GRECIAN.
Great wits are sure to madness near allied,
And thin partitions do their bounds divide.— Dryden.
j]ROM a paper contributed by the learned his-
torian of Northumberland, the Rev. John
Hodgson, to the old series of the " Archseo-
logia jEliana," we learn that Richard Dawes
was born in 1708, at Market-Bosworth, in Leicestershire.
Educated at Market-Bosworth School, he was admitted
at the age of seventeen a sizar of Emanuel College,
Cambridge, where he manifested a remarkable talent for
Greek versification. Two years after his matriculation he
published a Greek pastoral of eighty-nine lines, entitled
"The Lamentation of the University of Cambridge for
the Death of George the First." The marriage of the
Prince of Wales in 1736 afforded him another opportunity
of publishing Greek verse, and (having in the meantime
obtained a fellowship of his college and the degree of
M. A.) he issued an epithalamium of fifty hexameter lines,
entitled "The Congratulation of the University of Cain-
bridge on the Auspicious Marriage of Frederick, Prince
of Wales, and Augusta, Princess of Saxe-Gotha." In the
same year he sent out proposals for printing the first book
of Milton's "Paradise Lost," in Greek, and having ac-
complished the task of translation, went no further with
the project.
By the resignation in 1738 of the Rev. Edmund Lodge,
the head mastership of the Royal Free Grammar School
of Newcastle became vacant. It had been filled before
Lodge's time by two eminent scholars — Thomas Rudd,
antiquary and grammarian, sometime Librarian of the
College of Durham, and James Jurin, who afterwards
took a doctor's degree in physic, and became President of
the Royal College of Physicians and Secretary of the
Royal Society. The Corporation, desirous that the post
should again be occupied by a great scholar, selected Mr.
Dawes. On the 10th of July, 1738, he was installed in
his office, and on the 9th of October following received the
concurrent appointment of Master of the Hospital of St.
Mary the Virgin, in the old buildings belonging to which
hospital the school was held.
For some time after he settled in Newcastle no mention
of him occurs. He was busy with a great literary enter-
prise, preparing to appear " in the eyes of every genuine
scholar in a new and splendid character, touching with
talismanic hand the obscurities and inaccuracies which
perplexed the poetry of antient Greece and Rome, and
converting them into their primitive forms and beauty."
In 1745 the result of his labour appeared. It was a book
ofemendatory criticism, entitled "Miscellanea Critica."
The publication of this elaborate work stamped the author
as one of the most learned men of his time. Critics at
home and abroad lavished encomiums upon it ; between
1745 and 1827 no fewer than five editions of the book were
published, Burgess, Bishop of Salisbury, and Thomas Kidd
being the successive editors and annotators. The fourth
edition is a portly volume of over seven hundred pages,
and the fifth is enriched by enlarged prefaces and new
reasonings and illustrations. Mr. Hodgson expresses
regret that the work has never been rendered into Eng-
lish, and asks if there is no one to be found with leisure
and ability to translate it, "and thereby give to minds
that travel slowly through the literature of Greece and
Rome, accompanied as they go with grammarians and
lexicographers for their guides, some opportunity of be-
holding and enjoying the beauties of that rich and ever-
varying scenery which charm the fleet and wing-footed
sons of Hermes in their serial excursions over the gardens
of antient Hellenic and Roman poetry."
While this magnificent work was preparing for the
press, Mr. Dawes displayed an infirmity of temper which
soon placed him in a position of antagonism to his patrons,
the Corporation of Newcastle. He neglected his school ;
the patrons found fault with him, and he treated them
with contempt and ridicule. One of his methods of
displaying his resentment was amusing. He taught his
scholars to translate the Greek word for "Ass" into
"Alderman" — "a practice which habit rendered so in-
veterate that some of his pupils inadvertently used the
same expression with very ludicrous effect in their public
college exercises." As the quarrel deepened, Mr. Dawes
became more bitterly satirical. From April 5 to May 31,
1746, the Newcastle Courant contained an announcement
of the intended publication of "Extracts from a MS.
pamphlet intituled 'The Tittle-Tattle Mongers, No. I.,",
and in the following year the " Extracts " issued from the
press of John White. This publication was a scathing
satire upon the leading men of the town from whom Mr.
Dawes had received real or fancied slights. Newcastle is
nicknamed " Logopoiion, " the town of tittle-tattle — "a
Logopoiion, a log o" wood, a sow, and an ass " being, as
the author explains, "tantamount contemptuous expres-
sions " imposed upon the genii of the town and country
"by one Philhomerus, purely in contempt and abuse of
them." Dr. Adam Askew, the eminent physician, is
lashed under the names of " Polypragmon " and "Fun-
gus," while Akenside, the poet, who had been one of Mr.
Dawes's pupils, is held up to derision for his " blushing
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
203
diffidence " in " such a cobweb as ' The Pleasures of Im-
agination ! ' " The pamphlet contained an advertisement
of an intended No. II., in which would appear "Profes-
sor Fungus's Lecture on Prudence, alias Scoundrelism,"
and, soon after that, No. III., " consisting of characters
of some of the Gentlemen of the Corporation of Logopoiiom
alias the Vengeful Brotherhood, or Fungus Clan." To
Dawes is attributed also an anonymous poem entitled
"The Origin of the Newcastle Burr," in which the writer
makes it appear that Newcastle had been conquered of
old by Beelzebub, who
took most special care
(As Grand Confessor to the Fair)
To mend their Breed, and fill the Place
With sucking Fiends of his own Race ;
While all the Sins that he could muster,
A pretty decent hellish cluster ;
(Gaming and Drinking led the Van,
Those two grand Enemies to Man)
Made 'em just what Old Nick could wish,
Fit Gudgeons for his Worship's Dish.
But Heav'n in Vengeance for their crimes
Decreed, — That, in all future Times
They should be branded by a Mark
By which you know 'em in the Dark ;
For in their Throat a Burr is plac'd
By which this blessed Crew is trac'd ;
And which, when they would speak, betrays
A gutt'ral Noise, like Crows and Jays ;
Or somewhat like a croaking Frog,
Or Punch in Puppet-Show, or Hog ;
A rattline. Ear-tormenting Yell,
Much us'd 'mong low-liv'd Fiends in Hell.
There is much more of the same sort, coarse and vitu-
perative to the last degree. Newcastle people were at a
loss to understand the reason for such bitter and persis-
tent invective. At length they attributed Mr. Dawes's
diatribes to some morbid delusion, and, regarding him
with a sort of contemptuous pity, received his effusions in
silence. In the meantime the Grammar School suffered,
and his position with the Corporation became intolerable.
On the 22nd September, 1746, he made a proposal to
resign, which the Corporation willingly accepted, offering
him an annuity of £80 a-year for life, upon condition
that he would give up also the mastership of the
hospital. To that course he would not consent, and the
negotiations for his retirement dragged on till January,
1749, when he agreed to take the annuity, supplemented
by a fine on all renewals of hospital property. In Sep-
tember following an agreement was formally signed and
sealed, and he resigned both his offices. These were soon
afterwards conferred upon the Rev. Hugh Moises, who.
as is well known, raised the Grammar School to its
highest point of fame and prosperity.
Mr. Dawes retired to a house on the banks of the Tyne
at Heworth Shore, where he passed the remainder of his
days. He amused himself with rowing, made friends
with a local blacksmith and weaver, and gave his eccen-
tricities full play. Mr. Hodgson, who was incumbent of
Heworth for some years, heard much of his doings from
old parishioners. He describes him as of a strong bodily
rame, tall and corpulent ; his hair thick, flowing, and
snowy white. The children of the neighbourhood used to
run after him, calling out "White head ! White head ! "
or, when they passed him, crossed their noses with finger
and thumb — a dirty trick which he abhorred — but, after
he had expressed his anger by shaking his stick at them, he
would throw coppers among them and enjoy the scramble.
On the 21st March, 1766, he expired, and was buried in
Heworth Churchyard. A country mason who respected
him erected a headstone to his memory, upon which,
beneath figures of a trumpet, a sword, and a scythe, he
cut this illiterate inscription :— "In memory of Richard
Dawes, latehead master of the erammer school of New-
castle, who died the 21st of March, 1766, aged 57." Mr.
Hodgson added a solid block of basalt placed length-
wise on the grave ; and, later, he set on foot a subscrip-
tion which enabled him to erect within the church a
marble monument.
Paragon,
THE 1'IKST M.P. FOK THE COUNTY OP DURHAM.
Among those who adhered to the side of the Parliament,
and directed Puritan movements during the Civil War,
three members of the local family of Dawson— Henry,
William, and George— were conspicuous. Along with
John Blakiston, Robert Bewicke, Leonard Carr, and
others, they helped to win over large numbers of their
fellow-citizens to their side, and when the hour of victory
came they shared the honours which the victors had to
bestow. Each of the three was in turn elected Mayor
of Newcastle ; one of them obtained the higher honour of
being sent to Parliament.
Henry and George Dawson were brothers ; the relation-
ship of William Dawson to them and to others of the
name in Newcastle has not been traced. The brothers
were merchants, and before the troubles began carried
on business in Newcastle of the usual diversified char-
acter. Their names appear in the Household Book of
Lord William Howard as supplying articles of domestic
use to the family at Naworth, and in the Newcastle
Municipal Accounts as receiving payment for wine used
at Corporate festivities.
At an early stage of the agitation in Scotland, Henry
Dawson was reported to the Secretary of State by
Alexander Davison and others as a participator in the
plots and confederacies of the "ill-affected" party in
Newcastle. In a letter written by Secretary Windebank,
February 2nd, 1638-39, to the informers, orders are given
to have speedy course taken for preventing "clandestine
meetings at undue houres, at Henrie Dawson's house,
Bunder pretext of devotion.
Soon after the storming of the town in 1644, when the
dominant party rewarded their adherents by appoint-
ments of honour and confidence, they made Henry Daw-
son an alderman, while they elected his friend, John
Blakiston, an M.P. and Mayor. This double appoint-
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MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/May
11890.
men!) was found to work badly, and as Blakiston could
not be spared from Parliament, the House of Commons
passed a resolution appointing Dawson to be bis deputy in
the mayoralty, and the House of Lords, being consulted,
sanctioned the appointment. The arrangement continued
till the end of the municipal year (Michaelmas, 1646),
when both of them were relieved from the trammels of
office. They were followed by a mayor of the same
political colour, Thomas Ledgard, under whose auspices
a petition, to which two of the Dawsons were signatories,
was sent to Parliament, supporting the army, and asking
that "full and exemplary justice be done upon the great
incendiaries of the kingdom," meaning, of course, the
king and his adherents. Another influential Puritan
succeeded, Alderman Thomas Bonner, and then came
the turn of the Dawsons. William Dawson was made
Mayor at Michaelmas, 1649 ; when he went out of office,
George Dawson was elected, and after an intervening
year, with Bonner again in the chair, Henry Dawson
took the post of honour.
By this time the fortunes of the Dawsons had risen.
William and Henry had improved their position by
successful trading ; George had been made a collector of
customs, and a free hostman. The mayoralty of William
was honoured by a visit from Oliver Cromwell ; the
mayoralty of Henry was distinguished by a summons
to Parliament. On the 20th April, 1653, Cromwell,
exercising the functions of sovereignty, broke up the
House of Commons, and on the 6th June he issued
his mandate to Praise God Barebones, and about 150
others upon wh»se fidelity he could rely, to assemble
as a Parliament, representing certain selected places.
Henry Dawson was one of the persons to whom this
mandate was addressed, and the county of Durham,
which under its spiritual lords had never achieved
the privilege of direct representation in the House
of Commons, was the place to be favoured by his
membership. He left Newcastle in due course to
obey the summons, leaving his brother George deputy
mayor during his absence. But to Newcastle he never
returned. Within a month of the meeting of the
Barebones Parliament at Whitehall he was dead and
buried.
For more than two hundred years the identity of the
first member for the county palatine was shrouded in
obscurity. In some of the lists his name was printed
Dawson, in others Davison ; no local historian knew
who he was, whence he came, or whither 'he had gone.
But in 1866 a correspondent of A'otcs and Queries dis-
covered in the church of St. Mary Abbot, at Kensington,
a monument whieh solved the mystery, and showed that
the Mayor of Newcastle whose death register could not
be found in any of the parish churches, and the M.P.
for Durham whose identity could not be traced in the
Parliamentary rolls, were one and the same person.
Thus reads the monument, which has been kindly
drawn by Lieut. -Colonel W. H. Munton Jackson, late of
the 81st Regiment :—
/VfA* rmtftuf* t/fr# re
*eor er //t/i/*v 04jKtf» lit-;
at eiKMA/i/ er/v/irami
I/ PON TVMS #ffo tmt TWICM
* A MlM ft* Of Ttll ftlllHT
r Hit Life flue''*' n"'
Near this Filler lieth ye Body of Henry Dawson,
Esqre., Alderman of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, who was
twice Mayor of the said Towne, and a member of
this present Parliament, who departed this life Augst
ye 10th, 1653.
On the eve of his departure to obey Cromwell's
summons, Henry Dawson made his will. Being child-
less, he adopted the eldest daughter of his brother George
as his own ; being an earnest Puritan, he remembered his
friends Ambrose Barnes (the alderman), and William
Durant and Cuthbert Sydenham, well-known preachers
in Newcastle. A copy of the will, transcribed for this
biographical sketch, adds a useful sheaf to the harvest of
Tyneside history.
I, Henry Dawson, of the Towne and County of New-
castle-vppon-Tyne, Merchant and Alderman, Considering
my owne Mortality, and how Convenient it is for mee
Now in my health of Body and mind to settle and dispose
of my Estate, to avoyd the Discord and Variance that
might otherwise [arise] amongst friends and kindred after
my Departure this life, doe make and constitute this my
last Will and Testament as followeth, vizt. My Will IB
that my Body bee buried in a decent and comely manner,
without any great Solemnity, or calling together many
people, only friends and Godly Acquaintance. And my
mynd and will is that there bee no expencea in Wines or
Sweetmeats, etc., as is and hath been the vauall custome
and manner of this place. But, instead thereof, I will and
command that twenty pounds of good and Lawful money
of England bee given and paid to the Godly poore of this
place, and elsewhere, to be disposed of at the discretion of
my wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Dawson, where shee shall Bee
most cause of need, and most fitting, and not otherwise.
Alsoe I give and bequeath vnto my only Brother, Mr.
George Dawson, Merchant and Alderman, and to his wife
my sister Mrs. Katherine Dawson, and to Robert Dawson
and Mary Dawson, sonne and daughter to my brother,
Mr. George Dawson, to each of them Twenty-two shillings
peece for a token. Alsoe I give and bequeath vnto my half-
brother, Mr. Thomas Crome, junior, Mr. Cuthbert Syden-
ham, to Mr. William Duerante, Mr. Thomas Enington,
Merchant, to each of them, one Twenty-two shillings
peece of gold for a Token. Alsoe I give Mr. Sidrah
Simpson [father-in-law of Cuthberc Sydenham, and one
of the Assembly of Divines in 1643] Pastor of a Church of
Christ in London, whereof I am, though unworthy, a
member, and vnto Mr. John Stone, of London, my deera
May!
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
205
friend and brother in Gospell followeth [fellowship?],
and to my deere friend Ambrose Barnes, of Newcastle,
to each of them, Twenty-two shillings peece of fold for a
Token. Alsoe I give and bequeath vnto Anne Dawson,
Daughter to my Brother, Mr. George Dawson, who now
lives with mee, and I looke vppon her as my owne, and
soe takes care for her future comfort and being, pswading
my selfe and desireing her ffather will reckon and account
of her as one of his children, and according provide a Por-
tion, shee being his eldest child, and take as much care for
her in regard of her weakness and infirmities «s hee doth
for any the rest of his children. Three hundred pounds of
good and lawfull money of England, to bee paid to her
when she comes to the Age of Eighteen years, or at
the day of her marriage, whether shall first fall out.
In the meane tyme to bee brought vpp, educated, and
maintained by mv witnesses [sic. | Elizabeth Dawson,
if the said Anne Dawson doe like, or be pleased there-
with, or so long as shee is willing. [Provision for
payment of £20 a year for education elsewhere if Anne
so elect. If she die before the age of 18 or marriage, the
money to go to her brother and sister or the survivor ; if
they both die, £200 to testator's widow and £100 to his
brother George ; if Georee also die, the whole to widow,
who shall give £50 to Thomas Crome, junior.] Alsoe I
give and bequeath vnto my cozen, Mr. Ralph Jenison,
Marcbant, one Twenty-two shillings for a Token. Also I
give and bequeath vnto Anne Dawson aforesaid, one
paire of Virgenalls with tbe (frame they stand vppon.
I Illegible clauses follow. 1 The residue of all my Goods,
Debts and Chatties, my Debts, wch are very few at
present, Legacies and funeral expencea (wch once again I
give a charge my mind aforesaid bee observed therein)
being paid, I arive and bequeath vnto my deerely beloved
wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Dawson, whom I make sole Execu-
trix of this my last Will and Testament And I make
and doe desire my Brother, Mr. George Dawson, and my
Cozen, Mr. Raphe Jenison, to bee Overseers ot this my
will. In witness and testimony whereof I have hereto
sett my hand and Seale, this Twenty -one Day of June, in
the yeare Anno Dni, 1653. HEN. DAWSON.
Signed, sealed, and declared to be my last will and
Testamt. in the presence of vs, vizt., Henry Bowes,
Thomas Milbourne, Richard Walker.
About George Dawson, the brother, much may be read
in Ralph Gardiner's "England's Grievance Discovered,"
and in Longstaffe's Appendix to the "Life of Ambrose
Barnes." He survived till long after the Restoration,
died, as he had lived, a Puritan, and on the 1st
of May, 1674, was buried in St. Nicholas' Church,
Newcastle.
SHiUtam
ANTIQUARY.
An accomplished antiquary, a man of many avocations,
occupying a high position in the public life of the county
of Northumberland for forty years, was William Dickson,
who died at Alnwick on the 14th of May, 1875, in the
76th year of his age.
Mr. Dickson was born at Berwick-on-Tweed, on the
6th of April, 1799, the eldest son of Patrick Dickson, of
Whitecross and Spittal Hall, and grandson of Patrick
Dickson, of Howlawrig, secretary to the Earl of March-
mont. Being intended for the profession of the law, he
was articled to a local solicitor, and on the 7th of June,
1825, he married Sarah, daughter of Robert Thorpe,
of Alnwick, Clerk of the Peace for the county of
Northumberland, and a member of the clerical family
of Thorpe, rectors of Ryton, and archdeacons of
Northumberland and of Durham. In 1831 he received
his first public appointment, that of clerk to the
magistrates of the Eastern and Northern Division of
Coquetdale Ward, and in 1843 he succeeded his father-
in-law (whose partner he had become) as Clerk of the
Peace. In the course of his long and useful career he
filled many public offices. He was, for example, clerk to
the County Rate Basis Committee and Pauper Lunatic
Asylum Committee ; clerk to the Alnwick Improvement
Commission till the formation of a Local Board of Health
in that town, when he became chairman of the Board ;
chairman of the Alnwick Board of Guardians, and Gas
Company, and a Justice of the Peace for Berwickshire.
When the Northumberland and Durham District Bank
closed its doors, he founded the Alnwick and County
Bank, a speculation that proved successful to himself
and his partners and became a, great convenience to the
neighbourhood.
Mr. Dickson's literary and antiquarian tastes found
expression as early as 1833, when he published under the
authority of the Northumberland magistrates, a quarto
volume of 104 pages, entitled,
The Wards, Divisions, Parishes, and Townships of
Northumberland, according to the Ancient and Modern
Divisions, Shewing the Annual Value and Population of
each Parish and Township maintaining its own Poor,
from the Returns of 1831; also the Places for which
Surveyors of Highways and Constables are appointed
respectively, and by whom appointed ; Compiled from
the Records and other authentic sources. Alnwick :
Mark Smith.
This elaborate work superseded the old index of the
county published by Graham, of Alnwick, in 1817, and
formed a useful companion to Fryer's Map Index of 1822,
in cases where tbe customary spelling and exact locality
206
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
rM»,
of Northumbrian villages, townships, and hamlets were
in question. Three years later he contributed to the old
series of the " Archseologia JElianst," a series of " Bills of
Cravings of the Sheriff of Northumberland for 1715, of
expenses incurred by him relative to the Rebellion of that
year"; a translation of "Chronicles of the Monastery of
Alnewicke, out of a certain Book of Chronicles in the
Library of King's College, Cambridge, of the Gift of
King Henry the 6th, the Founder " ; a table of "Contents
ot the Cbartulary of Hulme Abbey"; and a "Notice
relative to the Hospital of St. Leonard in the Parish of
AInwick." In 1846 he wrote for Davison, the Alnwick
publisher, an illustrated "Description of Alnwick Castle,
for the Use of Visitors." This little book, with its
vignette by Bewick, and a beautiful cut of the Percy
Arms from the same graver, was published anonymously,
and its authorship would probably not have been known
but for the fact that in the author's own copy of it, now
possessed by the present writer, appears his well-known
autotrraph "William Dickson, Alnwick, June, 1846," and
below, in the same writing, the words " Prepared by W.
D. for William Davison." When her Majesty passed
through Northumberland, in August, 1850, to open the
Royal Border Bridge at Berwick, and the train was
stopped at Bilton to enable the inhabitants at Alnwick
to present a loyal address, Mr. Dickson published an
interesting record of the proceedings. His next literary
effort was "Four Chapters from the History of Aln-
mouth," a paper prepared for the meeting of the
Archaeological Institute of Great Britain at Newcastle
in 1852, and supplemented some years afterwards by a
fifth chapter, relating to the past and present state of
Alnmouth Church.
The work by which Mr. Dickson is best known to the
antiquary and the scholar is his edition of the Pipe Rolls
of Edward the First. Mr. Hodgson had printed in his
"History of Northumberland" the Great Roll of the
Exchequer from 1130 to 1272— the end of the reign of
Henry III. — and Mr. Dickson, taking up the record at
that point, carried it down to the twelfth year of the
first Edward, in the hope that the Newcastle Society of
Antiquaries might continue the work. Other writings
of his appear in the Proceedings of the Berwickshire
Naturalists' Club. Among them may be cited his
address as President of the Club, when holding its
annual meeting at Alnmouth in 1857, and the following
papers : —
Notices of a Chantry in the Parochial Chapelry of
Alnwick, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. (Published
separately. London : 1852.)
Notes on the Marsh Samphire.
On Rothbury and its Saxon Cross.
On a Roman Altar found at Gloster Hill, in the Parish
of Warkworth.
Notes on Etal.
Notes to Correct Errors as to the Manors of Bamburgh
-and Blanchland.
In the new series of the " Archaeologia rEliana," vol. i.,
as a further contribution from his pea relative to the
Hospital of St. Leonard at Alnwick ; and scattered
through local newspapers are many historical notes
and observations of his, written as occasion served, or
circumstances demanded. At the time of his death
he was a Fellow of the London Society of Antiquaries,
member of the Newcastle Society of the same name,
the Surtees Society, the Natural History Society
of Northumberland and Durham, the Berwickshire
Naturalists' Club, the Grampian Club, and the Glasgow
Society of Field Naturalists.
Jlobert
A PUBLIC-SPIRITED CITIZEN.
Thomas Doubleday, poet, author, political economist,
and Radical reformer, has already formed the subject of
an illustrated sketch in these columns. It is not proposed
to revive that attractive theme, except to point out that,
gifted as he was beyond the majority of Northumbrian
worthies, he was not the only man of mark in the family
whose name he bore. He came of a sturdy, hard-headed
race, and was a thorough representative of its finest and
noblest characteristics ; but there were others of his name
who exhibited remarkable qualities, and stood out among
their fellows staunch, strong, and true.
Tate, the historian of Alnwick, describes how the fine
estate of the Brandlings in that town, "The Abbey," fell
into the hands of the mortgagee, John Doubleday, of
Jarrow (from whose brother, Humphrey, our poet and
author descended), and how he, dying in 1751, at the
age of 90, left it to his son, Michael. This Michael
Doubleday, the historian tells us, was a majestic man,
above six feet in height, and massive in proportion.
Like his father, he was a Quaker, and adopted the
Quaker costume and modes of speech. Eccentric he
was, too. Sometimes laying aside his broad brim, he
crowned himself with a bright red cap, the top of
which hung down behind his head ; and as he strode
through the streets, grasping by the middle a silver-
headed pole as high as himself, he was an object of
wonder and admiration to the juvenile population.
When visiting the Duke of Northumberland on some
business matter, he went into his grace's presence
with his hat on his head. The lacquey in attendance,
horrified at this presumption, took off the broad brim,
and put it aside. Business over, Mr. Doubleday retired,
and bare-headed left the castle ; but, a little while after,
the duke discovered the hat, and, becoming aware of the
servant's officiousness, hurriedly exclaimed to him, "Run,
run with Mr. Doubleday's hat and place it on his head,
or it may be the dearest that ever entered the castle."
When this strong-minded representative of the family
died, he bequeathed to three grand-nephews, whom he
had never seen, £10,000 each, in recognition of a service
which had been rendered to him by their father,
Middleton Hewitson.
May!
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
207
But it is of another member of the family, Robert
Doubleday, uncle of the poet-politician, that the present
brief article is intended to treat. This public-spirited
citizen was born in 1753, the eldest son of a wholesale
grocer in a large way of business in Newcastle, whose
shop, situated at the Head of the Side, is said to have
been the first in the town to be fitted with glazed
windows. Mackenzie, in one of those useful notes to his
"History of Newcastle" which forma happy hunting
ground for local biographers, states that, like his
relatives at Jarrow and Alnwick, he was brought up
in the principles of the Society of Friends, to which
community his parents belonged. At school he made
" considerable proficiency in the classics and acquired
a taste for poetic composition," and as he grew up
"the attentive study of morals and metaphysics imparted
to him a mental perspicuity and a logical acuteness of
intellect" which gave him a preponderating influence
among his fellow-townsmen. His political and literary
views were broad and liberal, yet "his unassuming
manners, gentle disposition, and cheerful temper caused
bis friendship to be generally courted." Being a practical
philanthropist, he promoted the formation of several
valuable local institutions, nor did he shrink from
occupying any office in which he could advance their
interests. For forty-six years he was secretary to the
Newcastle Dispensary, and acted in the same capacity
to the Lying-in Hospital and the Fever Hospital. His
name appears among the members of the first Committee
of Management of the Royal Jubilee School, and at the
second annual meeting of the institution, over which he
presided, he was elected, with Mr. James Losh, one of
its vice-presidents. He was also one of the founders and
directors of the Newcastle Savings Bank. But the insti-
tution with which his name was most closely identified
was the Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society.
At the meeting held in the Groat Market Assembly
Rooms on the 24th January, 1793, at which the
expediency of forming such a society was affirmed, he
was one of a committee of fifteen appointed to formulate
rules for the guidance of the members, and as soon as the
institution was fairly organised he was appointed to act
with the Rev. William Turner, the founder, as joint
secretary. Shortly afterwards he was elected one of
the vice-presidents, and in that capacity presided for
twenty-six years as chairman of the monthly meetings
of the society.
Mr. Doubleday lived for many years in the Big?
Market, but sometime previous to his decease he
removed to Gateshead Fell, where he died on the llth
January, 1823, in the 70th year of his age. In the
annual report of the Literary and Philosophical Society
for that year is a glowing tribute to his character and
accomplishments.
Citn at £jurftaw.
jjICHARD CAVENDISH, writing in the
early years of Queen Elizabeth, describes
Durham as "a city whilom fine and fair,
none like her in this land." And he was
right. It would scarcely be possible to find, throughout
the length and breadth of England, a position of greater
natural beauty and strength. The story of the origin of
Durham has been told in our paper on the Cathedral, and
the way in which the city was fortified by Flambard and
succeeding bishops has been related in our paper on the
Castle. Durham was a walled city as early as the end
of the tenth century. The wooden palisades, which, no
doubt, constituted the first walls, gave place in time to
structures of stone. These remained until the necessity
for their existence had passed away. But in the early
part of the seventeenth century the walls existed in
a comparatively perfect state. Speed's map, which
belongs to about the year 1610, shows them encircling
the Cathedral, the Castle, and the principal parts of the
city. As every one is aware who has observed the contour
of the ground which Durham occupies, the most impor-
tant parts of the city, including the Cathedral and the
Castle, are built on a hill, the sides of which are everywhere
steep, and in many places almost precipitous. This hill
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MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
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U890.
is almost encircled by a deep valley, through which winds
the river Wear. The ancient walls ran along the crest
of the hill from the north-west corner of the Castle
buildings, past the west end of the Cathedral, and,
enclosing the College and the South and North Baileys,
joined the east walls of the Castle at the gateway rebuilt
by Bishop Langley. The space thus enclosed constituted
what Leland says "alonely may be called the walled
town of Duresme. " Into this Close access could only be
gained through Langley's gateway and by two posterns,
one near the Church of St. Mary-le-Bow, and the other,
called the Water Gate, or the Porte du Bayle, at the
south end of the Bailey, and at the head of the road
which leads down the banks to the Prebends' Bridge.
But the Close was not the only walled part of Durham.
From the east or city end of Framwellgate Bridge
another wall ran along the river bank northwards, to
a point a little beyond St. Nicholas' Church, where it
turned eastward, spanned Claypath by an archway called
Claypath Gate, and, assuming a southern course, ran for-
ward to the head of Elvet Bridge. By this second wall
the Market Place, St. Nicholas' Church, and the neigh-
bouring streets were enclosed, and the narrow neck of
land between Elvet and Framwellgate Bridges was pro-
tected. Save for this isthmus, " the length of an arrow-
shot," the hill of Durham would be an island, and there
is a tradition that "of ancient time Wear ran from the
place where now Elvet Bridge is, straight down by St.
Nicholas', now standing on a hill, and that the other
course [which the river now takes], part for policy and
part by digging of stones for building of the town and
minster, was made a valley, and so the watercourse was
conveyed that way." Leland, who records the legend, is
careful to tell us that it did not gain his credence, and we
must unhesitatingly relegate it to the region of fable.
Durham was formerly entered from the north by the
quaint old street known as Framwellgate, a now sadly
degenerated thoroughfare. The North Road was formed
a little more that fifty years ago. The name of Framwell-
gate describes, not onl}' a street, but a whole township,
or rather a borough, which includes the entire western
suburb of the city. In old documents it is styled the
Old Borough, Vetus Buryus, in distinction from the New
Borough of Elvet. • From the foot of Framwellgate Street,
a short thoroughfare called Millburngate leads to Fram-
wellgate Bridge, a structure which owes its foundation to
Bishop Ralph Flambard, who died in 1128. It was,
however, rebuilt in the fifteenth century by Bishop
Langley, and the north side of the bridge is of this date.
From this noble bridge a most charming view may be
obtained of the Castle and the Cathedral, with the
wooded banks and the river beneath. The bridge itself
is best seen from the west bank of the river, a little to
the north, and below the weir.
The city side of Framwellgate Bridge was formerly
guarded by a gateway, surmounted by a tower, on the
south side of which, and where now a flight of steps leads
down to the river bank, there was a postern. The gate-
way was taken down, in order to widen the road, in the
year 1760. From the bridge, Silver Street winds up to the
head of the Market Place. This thoroughfare is supposed
to have had its name from the mint of the bishops having
been established in it. A more probable derivation may
be suggested. In former times considerable quantities of
plate were made in Durham, and a company of gold-
smiths was established before 1532, in which year
Bishop Tunstall confirmed their incorporation. There
was formerly a picturesque mansion on the north side
of Silver Street, which had a pointed wooden porch, on
the jambs of which the arms of the Nevilles were carved.
The fine old seventeenth century house, once the
residence of the renowned Sir John Duck, with its
massive oak staircase, but with its front entirely
modernized, still remains. It was long used as an
inn, and bore the sign of the Black Lion.
The Market Place possesses scarcely a single evidence
of antiquity. Great are the changes it has witnessed
since the time when the heads of King Duncan's foot-
soldiers were mounted upon posts therein. One of its
chief features in ancient times was the Toll Booth,
which is mentioned, during the time of Bishop Tunstall
(1530-1553), as "a work of stone," and was given by that
prelate to the citizens. It soon, however, gave place to
another structure. Whilst Tunstall was still bishop, we
are told by one of the Latin chroniclers of Durham, that
"a very beautiful marble cross, which formerly stood in
the highest part of the street of Gilligate, in the place
called Maid's Arbour, was given to William Wright, of
Durham, merchant, on his petition, by Sir Armstrong
Scot, lord of Kepier, to be erected in the Market Place
of Durham. Which, when it was taken down, at its base
eight images of stone were discovered, curiously wrought
in stone and sumptuously gilded; that is, two at each
corner, supporting the aforesaid cross ; for the cross was
four-square." Thomas Spark, the suffragan Bishop of
Berwick, Master of Holy Island, and Keeper and
Master of Greatham Hospital, spent £8 in removing
and re-erecting the cross, "in the place," says our
chronicler, "in which stood the Old Toll Booth."
The old cross disappeared long ago. We have not
even a record of the period of its removal, but its images
probably suffered in the days of the Reformation. It
was superseded in 1617 by a market cross, covered with
lead, and supported by twelve stone pillars ; the whole
erected at the cost of Thomas Emerson, of the Black
Friars, London, "for the ornament of the city, and the
commodity of the people frequenting the market of
Durham." Emerson had been steward to the Nevilles
of Raby, and on the centre of each arch of his cross he
placed the Neville arms. This later cross was taken
down in 1780, when an open piazza was erected in front of
St. Nicholas' Church. This has also been removed.
Mayl
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
211
Near the old Market Cross was a pant or fountain,
which, till within living memory, afforded the principal
water supply for the city. In 1450, Thomas Billingham,
of Crook Hall, near Durham, granted to the city a spring
of water in his manor of Sidgate, with liberty to convey
the same by pipes to a reservoir in the Market Place, for
the public use, on payment of a rent of 13d. a year. The
grant was confirmed by the bishop, who gave permission
to break his soil for the construction of aqueducts. At
this early period the fountain was designated "The
Paunt." In 1729 a new octagonal fountain was erected,
surmounted by a figure of Neptune, the latter the gift
of George Bowes. The octagon, "old, unsightly, yet
venerable," was removed in 1863, when the present
fountain was built, on the summit of which the figure
of Neptune may still be seen.
From the north-west corner of the Market Place *
flight of steps leads past the site of the city residence of
the Nevilles, Earls of Westmoreland, to the Back Lane,
and so to the river bank. This stairway was once the
scene of a memorable flight. In the year 1283. died
Bishop Robert de Insula, and, following his death, oc-
SILVER STREET, DURHAM.
212
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
fMay
curred one of the by no means unfrequent disputes
between the Archbishop of York on the one hand, and
the Prior and Convent of Durham on the other, as to the
right of jurisdiction within the vacant bishopric. The
Archbishop came to Durham for the purpose of holding
a visitation, but the prior and monks refused him admis-
sion to the Cathedral ; whereupon he betook himself to
the Church of St. Nicholas, where he preached, and was
about to pronounce the excommunication of the prior and
the whole convent, when the behaviour of the young men
of the city assumed a threatening character. The arch-
bishop became alarmed, ran out of the church, and made
his escape down the just-mentioned stairway to the river
side, and so to the Hospital of Kepier.
From the south-east corner of the Market Place we turn
into Fleshergate, which half a century ago was chiefly oc-
cupied by shambles. Hutchinson, writing near the end of
last century, mentions what he justly calls the " brutal
spectacle," then constantly witnessed, of slaughtering
animals in the open street. From Fleshergate, which
leads down to Elvet Bridge, Sadler Street branches off on
our right, at the head whereof, and at the point where
stood the great gateway of the Castle, we enter the North
Bailey. The whole Bailey, North and South, was within
the outer walls of the Castle, and was, says Snrtees,
" gradually occupied by the houses of military tenants,
bound to contribute to the defence of the Castle " ; and,
he adds, "many of the chief families of the county were
anxious to provide for their families and movable wealth a
safe asylum in time of war and Scottish inroad. " Mickle-
ton states that "all the houses, or the greater part of
them, were anciently held of the Bishops of Durham in
capite, by ward of his Castle,
by the tenures or services of
finding archers to defend the
Castle in times of war; some
were held by the service of
watching the North Gate in
company with the bishop's
janitor; some by services and
suits at the Castle court, and
finding pot-herbs and vege-
tables for the bishop's kitchen."
In 1416, John Killinghall held
nine messuages in the Bailey
by castleward, viz., by finding
one archer for the defence of
King's Gate (now Dun Cow
Lane) in time of war ; and in
1549 one Hugh Wittonstall
paid a yearly rent of six shil-
lings to Jordan de Dalden for
a tenement in the Bailey, with
the further stipulation that he
ahould find house-room and
stabling for the said Jordan
and his men, in time of war. Amongst the notable
families who, in olden time, had houses in the Bailey
were those of Claxtnn, Hansard, Darcy, Hedworth,
and Bowes. A mansion known in the times of Bek
and Hatfield as Lightfoot Hall and Sheriff House,
belonged to the princely family of De la Pole. Just
within the North Gate was a great hostelry or inn,
which Surtees conjectures " was probably resorted to by
the pilgrims proceeding to the shrine of St. Cuthbert,
or on business to the Castle or Convent.''
So soon as we enter the Bailey, we find ourselves at the
foot of a short street which leads to Palace Green. It was
formerly called Owensgate, then Hoovinsgate, and now,
by a process of corruption, bears the name of Queen
Street. Proceeding forward we reach, opposite the
church of St. Mary-le-Bow, a second street on our
right, now known as Dun Cow Lane. This was for-
merly part of a road from the Palace Green, which,
crossing the Bailey, passed beneath an archway in
the old tower of St. Mary's, and then traversed the
churchyard to a postern in the outer walls. Over
this road Bishop Neville claimed for himself and
his servants a right of way, which Prior Forcer denied.
In 1450 the bishop made presentment that one Richard
Daniel of Durham, yeoman and bookbinder, " with force
and arms, with stocks, sewell wood and many other
trees," had stopped "the gate within the said steeple"
and the way thither. Daniel's answer was that the gate
in the steeple and the land before it belonged to the
Prior of Durham, whose servant he was, and by whose
order he had acted. The bishop soon found evidence of
the justice of the prior's claim, and withdrew his plea.
ELVET BRIDGE, DUBHAM.
Mayl
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
213
Proceeding along the Bailey, and passing; the modest
'Church of St. Mary-the-Less, we soon arrive at the
site of the Water Gate. One of the complaints
made in 1305 against Bishop Anthony Bek was
that he had closed this portal against pilgrims pro-
ceeding to and from the shrine of St. Cuthbert.
In the agreement by which the suit was terminated
it was provided that the Water Gate should only
be closed in time of war, when the safety of the
Castle necessitated this precaution. In 14*9 Bishop
Neville gave the famed Robert Khodes liberty to annex
this gate to his adjoining mansion, and to open and close
it at his pleasure. The Water Gate remained till about
1780, used only as a foot-road and bridal-way, and closed
at night.
From the end of the Bailey a road dscends swiftly to
the Prebends' Bridge, which was built by the Dean and
Chapter in the years 1772 to 1777, in place of a narrow
foot-bridge, a little higher up the river, which was washed
down by the memorable flood of 1771. From the Pre-
bends' Bridge we gain one of the most delightful views of
the west end of the Cathedral, with the wooded banks of
the river and the picturesque old Abbey Mill below.
We may now retrace our steps, along the Bailey,
towards the Market Place. On reaching the foot of
Sadler Street we turn into Fleshergate on our right,
which quickly leads down to Elvet Bridge. This interest-
ing and picturesque structure was originally built by
Bishop Pudsey. It was extensively repaired in the time of
Bishop Fox, who, in 1495, granted an indulgence of forty
days to all who should contribute towards the cost of its
repair. It was seriously injured by the great flood in
1771, when three of the arches were carried away. These
were immediately afterwards rebuilt, and in 1304- and 1805
the bridge was widened to double its original breadth.
Whilst the city retained its fortifications Elvet Bridge
was guarded by a turret. It was near this turret that the
Mayor of Durham awaited the arrival of King James the
First, on the eve of Easter Day in the year 1617. On
Elvet Bridge, before the Reformation, were two chantry
chapels. One of these, dedicated to St. James, was
founded at some unknown period by Lewen, a burgess of
the city. The second chapel, on the south end of the
bridge, was dedicated to St. Andrew, and was founded by
William, the son of Absalom, during the time of Bishop
Robert de Insula (1274—1283). Of the three bridges of
Durham, Elvet is certainly by far the most picturesque.
Its many arches, and the quaint old houses by which its
south end is surmounted, make it a favourite subject with
the artist. It deserves to be mentioned that, before the
year 1400, shops and houses existed on both ends of the
bridge, and that one of the buildings which still
remain at the south end occupies the site of the chapel
of St. Andrew.
Having crossed the bridge, we are within the ancient
borough of Elvet. From an early period the barony of
Elvet belonged to the Convent of Durham. The borough,
which is not co-extensive with the barony, but of more
limited territory, was created prior to the time of Bishop
Pudsey. That prelate granted a charter to the monks,
confirming to them their rights within the borough of
Elvethalgh. Following this comes a charter from Prior
Bertram, who describes the privileges of the inhabitants.
"Our burgesses inhabiting our New Borough of Elvet-
halgh . . . shall peaceably and justly enjoy their
hereditary lands within the borough, paying our reserved
rent in equal moieties at the two feasts of St. Cuthbert,
in Lent and in September : the burgesses shall grind at
our manor-mill, paying the eighteenth part [of the corn] as
multure : and if we shall hereafter, by the grace and
favour of our Lord Bishop, obtain a market-place or
market in our borough, we reserve to ourselves all the
rights pertaining to the same."
From the foot of Elvet Bridge, the aristocratic street
called Old Elvet stretches before us towards the racecourse,
and towards the pleasant paths that lead up to the high
grounds of the Maiden Bower. Resisting the manifold at-
tractions of this inviting road, we turn on our right into the
plebeian street of ISew Elvet. After going a little way.
and noticing the quaint aspect of some of the houses, in-
cluding an extremely picturesque old inn — the Cock — we
come to the point at which the road divides, the branch
on our left being the high road to Stockton, and that on
our right the great South road, the highway to Darling-
ton and wherever you will beyond. The Stockton road
begins with the name of Hallgarth Street, a name de-
rived from the site of the Prior's Hall. The road to
Darlington commences under the name of Church Street,
a designation acquired from its proximity to the Church
of St. Oswald. From Church Street a public pathway
leads across the churchyard to the river banks. This i.s
the route which any one wishful to make a pleasant per-
ambulation of the suburbs of Durham would do well t<i
take. After leaving the churchyard, we pass two fields,
the first of which is called the Anchorage Close, a name
which preserves the memory of some otherwise totally
forgotten recluse. The next field is the Palmer's Close,
wherein, so tradition says, it was in ancient time the
practice of pilgrims or palmers who came to the shrine of
St. Cuthbert to leave their horses grazing, whilst them-
selves went forward to the goal of their devotions. A
little further we reach a tiny rivulet which forms the
boundary between the parishes of St. Oswald and St.
Margaret. As the little stream comes babbling and
splashing down its rocky bed towards the great river
wherein it is lost, it forms by no means the least beautiful
amongst the many charming sights which render the
sylvan shaded banks of the Wear at .Durham a never-fail-
ing scene of pleasure and delight to those who frequent
them. Surtees describes this " slender streamlet" pursu-
ing its way " thro' a fine yawning ravine of shelving rock,
shaggy with moss and lichens and twisted roots, and often
214
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
ftfay
\18iW.
in winter glittering like a fairy palace with the long fan-
tastic icicles formed by the frozen waters of the little
torrent" The present writer has verified the truth of
this description within recent years, when, too, every
branch and twig of the overhanging trees was covered
with frozen crystals, glittering like myriads of diamonds
iu the cold clear sunshine.
Continuing on our way, and passing the end of the
Prebends' Bridge, the path begins rapidly to ascend, and
we emerge into South Street, from whence we have one
of the finest views of the Castle and Cathedral which can
possibly be obtained. The late Canon Ornsby described
this view as "unequalled in dignity and grandeur."
Descending South Street, we pass the church of St.
Margaret on our left, and immediately reach the foot
cf Crossgate. A few yards further, and we are once
more at Framwellgate Bridge.
Once again let us wend our way to the Market Place.
From the north-east corner we enter the street called
Claypath, or, as in ancient documents, Clayport. Near
the further corner of the church the roadway was
formerly spanned by the Claypath Gate, "a weak,
single arch of common stone and rubble," taken down
in 1791. Claypath continues to near the summit of the
first hill, and here the name of the road becomes Giles-
gate, or, as the old people will have it, Gilligate. At the
same point stood formerly a leaden cross, which is men-
tioned as early as 1454. Here, too, we leave the parish
of St. Nicholas and enter the parish and borough of
St. Giles. The street, under its changed name, stretches
forward to the junction of the Sunderland and Sherburn
roads. The junction is the site of the Maid's Arbour,
whence came the fair cross which once adorned the
Market Place, and here also, in bygone times, the
traveller, leaving the city, entered on the green expanse
of Gilligate Moor, formerly the well-known muster-
ground of local militiamen and volunteers. The old
account books of more than one neighbouring parish
record the cost of carrying "the town's armour to
Gilligate Moor."
In this rambling survey of Durham we have not
travelled beyond the city and its immediate suburbs.
Let it not be supposed that its more distant and rural
surroundings lack interest. Many are the delightful
field-paths and lanes and bye-ways round Durham.
They lead, through scenes that charm every true lover
of nature, to sites rich in historic associations and in
the romance and mystery of bygone centuries. Such
sites include Old Durham and Maiden Castle, Kepier
and Finchale, Neville's Cross and Bearpark, Sherburn
and Brancepeth. I have only space to mention these
favourite resorts. The reader who will take the
trouble to learn their history and legends, and will
then make such pilgrimages to them as he has
opportunity to accomplish, will, I am sure, be amply
repaid. J. R. BoYLB, F.S.A.
Cwttj)
j]ROBABLY the most dismal place in the
universal world is the "goaf," the sooty,
cavernous void left in a coal mine after the
removal of the coal. The actual terrors of
this gloomy cavity, with its sinking, cracked roof and
upheaving or " creeping " floor, huge fragments of shale
or "following stone" overhead, quivering ready to fall,
and "blind passages that lead to nothing "and nowhere,
save death to the hapless being who chances to stray
into them in the dark and loses his way, as in the Cata-
combs. These terrors formerly had superadded to them
others of a yet more appalling nature, in the shape of
grim goblins that haunted the wastes deserted by
busy men, and either lured the unwary wanderer into
them to certain destruction, or issued from them to play
mischievous pranks in the workings, tampering with the
brattices so as to divert or stop the air-currents, hiding
the men's gear, blunting the hewers' picks, frightening
the putters with dismal groans and growls, exhibiting
deceptive blue lights, and every now and then choking
scores of men and boys with deadly gases.
One of the spectres of the mine— now, like all his
brethren, only a traditionary as well as a shadowy being
—used to be known by the name of Cutty Soams. Be-
longing, of course, to the genus boggle, he partook of
the special nature of the brownie. His disposition was
purely mischievous, yet he condescended sometimes to do
good in an indirect way. Thus he would occasionally
pounce upon and thrash soundly some unpopular overman
or deputy-viewer, and would often gratify his petty
malignity at the expense of shabby owners, causing them
vexatious outlay for which there would otherwise have
been no need ; but his special business and delight was to
cut the ropes, or "soams," by which the poor little
assistant putters (sometimes girls) used then to be yoked
to the wooden trams for drawing the corves of coal from
the face of the workings out to the cranes. It was no
uncommon thing in the mornings, when the men went
down to work, for them to find that Cutty Soams had
been busy during the night, and that every pair of rope
traces in the colliery had been cut to pieces. But no one
ever, by any chance, saw the foul fiend. By many he was
supposed to be the ghost of some of the poor fellows who
had been killed in the pit at one time or other, and who
came to warn his old marrows of some misfortune that
was going to happen, so that they might put on their
clothes and go home. Pits were laid idle many a day in
the olden times through this cause alone. Cool-headed
sceptics, who maintained that the cutting of the soams,
instead of being the work of an evil spirit whom no-
body had ever seen or could see, was that of some design
ing scoundrel.
As these mysterious soam-cuttines, at a particular pit
May)
1890.1
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
215
in Northumberland, in the neighbourhood of Callington,
never occurred when the men were on the day shift,
suspicion fell on one of the deputies, named Nelson, whose
turn to be on the night shift it always happened to be
when there was any prank played of the kind. It was his
duty to visit the cranes before the lads went down, and
see that all things were in proper order, and it was he
who usually made the discovery that the ropes had been
cut. Having been openly accused of the deed by another
man, his rival for the hand of a daughter of the overman
of the pit, Nelson, it would appear, resolved to compass
his competitor's death by secretly cutting, all but a single
strand, the rope by which his intended victim was about
to descend to the bottom. Owing to some cause or other
the person whose destruction was thus designed was not
the first to go down the pit that morning, but other two
men, the under viewer and overman, went first. The con-
sequence was that the rope broke with their weight the
moment they swung themselves upon it, and they were
precipitated down the shaft and dashed to pieces.
As a climax to this horrid catastrophe, the pit fired a
few days afterwards, and tradition has it that Nelson was
killed by the after-damp. Cutty Soams Colliery, as it
had come to be nicknamed, never worked another day.
To be sure, it was well-nigh exhausted of workable coal ;
but whether that had been so or not, not a man could
have been induced to enter it, or wield a pick in it, owing
to its evil repute.
So the owners, to make the best of a bad job, engaged
some hardy fellows to bring the rails, trams, rolleys, and
other valuable plant out of the doomed pit, a task which
occupied them several weeks, and then its mouth was
filled up. The men removed to other collieries, and the
deserted pit row soon fell into ruins. Even the bare
walls have long since disappeared. There is nothing left
now to mark the site of the village, if we may believe our
authority, Mr. W. P. Shield, " but a huge heap of rubbish
overgrown with rank weeds and fern bushes."
As for old Cutty Soams, he now finds no one to believe
in his ever having existed, far less in his still existing or
haunting any pit from Scremerston to West Auckland.
MONGST the pictures in the Bewick Club Ex-
hibition this year was Mr. Frank Wood's pour-
trayal of the commercial bustle of Newcastle.
The Quayside is everywhere regarded as the very heart of
the business life of the city, and the artist bas suc-
ceeded in giving a most accurate representation of the
scene, besides introducing as much pictorial effect as
possible. The Tyne, it must be remembered, is not
always smoky and murky, and Mr. Wood has chosen
its aspect upon a bright summer day. Taking his stand-
point at Hillgate Wharf, on the Gateshead side of the
river, he has faithfully delineated all the objects of
interest within the space at his command. The steam
wherry has taken the place of the old keel, and steaming
towards the Swing Bridge a modern tug is seen. Pleasure-
seekers, probably bound for Norway, are crowding on to
a tender lying at the ferry-landing, and themasts of ves-
sels of various builds tower up before the windows of the
mercantile houses that line the thoroughfare, while behind
rise the spire of All Saints', the lantern tower of St.
Nicholas', and the grim walls of the Old Castle. The
High Level Bridge, with a passing train, completes the
picture. With so many prosaic details, the artist has en-
deavoured to realise a very difficult subject, and it must
be said that he is rewarded by the result of his labours.
Mr. Wood is assistant master of the Newcastle School
of Art, now associated with the Durham College of
Science.
uf Srrfm
23ro'Qtc
JlR. WILSON HEPPLE showed at the late
Bewick Club Exhibition in Newcastle a large
oil painting, in which he undertook to repre-
sent on canvas one of the most romantic incidents con-
nected with the history of Newcastle — the elopement of
John Scott and Bessie Surtees.
Full details of the affair are recorded in the Monthly
Chronicle for June, 1888 ; but it may be briefly explained
that Bessie Surtees was the daughter of Aubone Surtees,
banker, Sandhill, Newcastle, and that John Scott was
the son of William Scott, a respectable merchant and
coalfitter, also of Newcastle. The young pair had become
acquainted at Sedgefield, and the acquaintance ripened
into friendship and love. Thus we arrive at that stage
when the fair heroine, " in a moment of terrible indiscre-
tion," as one of the historians of Newcastle puts it, con-
sented to leave her father's house and join her fortunes
with those of the merchant's son. For a while the young
couple had a hard struggle ; but John Scott in no long
time carved out his own fortunes. At first he studied
for the Church, but his marriage debarred him from
taking holy orders : so he turned his attention to the law.
After distinguishing himself in several minor cases, he
became in succession a King's Counsel, a member of Par-
liament, Solicitor-General, Attorney-General, Lord Chief
Justice of Common Pleas, Baron Eldon, Lord High
Chancellor, and Earl of Eldon.
Mr. Hepple has painted many North-Country subjects,
but it may be doubted whether he has ever produced a
work of so much interest as that which is engraved
on the next page. The old-fashioned houses loom up in
mysterious bulk ; the moonlight effect is rendered with
216
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
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I 1890.
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Mayi
1890. f
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
217
218
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
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1890.
rare charm ; and the general conception is excellent. In
the foreground we have the lovers hurrying to the coach
which is to carry them on their midnight journey. The
ladder placed against the casement is sufficiently eloquent
of its purpose. Scott's willing helper, Wilkinson, the
apprentice of Snow Clayton, a tradesman who occupied
the premises below those of Surtees, is seen in an excited
attitude, and evidently warning the lovers that caution is
necessary. But even without the figures, the picture
wuuld have been a great achievement as a Newcastle
street scene by night.
The artist claims that his picture is historically correct.
He has studied many old woodcuts and engravings of
houses that have been removed, and has consulted all the
local records, including the Monthly Chronicle. Indeed,
it was while reading the account of the famous elopement
in this magazine that the idea struck him that it might be
possible to realise it by the aid of the brush.
ilujfttimi at STrrtmte.
ihi tl)c late Raines Clcpljan.
| HE lighting of towns in our island, by com-
bined effort, is of modern date. Even in
the metropolis it had no existence prior to
the last century. So far back as the reign
of the hero of Agincourt, there was, indeed, street-
lighting ; but in a sorry, makeshift sort of way.
When Christmas was at hand, in the year 14-18, as
festivities would then be on foot, and wine would be
in and wisdom out, an order was made that each
honest person dwelling in the City should set "a
lantern, with a candill therein," before his house, in
promotion of the public peace. An expedient of the
like homely kind was also resorted to at Newcastle in
the seventeenth century, more especially in seasons of
civil commotion.
Whether systematic street-lightini? was first adopted in
England or on the Continent is an open question. "Of
modern cities," says Beckmann, "Paris, as far as I have
been able to learn, was the first that followed the example
of the ancients by lighting its streets." Yet in 152* it
was still content with lights exhibited before the door by
the citizens ; but about the middle of the century there
were brasiers in the thoroughfares, with blazing pitch,
rosin, &c., dispelling (or at least mitigating) the murkiness
of the atmosphere by night. Almost immediately after-
wards, in 1558, came street lanterns ; and in little more than
a hundred years, an enterprising Italian abbe was in Paris,
letting out lamps and torches for hire, and providing
attendants. His operations were extended also to other
cities ; while not only was all Paris now lighted by its
rulers, but even the outskirts : for nine miles of lamps
extended as far as Versailles. In London, meanwhile, in.
the latter years of the seventeenth century, householder*
were admonished as of yore to hang out a light every
night from Michaelmas to Lady Day. It was a device by
which the gloom of the metropolis after nightfall was but
imperfectly relieved. How it fared with the citizens in
their benighted paths may be conceived from the pages
of the poet Gay, who published his "Trivia, or the Art of
Walking the Streets," in the reign of Queen Anne. To-
all who might stumble into danger xinwarily, he gave this
word of caution : —
Though thou art tempted by the linkmairs call,
Yet trust him not along the lonely wall ;
In the mid-way he'll quench the flaming brand,
And share the booty with the pilfering band ;
Still keep the public streets, where oily rays,
Shot from the crystal lamp, o'erspread the ways.
The ineffectual fires of these crystal flickerers hardly
served to make visible the increasing accumulations that
addressed themselves, in almost every town of the time,
to the more prominent feature of the face. " I smell you
in the dark," muttered Johnson to Boswell, passing along
the High Street of Edinburgh on an autumn night of
1773 ; and Gay sounded his warning note in London : —
Where the dim gleam the paly lantern throws
O'er the mid-pavement, heapy rubbish grows.
There were also roysterers of the night, ready for a.
brawl, yet respecters of persons ; topers who, observant
of the better part of valour,
Flushed as they are with folly, youth, and wine,
Their prudent insults to the poor confine ;
Afar they mark the flambeau's light approach,
And shun the shining train and golden coach.
So sung Johnson in his "London" in the year 1738,
when Parliamentary powers had recently been obtained
for the establishment of corporate lighting by night. A
Bill was introduced for street-lighting in 1736; and ia
the ninth year of the reign of George II. the Royal Assent
was given to "An Act for the Better Enlightening the
Streets of the City of London."
When the eighteenth century, whose midnights had
been visited by the glare of flambeaux and the glimmer
of oil-lamps, closed its course, it was casting before it the
splendour of gas. A hundred years earlier, indeed, the
Dean of Kildare, Dr. Clayton, had liberated " the spirit
of coal." "Distilling coal in a retort, and confining the
gas produced thereby in a bladder, he amused his friends-
by burning it as it issued from a pin-hole." It afterwards
became a common amusement to fill a tobacco pipe with
crushed coal ; thrust the bowl into the fire ; and light the
gas jet as it flowed from the stem. This was a toy. But
William Murdock, a native of Ayrshire, put gas to work
in earnest. In 1792, residing at Redruth, in Cornwall, as
the representative there of Boulton and Watt, he lighted
up his house and offices with "the spirit of coal," and in
the general illumination of 1802, in celebration of the
Peace of Amiens, he wrapped the whole front of the
famous Soho Works in a flaming flood of gas, dazzling
and delighting the population of Birmingham, and
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
219
publishing the new light to the world ! Its success
was so decided that the proprietors had their entire
manufactory lighted with gas ; and several other
firms, in various parts of the country, followed their
example.
"Hew lights" have ever to contend with old. How-
ever brilliant their promise, there is the shadow of
incredulity, the gauntlet of ridicule. Oracular heads
were shaken at gas. As well think of lighting a town
with "clipped moonshine," was their contemptuous
conclusion; while the alarmists anxiously inquired, "if
gas were adopted, what would become of the whale
fishery ? " The world, careless whether the whale should
survive the change, listened to Murdock.
One of Murdock's most enthusiastic disciples — Winsor,
a German — introduced the light into London in 1807.
Winsor applied to Parliament for a Bill, and Murdock
was examined before the committee. " Do you mean to
tell us," asked one member, "that it will be possible
to have a light without a wick?" "Yes, I do, indeed,"
answered Murdock. "Ah, my friend,'' said the legis-
lator, "you are trying to prove too much." It was as
surprising and inconceivable to the honourable member
as George Stephenson's subsequent evidence before a
Parliamentary Committee to the effect that a carriage
might be drawn upon a railway at the rate of twelve
miles an hour without a horse. Even Sir Humphry Davy
ridiculed the idea of lighting towns with gas, and asked
one of the projectors if it were intended to take the
dome of St. Paul for a gasometer ! The first application
of the "Gas Light and Coke Company" to Parliament
in 1809 for an Act proved unsuccessful ; but the "London
and Westminster Chartered Gas Light and Coke Com-
pany" succeeded in the following year. The company,
however, did not prosper commercially, and was on the
point of dissolution, when Mr. Clegg, a pupil of Murdock,
bred at Soho, undertook the management, and introduced
a new and improved apparatus. Mr. Clegg first lighted
with gas Mr. Akerman's shop in the Strand in 1810, and
it was regarded as a great novelty. One lady of rank
was so much delighted with the brilliancy of the gas-
lamp fixed on the shop-counter, that she asked to be
allowed to carry it home in her carriage, and offered any
sum for a similar one. Mr. Winsor, by his persistent
advocacy of gas-lighting, did much to bring it into
further notice ; but it was Mr. Clegg's practical ability
that mainly led to its general adoption. When West-
minster Bridge was first lit up with gas in 1812, the
lamplighters were so disgusted with it that they struck
work, and Mr. Clegg had himself to act as lamplighter.
(Smiles's "Lives of Boulton and Watt.")
One of the earliest provincial towns to adopt the new
light was Newcastle-upon-Tyne. This was in 1818 ; of
which year Smiles has a characteristic anecdote relating
to Murdock. He had come to Manchester to start one
of Boulton and Watt's engines, and, with Mr. William
Fairbairn (from whom the biographer had the story), was
invited to dine at Medlock Bank, then at some distance
from the lighted part of the city. "It was a dark
winter's night, and how to reach the house, over such
bad roads, was a question not easily solved. Mr.
Murdock, however, fertile in resources, went to the
gas-works, where he filled a bladder which he had with
him, and, placing it under his arm like a bagpipe, he
discharged through the stem of an old tobacco-pipe a
stream of gas, which enabled us to walk in safety to
Medlock Bank."
Before going any further, let us observe that public
lighting is of considerable antiquity on the Tyne. In
the month of November, 1567, a dozen years before
Parliament was considering a Bill for maintaining a
light on Winterton steeple, "for the more safety of
such ships as pass by the coast," the Corporation of
Newcastle was paying os. "for 41b. of waxe maid in
candell for the lanterne of Sancte Nyciolas Churche,
and for the workynge." Such items were not uncommon.
Here is another, of the month of December ensuing : —
"For 21b. of waxe, wrought in candell for the lanterne
in Sancte Xycholas Churche, Is. 6d." There were lights
aloft on the church tower for the comfort and guidance of
wanderers over the open country, whose feet were in
anxious search of the Metropolis of the North.
In town and country men had then to grope their
way by night. At a much later date than the
reign of Elizabeth, how darksome were the streets of
Newcastle !
There is an instructive anecdote of Lord Eldon,
reviving the days when the future Lord Chancellor
was on the threshold of his teens, and lighting by
Act of Parliament was unknown on the Tyne. He
and his schoolfellows would forgather on a winter's
night at the Head of the Side, on boyish freaks
intent. It was a time when shops were unglazed,
the windows open to the outer air, and the interior
feebly lighted by a lamp or a "dip." Down the Side
the youngsters would start for the Sandhill ; and h'rst
one, then another, would drop on his knees at a trades-
man's door, creep across the floor, lift up his lips, and
blow out the flame ! Hasty then was the retreat ; and
the merry band were off in pursuit of another victim,
till all the shopkeepers in the row were reduced to
dipless darkness.
The reign of George II. had to pass away before the
aid of Parliament was successfully invoked for lighting
the streets of Newcastle. The Common Council, which
in 1717 had applied for an Act, again took up the matter ;
and soon after the accession of George III. powers were
obtained. In the spring of 1763, Newcastle obtained
an Act for lighting and watching the town, and regula-
ting the hackney-coachmen and chairmen, the cartmen,
porters, and watermen ; and on Michaelmas Day the oil
lamps were a glow to the best ot their ability.
220
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
Whether the Act of 1763 spoiled the fun of Young
Newcastle, and threw oil on the troubled waters of the
tradesmen, our annalists do not say. But doubtless
the schoolboys of the good old days "when George the
Third was King " found abundant channels in which to
gratify their love of mirth and mischief. For half a
century and more the ladder of the lamplighter was
in alliance with the harpoon of the whaler. But when
the age of gas had arrived, the metropolis of the coalfield
could not hold back, whatever came of the whale-fishery.
In the dawn of the long reign of George III., Newcastle
had received powers for lighting by oil ; and near its close
it was applying for an Act for lighting by gas. The
requisite powers were granted. On the 10th of January,
1818, on which day the Savings Bank was first opened,
gas-lighting also began. "In the evening," says Sykes,
"a partial lighting of the gas-lights took place in such
of the shops in Newcastle as had completed their
arrangements. The lamps in Mosley Street were not
lighted till the 13th (Tuesday evening), when a great
crowd witnessed their first lighting up, and a loud
cheer was given by the boys as the flame was applied
to each burner." Collingwood Street had its illumination
on the 26th ; and the Old Assembly Rooms in the Groat
Market, occupied by the Literary and Philosophical
Society, were lighted on the 27th. Before the end of
the month gas-lighting was becoming general. "This
beautiful light," says the Newcastle Chronicle, "is now
introduced into most of the shops in the streets through
which the pipes have been carried, and thus the thorough-
fares are rendered in the evening beautifully resplendent."
The theatre was first lighted with gas on the 3rd of
March.
Newcastle having led the way, other Northern towns
were not slow to follow. North Shields was lighted
with gas in 1820 ; Berwick-upon-Tweed and Stockton-
upon-Tees in 1822 ; Durham in 1823 ; Sunderland in 1824 ;
South Shields in 1826 ; and Darlington in 1830. Gas had
passed into general favour. Instances occurred, however,
in which tradesmen were admonished that if they had
the "new light" in their shops they must not expect
to see their old customers ; and some cautious folk,
providing for their safety, retired to watering-places or
elsewhere ere the gas-lamps were lighted ! They would
have had their neighbours walk in the ancient ways, and
stand by the whale.*
Slowly street-lighting had moved ouward in the olden
time. Through long generations the householders were
contributing each his candle to the public service.
Twinkling stars of light strove through " the blanket
of the dark," producing an effect on which the "sickly
glare " of oil was subsequently thought to be an
* There will be found in the Monthly Chronicle for 1889, page
279, the record of a presentation by the inhabitants of North
Shields to Mr. John Motley for his conduct as chairman of a
meeting held on Sept 11, 1817, "to oppose the innovation of
lighting the said town."
improvement ! But the rate of progress has been
accelerated in modern days. Half-a-century sufficed
to make an end of oil in the streets of Newcastle ;
and now, after less than four-score years more, gaa is
in controversy with the electric flame.
It was in June, 1850, that Mr. W. E. Staite, a
pioneer and patentee of electric lighting, exhibited
his light from the South Pier, Sunderland. Mr. Staite
had been invited by the Commissioners of the River
Wear to show his invention, in order that, if found
suitable, it might be adopted as the permanent means
of illuminating the New Dock. Great interest was
manifested in the exhibition throughout the town ;
and towards evening thousands thronged the piers
and quays, while many availed themselves of trips to
sea so as to witness the effect of the light several
miles from land. The apparatus was erected upon a
temporary platform, raised a few feet above the light-
house, the galvanic battery being placed in a shed
below. At ten o'clock exactly the spectators on shore
were gratified by the first glimpse of the light, which
was shown with a parabolic reflector. It was directed
towards Hartlepool, Seaham, and Ryhope, and then
brought gradually northwards by the reflector being
moved slowly round. The light was then sent
successively upon the Docks, St. John's Chapel, the
quays, piers, and then towards Roker and Whitburn.
A few nights later, between eleven and twelve o'clock,
on the 25th of June, 1850, Mr. Staite exhibited the
light at the Central Railway Station, Newcastle, to
the directors of the company and a numerous party.
The inventor had been asked to give a tender for
lighting the station, which he did, but the directors
did not see their way to adopt it.
Mr. Staite's visits were naturally recalled to mind
on the eve of the first lecture of our townsman.
Mr. J. W. Swan, whose name is now everywhere
familiar. This lecture was given before the Literary
and Philosophical Society of Newcastle early in 1879.
Not a few were then present who remembered how,
on the occasion of the marriage of the Prince and
Princess of Wales in 1863, Mr. Swan threw down from
the Shot Tower and St. Mary's the flooding light of
The shining sun that mocked the glare
Of envious gas, struck pale and wan.
And the whole of the brilliant audience brought to-
gether in 1879 saw the same docile flame hermetically
imprisoned, like some genius of the Arabian Nights,
within walls of glass, and diffusing around it the soft
lustre which the drawing-room desires.
The world is ever making new conquests, while not
throwing aside the old. Society is not unthrifty. It
adds to its roll of handmaids. Further arrivals do not •
foreshadow the departure of their forerunners. There
was, as we have seen, in a former generation, an alarm
for the whale fishery ; and yet, the cry was so groundless .
1890.
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
221
that it has given place to a fear lest the whale fishery, in
the persistent and growing consumption of oil, should
become extinct. Oil, indeed, is in such demand that
the earth itself has been harpooned. On land as on
sea oil is struck ; and the mineral supply sheds its
serene light over a million firesides. Oil, and gas, and
candle have yet a long lease of social service to run;
while the electric light has before it a career but dimly
seen in our brightest dreams.
tftt Carrion
atrtf tft* 3t?0crtr*tr
JHE Raven (Con-us corax), though of world-
wide distribution, is now a rare bird in this
country, having been nearly extirpated in
the interests of pastoral fanners and game
preservers. As Mr. John Hancock remarks, " this weird
and majestic bird is now nearly banished from the two
counties, where it once gave interest and life to the wild
and rocky solitudes of the uncultivated parts, and where
it constantly bred and reared its sable off spring. " "In
the latter part of last century," continues Mr. Hancock,
"a raven annually built its nest in the steeple of St.
Nicholas' Church, Newcastle. I received this intimation
from Mr. R. R. Wingate, who possessed an egg taken
from a nest in the steeple. When a youth he saw the old
birds pass in and out of the hole in which the nest was
placed."
Ravens generally live in pairs, and are believed by most
authorities to remain constantly together throughout
their lives, passing their time principally (according to
Dr. Brehm) in flying in company with each other over the
surrounding country. When on the wing, their move-
ments are extremely beautiful ; they alternate between a
rapid and direct flight, produced by a powerful stroke of
the wings, these, like the tail, being kept outspread, and
a hovering motion, that takes the form of a series of
gracefully described circles, seeming to be produced with-
out the slightest effort on the part of the birds, who
occasionally amuse themselves — as the rooks do sometimes
— by dropping suddenly a distance of some feet and then
continuing their flight as before. When on the ground
their gait is distinguished by a grotesque assumption of
dignity, the upper portion of the body being held con-
siderably raised, while they gesticulate curiously with the
head, as if attempting to keep time with the movements
of the feet.
As the raven is so well known, but a slight description
is required. The adult male weighs nearly two and a half
pounds ; length, about two feet two inches ; bill, black ;
iris, grey, with an outer circle of brown ; bristles extend
over more than half the bill. The whole plumage is
black, glossed on the upper part with bluish purple. The
wings extend to the width of four feet four inches. Pied
and even white varieties have occasionally occurred.
The raven is a very long-lived bird, and an instance is
recorded of one having lived over fifty years in captivity.
The Carrion Crow (Corvus coronc) is a bird ir.ore or less
seen in wooded districts, where it is known by a variety
of common names, such as cortie, gor crow, black neb,
and flesh crow. It much resembles the raven in shape,
plumage, and habits. Like the raven, it is much perse-
cuted by game preservers and farmers. Notwithstanding
its occasional predatory propensities, it was an especial
favourite with the late Charles Waterton, who, from its
boldness, termed it the " warrior bird."
Carrion crows are generally found in pairs all the
222
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
fMay
year round, and, like the ravena, they are believed to
pair for life. In the nesting season, the male bird boldly
defends its mate, and will even attack adventurous neat-
hunters. The nesc is usually built on the topmost
branches of tall trees ; but in treeless localities the birds
have been known to breed on the ground. Years ago, a
pair of crows, it is recorded, built their nest on one of the
Fame Islands. The ne*t was formed of pieces of turf
laid one upon another, and lined with wool, all brought
from the mainland, four or five miles distant
.Mr. Waterton writes as follows of the carrion crow : —
"Tliis warrior bird is always held up to public execra-
tion. The very word carrion attached to his name car-
ries something disgusting with it ; and no one shows him
any kindness. Though he certainly has his vices, still lie
has his virtues too ; and it would be a pity if the general
odium in which he is held should be the means one day
or other of blotting out his name from the pages of our
British ornithology. With great propriety he might be
styled the lesser raven in our catalogue of native birds ;
for, to all appearance, he is a raven. The carrion crow is
a very early riser ; and long before the rook is on the
wing, you hear this bird announcing the approach of
morn, with his loud, hollow croaking from the oak to
which he has resorted the night before. He retires to rest
later than tlio rook ; indeed, so far as I have been able to
observe his motions, I consider him the first bird on the
wing in the morning and the last at night of all our non-
migrating diurnal British birds/' While admitting that
the carrion crow will occasionally attack an unprotected
leveret or a stray partridge, Mr. Waterton points out the
service it renders to agriculturists in clearing away offen-
sive carrion, and in making raids on vermin of all kinds
in meadows, pastures, and corn-fields.
The male bird weighs about nineteen ounces ; length,
one foot eight to ten inches. The whole plumage is black,
beautifully glossed with blue and green, the outside of
the feathers being dull black. The wings expand to a
width of three feet five inches.
The Hooded Crow (Conus cornix) is a migrant in
England, though stationary in the North of Scotland ;
and, for this and other reasons, it is believed by our most
competent ornithologists — Mr. Hancock and Professor
Newton amongst the number — to be probably but a
variety of the carrion crow. The bird, which at first
sight seems a trifle bulkier than the carrion crow, has
<juite a variety of common names — such as Royston crow,
grey crow, heedy crow, grey-backed crow, scare-crow,
hoody crow, dun crow, and bunting crow. The chief
distinction between the carrion crow and hooded crow, to
a casual observer at least, is in the plumage, that of the
latter being grey on the back, breast, and abdomen. The
eye of the latter is also of lighter brown than that of the
former, and the beak appears to be rather more pointed.
The nests are always solitary, and there is but little per-
ceptible difference in the colour and marking of the eggs
of both birds. The hooded crow weighs about twenty
ounces ; length, one foot eight inches. The female is lesa
than the male, and the grey of her plumage is tinged with
brown. Selby says : — "Sometimes this bird varies in
colouring, and is found entirely white or black."
(Satcsfmtlr
OME yet living may recall the time when, on
Ascension Day, May 27, 1824, the church bells
of St. Mary's rang a merry peal and the
booming of the guns from Price's glassworks saluted the
rector, the Rev. John Collinson, the four-and-twenty, and
the churchwardens, as they commenced the perambula-
tion of the ancient borough of Gabrosentum, as Gates-
head was called in the time of the Romans.
As there had not been a perambulation since the year
1792, the occasion was observed as a general holiday in
the town, and a great number of the inhabitants accom-
panied the procession. They were attended by two
constables, with flags, and two pipers.
The morn was fine, the day was clear,
The sun auspicious shone ;
Th' assembled groups from far and near
Were met at Gateshead town
To do a thing, not often done,
Upon Ascension Day ;
The thought elated every one,
Drest up in best array.
The assemblage met at St. Mary's Church ; and, at nine
o'clock, proceeded to the " blue-stone" on Tyne Bridge;
when, from a ladder over the side of the bridge, some
descended, and, pledging through the mud by the river
side, followed the course of the northern boundary. The
procession, headed by the pipers playing the "Keel
Row, " proceeded by the northern and western boundaries
to Wrekenton, where refreshments were provided.
Afterwards, to the strains of an excellent band, the com-
pany joined the ladies in the festive dance. From this
village the procession moved along the southern and
Mayl
1830. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
223
•eastern boundary to the river Tyne, at the north-west
•corner of a parcel of land called the " Friar's Goose " ;
here the constables and pipers took boat and proceeded to
the bridge from whence they had started. The perambu-
lation ended at half-past four o'clock, and the party sat
down to dinner at the Black Bull Inn, Sir R. S. Hawks,
Knight, being in the chair.
A number of copper medals, or ' ' lioundary tokens, " were
distributed on the occasion, of which the following is a
representation : —
The boundaries were again perambulated, as stated by
a. correspondent of the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle (Mr.
Robert Reed), on May 24th, 1336, and also in 1849 ; but
like many other good old customs of bye-gone days, it
seems to be now forgotten, and the tokens have become
relics of the past. SHOOTING-STICK.
***
Some three or fsur years ago, while in Edinburgh, I
was fortunate enough to secure, out of one of the curiosity
shops in the old town, one of these tokens. The token
was struck when the bounds of the borough were per-
ambulated by George Hawks, Esq., Mayor, and the
members of the Town Council on the 24th May, 1849.
The other names mentioned are : — William Henry
Brockett, James Smith, William Kenmir, Thomas
Wilson, John Cuthbert Potts, Thomas Gumming, Alder-
men ; William Kell, Town Clerk.
EDWARD F. HEEDMAN, Berwick.
I possess a Gateshead perambulation token. I got it in
a rather strange way. Going to Gosforth one day by
tramcar, the conductor complained to me in bitter terms
that a fellow had given him a "wrang penny," which he
considered a "dorty" trick. I asked to see the " %vrang
penny, "and it turned out to be the boundary token. I
relieved the conductor's mind and feelings by giving him
a new penny of the realm in exchange for the token. The
conductor was pleased, seemingly, at the transaction, and
so was I. The coin is dated 1857, and bears the following
inscription:— "Parish of Gateshead Boundary Token-
Overseers : Henry L. Munro, Geo. Brinton, Alfred
Debenbam, John Weddle. Churchwardens : Fred.
P. lonn, John Harrison, John Robson, James
Hewitt." A, ROMLEK, Gosforth.
***
Mr. Romler's token appears to have been issued
by the parish authorities. Another token was
struck on the same occasion. I possess a specimen
in plated metal. It bears on the obverse the follow-
ing words : — " Borough of Gateshead Boundary
Token : Perambulation, 5th October, 1857." On
the reverse are the following names : — Geo. Craw-
shay, Esq., Mayor ; Jas. Smith, Jno. Lister, Geo.
Hawks, Chas. Jno. Pearson, David Haggle, Richd.
Wellington Hodgson, Aldermen ; Josh. Willis Swinburne,
Town Clerk.'1 R. W., Newcastle.
" flctocastle Cfmimde."
HHE Newcastle Chronicle was established in
the year 1764. It was published in Union
Street, which stood on the site of the pre-
sent Town Hall. Here it continued to be
issued for well on to a century — from 1764 to 1S50. The
office was then removed to Grey Street, where it was pub-
lished till 1863, when it was taken to St. Nicholas' Build-
ings, near the end of the High Level Bridge. In 1866 it
was removed from thence to the present premises in
Westgate Road. The first number of the weekly issue of
the paper was published on March 24th, 1764 ; the first
number of the Daily Chronicle on May 1st, 1858 ; the
first number of the Ei-eniny Chronicle on November 2nd,
1885 ; and the first number of the Monthly Chronicle on
March 1st, 1887.
The paper has thus just entered on the 127th year of
its existence. When it was established, Newcastle was a
town with few shops and fewer factories, containing from
25,000 to 26.000 inhabitants. Sir Walter Blackett, with
semi-regal splendour, presided at the Mansion House, and
Mrs. Montague kept " open house " at Denton. Thomas
Bewick was at school at Mickley, Lord Collingwood was
a midshipman on board the Shannon, and John Scott was
under the tuition of Mr. Moises. George III. was
King, and George Grenville was Prime Minister.
Wilkes had recently been expelled from the House of
224
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
Commons, and the American Stamp Act had been
proposed, but not passed. Dr. Johnson had just
made the acquaintance of Boswell, Goldsmith had
just sold the " Vicar of Wakefield " for 60 guineas,
and Sir Joshua Reynolds had just projected the Literary
Club. Since then the British Empire has quadrupled in
extent and much more than quadrupled in wealth. Art
and science, literature and commerce, the press and
politics have been revolutionised. Tyneside has been
transformed, and its pastoral reaches have been made
the seat of active industry. During all these mutations,
the Kcwcastlc Chronicle has pursued its course, influenced,
but not injured, by the progress of events and the ebb
and flow of public opinion.
Mr. Thomas Slack founded the Chronicle. It remained
in the possession of himself and his descendants — the
Messrs. Hodgson — for 86 years. In 1850 it was acquired
aspirations and habits. The public spirit, the intrepidity,
and the generosity — as shown, amongst other ways, in
their kindness to gentle John Cunningham, who was a
by Mr. Mark William Lambert, Mr. Thomas' Bourne, and
Mr. John Bailey Langhorn. They parted with it in 1859
to the present proprietor. In a century and a quarter,
therefore, it has had but three proprietorships.
Mr. Slack was a man of much force of character, com-
bining excellent business capacity with no mean scholastic
attainments. His wife, too, had literary aptitudes and
tastes. The couple were not merely printers and book-
sellers, but they were bookmakers and journalists as well.
Their shop in Union Street was a club as well as a shop,
where, by the law of affinities, the litterateurs, artists.
actors, and politicians of tha district congregated.
Tradition assures us that their colloquies on topics of
current interest exerted an elevating influence on local
contributor to the paper— of Mr. and Mrs. Slack were
well sustained by their family.
As the parents had performed the treble pares of
j
authors, editors, and publishers, so did the daughter and
her husband, Mr. Solomon Hodgson, under whose joint
management the Chronicle continued from the death of
May\
183U. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
225
its projector, in 1764, to 1800. In that year Mr. Hodgson
died, and his widow, first with the help of Mr. William
Preston, a man of reputation in his day, but now for-
gotten, and afterwards with that of her son, Mr. Thomas
Hodgson, conducted the paper through the troubled period
covered by our war with France and the United States,
and the insurrection in Ireland. Contemporary writers
are profuse in their praise of Mr. and Mrs. Hodgson. Of
the former it was said, " In times of unexampled political
difficulty he was honest, independent, and incorruptible.
As he would not stoop to court the smile of any man, BO
neither did he fear any man's frown, but through the
medium of a fearless press delighted in disseminating the
principles of rational liberty and eternal truth." The
vigour of his understanding, we are assured, found its
equal only in the goodness of his heart. Mrs. Hodgson,
of whose magnanimity and accomplishments the Eev.
William Turner published an eloquent eulogy, appears to
have been a fitting helpmate of so able and estimable a
man.
From the death of Mrs. Hodgson, in 1822, to 1850, the
Chronicle was owned, edited, and managed by her two
sons, Thomas and James. Thomas was a learned anti-
quary and an enthusiastic angler. On the former subject
he wrote as copiously as Dr. Bruce, and on the latter as
sympathetically as Izaak Walton. He died in 1850, and
his brother, Alderman Hodgson, whose connexion with
the Newcastle Council and the North-Eastern Railway is
still well remembered, died in 1867. The Messrs.
Hodgson (father and sons) issued a series of " Newcastle
Reprints " — some were illustrated by Beilby and many by
Bewick — which are admirable examples of typographical
art, and highly prized by book collectors. At a banquet
given to Mr. William Ord on his retirement from the
15
representation of Newcastle, Alderman Hodgson, who
presided, said he and his brother had, throughout the
lengthened period they edited the Chronicle, written every
leader that appeared. This arrangement secured for the
paper consistency of purpose and uniformity of style.
More variety has been given to it during the subsequent
proprietorships, under which there have been numerous
contributors, some of whom have achieved distinction else-
where and in other walks of life. Mr. Ebenezer Syme,
once a Unitarian minister in Sunderland, and afterwards
a journalist and politician in Victoria; Mr. J. W.
Maclean, M.P. forOldham; and Mr. Richard Welford,
226
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
the felicitous local historian and bibliographer, commenced
their press careers upon it ; while on its staff it recently
had the world-famous novelist, Mr. W. Clark Russell.
But no complete list of those who have of late years
written for the Chronicle need or indeed could well be
given. They comprise experts and prominent men in
nearly all departments of literature and politics. Amongst
local collaborateurs, however, may be recalled the names
of Thomas Doubleday, Charles Larkin, Lewis Thompson,
Edward Glynn, and James Clephan.
philanthropy, and education lost
a valued and energetic servant when John
Hunter Rutherford died, at Newcastle-on-
Tyne, on the 21st of March, 1890. This
eminent and estimable man had been attending the
funeral of a comrade in the temperance cause on the 19th.
Returning homeward from the cemetery, he was observed
to stumble in the street. The seizure was fatal. Dr.
Rutherford was carried into a neighbouring house, lin-
gered for two days, and then breathed his last, without
having once recovered consciousness.
The lamented gentleman was a native of Jedburgh,
where he born in 1826. He received his education at the
Grammar School of that town, and subsequently at St.
Andrews University. After leaving St. Andrews, he
became second teacher in the Grammar School of Jed-
burgh. When he finally decided upon entering the
ministry, he completed his education at Glasgow Uni-
versity.
Commencing his career as an evangelist, Mr. Ruther-
ford threw himself into the movement initiated by the
Rev. James Morison with great vigour and enthusiasm.
The late Mr. Joseph Chatto Lamb, of Ryton, took an
active interest in the mission, and amongst those who
were brought to Newcastle to preach was the Rev. Mr.
Cornwall, a man of very great ability and earnestness.
He was the leader of the young men of the movement
who came to the North of England with him. Mr.
Rutherford was one of the party. They preached at the
street corners, on the Quayside, and in various parts of
the Tyne and Wear districts. Having no chapels of their
own, they accepted, when occasion required, the offer of
pulpits from religious bodies, principally those of the
Primitive Methodists. Many admirers gathered round
Mr. Rutherford in Newcastle, and finally the Lecture
Room, Nelson Street, was taken for regular services. At
that place he officiated as minister Sunday after Sunday
for a considerable time. Then his supporters became so
much attached to him that they decided upon erect-
ing the Bath Lane Church, which was built and
opened in 1860.
With a view of realising more completely his ideal of
what a Christian minister should be, Mr. Rutherford
determined to study medicine ; and, although then a
man in middle life, he succeeded thoroughly, taking the
degree of L.R.C.P., Edinburgh, in 1867, and that of
L.R.C.S., Edinburgh, in the same year. A desire to speak
with authority on the physiological bases of temperance,
of which he was so zealous an advocate, was one of his
main incitements to qualify as a medical man, and, thus
armed, he was accustomed to speak very powerfully on
the evils of excessive alcoholism. Thenceforward, among
members of his congregation and the general public,
he had a considerable practice as a doctor. Closely
connected with the medical branch of Dr. Ruther-
ford's attainments was the keen interest which for
many years he had manifested in local sanitation. In
1866, as the result of a long and minute inquiry per-
-ila'^'a ]v> il ,(('•,; /////
sonally conducted by him, he prepared an exhaustive
and voluminous report on the Public Health of New-
castle, which furnished material for a prolonged and im-
portant discussion in the Town Council.
But, perhaps, the work with which Dr. Ruther-
ford was most closely and conspicuously identified
was that of education. An educationist of the most
liberal and pronounced type, he had not been long
established in his church before he set about the establish-
ment of schools. The first effort in this direction was the
elementary schools in Corporation Street, the foundation
stone of which was laid by Lord Amberley, son of Earl
ttussefl.'on the 29th of tTnne, 1870. Accommodation was
provided for 660 scholars, and within two years every
place was occupied. More than this, the applications for
May!
18%. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
227
admission continued to be so numerous that additional
class-rooms were provided, bringing the accommodation
up to 1,200. A branch school was built in Camden
Street, Shieldfield, where room for 480 children was
provided, and a building in Shields Road, Byker,
which was formerly used as a Free Methodist Chapel,
was purchased for the purposes of an infant school. The
next step was the erection of the School of Science and
Art in Corporation Street, the foundation stone of which
was laid by Mr. Joseph Cowen, on the 21st of November,
1877. As it was impossible to receive the Byker stu-
dents at Corporation Street, the managers purchased Ash-
field Villa, near Heaton railway station, and established
there a branch science and art school. In the early part
of 1886, a further important step was taken in the opening
of a technical college, for which the temporary use was ob-
tained of buildings in Diana Street, occupying some 2,000
square yards, with a large playground, and containing
workshops, dining hall, kitchen, and about fifty separate
dormitories. Over these educational undertakings Dr.
Rutherford exercised a direct personal supervision.
The annual meetings of the schools have been the occa-
sions of visits to Newcastle of at least two well-known
statesmen — the Marquis of Hartington and Lord Ran-
dolph Churchill. The erection of a permanent college in
the neighbourhood of Bath Lane was the project to which
Dr. Rutherford was devoting most of his attention at the
time of his death. It is not wonderful that, considering
the active part which he took in the promotion of
education, his services were in request on the creation of
the Newcastle School Board. He was returned as one of
the first members of that body, and he was one of the
few who had retained an unbroken connexion with it
since its establishment nearly eighteen years ago.
The labours of Dr. Rutherford were not confined
even to these varied spheres. At the period of the Nine
Hours Strike, in 1871, he considered that the time had
arrived when it was possible, if the effort were made, for
workmen to become their own employers, and he
organised the Ouseburn Engine Works Co-operative
Scheme. The works and plant were acquired from the
trustees of the late Mr. Morrison. There can be no doubt
that the works were well conducted, but there was a
miscalculation made at the beginning. The managers
accepted a considerable number of orders for the
manufacture and delivery of engines, but did not
contract sufficiently in advance for iron and cfial to
supply the factory. The result was that, while they
secured only moderate prices for their productions,
they were compelled to pay famine prices for coal and
iron. This led to a serious loss. A large amount of
repairing work was done by the company, and it paid
well, but it was not sufficient to counteract the losses
incurred upon new work. After a period of difficulty,
against which Dr. Rutherford battled with remarkable
energy and varying success, the place was ultimately
bought by the Co-operative Wholesale Society, which
continued it for a time. The Ouseburn enterprise
entailed upon Dr. Rutherford heavy responsibilities and
great losses. Both his relatives and friends were largely
involved in the failure, and year by year up to the
time of his death Dr. Rutherford had to meet from his
own income debts that were then contracted. Evidence
that Dr. Rutherford was by no means devoid of me-
chanical and engineering skill was afforded on the occa-
sion of the sinking of her Majesty's ship Vanguard, in
1875 ; for he was the author of one of the many projects
that were devised for the raising of that ill-fated vessel.
Although Dr. Rutherford's labours were largely given
to religious, educational, and social movements, he was a
keen politician. When the advanced section of the
Newcastle Liberal party were anxious to have at least
one member who was in harmony with their prin-
ciples, he went to Bradford to induce the late Mr.
W. E. Forster to become a candidate. Mr. Forster came
to Newcastle, and would have become a candidate ;
but, unfortunately, another section of the party had
entered into negotiations with the late Mr. Peter
Carstairs, a retired Indian merchant. Mr. Carstairs
engaged in two contests for Newcastle, but was beaten in
both. On each occasion Dr. Rutherford was one of his
most active supporters. The feeling in Newcastle
at that time was strongly in favour of a local
candidate, and with the view of securing a man with
Radical opinions and local connexions Dr. Rutherford
promoted an organisation which got up a numerously
signed requisition to the late Sir Joseph Cowen, who
accepted it, became a candidate, and was returned along
with Mr. Headlam at the election of 1865. Dr. Rutherford
was the moving spirit of the movement that eventuated in
the change that thus took place in the representation of
Newcastle. Up to the death of the late Sir Joseph
Cowen, he was a warm supporter of that gentleman ;
and when his son became a candidate in 1874, he
was equally energetic and earnest in his behalf. He
remained so during the time Mr. Cowen was member for
Newcastle. When Mr. Cowen retired, Dr. Rutherford
abandoned public participation in local politics, although
his concern for national affairs was never damped. He
was a member of the Northern Reform League and of
the Northern Reform Union, and took an energetic part
in organising demonstrations that were held on the Town
Moor under the auspices of these different bodies.
In the later years of his life. Dr. Rutherford con-
fined his efforts to his church, his educational work, his
practice as a doctor, and his duties as a public man.
As a preacher, he had talents of a high order. No man
had a finer feeling for his fellow-creatures than he, and
his leading argument was that the man who studied
his own conscience and acted for the best interests of
humanity was most truly serving God. Some years
ago he commenced and assisted in conducting for several
228
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
winters Sunday morning free breakfasts for poor children
at Bath Lane Hall. Such was his esteem and love for
children that he took part in all the public efforts Uncle
Toby initiated in connexion with the Dicky Bird Society-
demonstrations, toy shows, &c. It waa announced on the
very day that he died that he had accepted the appoint-
ment of honorary officer of the D.B.S. Dr. Rutherford
had a genial and pleasant smile for all his friends, and he
was deeply beloved not only by the members of his con-
gregation, but wherever he was known. To the general
public of the North of England his was, indeed, a house-
hold name, associated with all that was good and noble
in religion, education, and philanthropic effort.
The funeral of Dr. Rutherford, which took place at
Elswick Cemetery on March 24, was attended by an im-
mense procession of children, trade societies, and mem-
bers of public bodies. It was estimated that no fewer
than 100,000 persons either joined in the procession or.
assembled to witness its passage through the streets.
[OOKHOPE, or Roughhope, is the name of a
valley between six and seven miles long, and
traversed throughout its length by a good-
sized burn, which rises in the fells near
Allenheads, and falls into the Wear at a place called
Eastgate, about three miles above Stanhope. It is now
a scene of busy industry, most of the inhabitants being
engaged in lead-mining, ironstone quarrying, and
smelting and refining the ores, or in the supply of the
necessaries and comforts of life to those who are so en-
gaged. But, three hundred years ago and less, Rookhope
was a very quiet pastoral valley, inhabited by a pri-
mitive race of sheep-farmers and their dependents,
tenants of the prince-prelates of Durham. Quiet as it
generally was, however, it 'was not by any means free
from those sudden alarms to which the near neighbour-
hood of the Border mosstroopers subjected even St. Cuth-
bert's sacred patrimony at times. Tims, during the Nor-
thern Rebellion in 1569, these Ishmaels, who robbed at all
hands, and were at everlasting war with all their neigh-
bours, north or south, made an incursion into Weardale,
the particulars of which have been preserved in the ballad
of "Rookhope Ryde," said to have been composed only
three years after the event (1572), and taken down by
Joseph Ritson from the chanting of George Collingwood,
the elder, sometime of Boltsburn, the principal village of
the district, whoso mortal remains were interred at Stan-
hope on the 16th December, 1785. This ballad was first
printed in the second edition of Ritson 'a "Bishopric
Garland," 1792.
The ballad-maker begins by saying that Rookhope
" stands in a pleasant place if the false thieves would let
it be." The miscreants would not do so, however, and so
he wishes that they may all die an ill death. The men of
Thirlwall in South Tynedale, and of Williehaver or Wil-
leva, a small district or township in the parish of Lauer-
cost, are particularised by him as the culprits on the
occasion. But yet, he charitably adds : —
we will not slander them all ;
For there is of them good enough ;
It is a sore consumed tree
That on it bears not one fresh bough.
Then he earnestly prays that the Lord will send peace into
the realm of England, so that every man might live on his
own. In this spirit he exclaims : —
Lord God I is not this a pitiful case,
That men dare not drive their goods to t' fell,
But limnier tliieves drives them away,
That fears neither heaven nor hell ?
The men of Weardale had lately had, he informs ns,
great troubles "with Borderers pricking hither and
thither " ; but the greatest fray that ever they had was
with the men of Thirlwa' and Williehaver. These fel-
lows, well mounted, and in good fighting trim, left their
homes, after eating a good breakfast, on the morning of
St. Nicholas' Day, the 6th of December, 1569. They
halted in the forenoon "in a bye fell," where they par-
took of another meal, which to some of them was to be
their last, and chose, as captains, to head the foray,
Harry Corbyl, Symon Fell, and Martin Ridley. They
then pricked their way over the moss, "with many a
brank and whew," saying one to another —
I think this day we are men enew ;
For t' Weardale men are a journey ta'en,
They are so far out o'er yon fell,
That some ofe them's with the two earls
And others fast in Barnard-Castell.
There we shall get gear enough,
For there is nane but women at hame ;
The sorrowful fend that they can make,
So loudly cries as they were slain.
And so they came in at Rookhope Head ; but before
they had ridden far they were fortunately espied coming
over the Dry Rig, so that an alarm was given. They
gathered together about six hundred sheep in the course
of four hours ; but they only got one or two horses, which
were all that had been left in the dale, except one, and
that belonged to a locally famous man known as " Great
Rowley," who, being the first to spy the intruders,
mounted his beast in hot haste, and raised a mighty cry,
that came down Rookhope Burn as fast as a Highland
6ery cross, and spread rapidly through Weardale. Word
came to the house of the bishop's bailiff, who dwelt at the
Eastgate, where now there is a considerable Village, but
which was then merely a gate-house or ranger's lodge, at
the east entrance of Stanhope Park.
The bailiff saddled his horse in haste, and managed to
furbish up his rusty armour, consisting of a coat, jacket,
or shirt of mail, commonly called a jack, not made of
solid iron, but of many plates of that metal fastened
together, and such as the bishop's tenants, and the pea-
santry of the North generally, were bound to provide
themselves with, to meet disagreeable contingencies like
May!
1891). /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
229
this. Three days before the bailiff's brother had been
grievously hurt by some "limmer thieves," who had in-
flicted no less than nineteen bloody wounds upon him.
Yet, brave man as he was, the bailiff himself did not
shrink from his duty, but rode off at the head of his
neighbours after the raiders. They were only between
forty and fifty strong, whereas the thieves numbered five
score, and these were the very pick and choice ot the men
of Thirlwall and Williehaver, masterful dare-devil des-
peradoes alL
The Weardale men overtook the spoilers at a place near
Rookhope Head, called Nuneton Cleugh, and there a
fierce engagement ensued. The fray lasted only about an
hour, but long ere that space of time had elapsed the
marauders had found, to their cost, that the Weardale
men could hit hard when they had a mind. Four of them
were slain — Henry Corbyl, Lennie Carrick, George Car-
rick, and Edie Carrick. A considerable number were
wounded, and eleven were taken prisoners. One of the
Weardale men fell in the " stour "—by name Rowland
Emerson. His death was greatly lamented, for he was a
right good fellow. The thieves returned again and again
to the fight, saying they would not flinch so long as there
was one of them left ; but at length, when they came
amongst the dead men, and found George Carrick slain,
they lost heart and quitted the field.
On both sides the battle was bravely fought ; and the
ballad-maker — who seems to have been one of those wan-
dering minstrels who made it their business, in the olden
time, to go about town and country chanting their rude
compositions to ail who cared to listen — speaks of both
parties in equally high terms. He says : —
Thir Weardale men they have good hearts,
They are as stiff as any tree ;
For, if they'd every one been slain,
Never a foot back man would flee.
And in like manner —
Thir limmer thieves they have good hearts ;
They never think to be o'erthrown ;
Three banners 'gainst t' Weardale men they bare,
As if the world had been all their own.
But then —
Such a storm among them fell.
As I think you never heard the like ;
For he that bears his head so high,
He oft time falls into the dyke.
Williehaver or Willeva, we may conclude by saying,
is mentioned in the old Border ballad of "Hobbie
Noble " :—
Gae warn the bows o' Hartlie burn :
See they sharp their arrows on the wa' ;
Warn Willeva and Spear Edom,
And see the morn they meet me a'.
nun.
|]E have before us a pamphlet entitled "A
Brief Account of Wilkinson and Hethering-
ton, Two Notorious Highwaymen, who were
Executed at Morpeth, on Monday, Sept. 10,
1821, being Convicted of Various Highway Robberies in
the Neighbourhood of Newcastle, including Anecdotes of
their Lives, an Account of their Trials, and their Be-
haviour after Sentence and at the Place of Execution,
with Introductory Remarks." It was printed and sold
by John Marshall, .in the Old Flesh Market, Newcastle-
upon-Tyne. There is a frontispiece facing the title, con-
taining the portraits of the two criminals, etched by
H. P. Parker, from a sketch taken from life during the
trial. The pamphlet seems to have been written by a
Nonconformist Reformer of the time, as the introduction
consists wholly of charges against the Government and
clergy— against the Government for counteracting the
benefits which the benevolent might be taught to expect
from the great increase of schools for the gratuitous
instruction of the poor, and against the clergy for having
misused the "funds which the piety of our ancestors
dedicated to the special benefit of the poor, for their edu-
cation and relief in every exigency." Instead of cutting
delinquents rudely off from society, as members wholly
depraved and incorrigible, they should be put, says the
writer, "under some salutary moral discipline, as in the
prisons of Philadelphia, with a view to reclaim them,
which is the only legitimate end of all just punishment."
After this introduction, worthy of a Bentham or a
Romilly, the writer proceeds to tell us that " Wilkinson
and Hetherington appear each of them to have been wholly
neglected in their early years, both as respects school
education, moral discipline, and religious instruction.
Their untutored minds had been early contaminated by
vicious example, and those evil communications which
corrupt good manners ; and they were finally reduced by
the powerful force of habit into practices destructive
of their own peace of mind and most injurious to the
welfare of society, without their being able distinctly to
perceive, at any stage of their progress in vice, either the
evil tendencies of those actions or the fatal consequences
which awaited themselves."
John Wilkinson, a native of Northumberland, was born
about the year 1787. His father, being a pitman, took
him down with him to the pit, when very young, to serve
as a trapper boy. He afterwards worked at Walker,
Delaval, Benwell, and several other collieries both on the
Tyne and Wear. But when he was about thirty years of
age, and employed in St. Hilda's pit, near South Shields,
he was one pay-day entrusted with a parcel of bank notes,
to the amount of twelve or thirteen pounds, for the pur-
230
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
U89U.
pose of paying himself and some of the other workmen
at the colliery. The temptation was too great for him,
and he decamped with the treasure. The agent who en-
trusted him with the money was reprimanded for his
want of due caution ; eventually, we are told, the poor
workmen were the sufferers by the fraud. Wilkinson
kept out of the way for some time, and when he was
at length arrested the attempt made to bring him to
justice failed, owing to a defect in the evidence," Foiled
in their endeavour to recover their loss, or to obtain re-
dress by legal means, the aggrieved parties determined to
punish the culprit themselves. For this purpose they
stripped him of his garments, then tarred and feathered
him, and finally threw him into a pond near the colliery.
Shifting now to Sunderland, Wilkinson supported him-
self by doing odd jobs, such as sinking wells, working in
quarries, and so forth. But, forming connexions with
"lewd fellows of the baser sort," he went from bad to
worse, until his conduct and character became quite noto-
rious. Suspected of having been concerned in several
robberies which had taken place in the neighbourhood, he
was taken into custody by the Newcastle police on the
evening of the 19th of May, 1821, together with an asso-
ciate, Thomas Dodds, and ciiarged with robbing an Irish
labourer, named Paul Riggen, on the Ponteland road,
that same evening, af a silver watch, key, and seals, and
ten shillings in money. For this offence Wilkinson and
Dodds were tried at the Northumberland Assizes, on the
25th of August following, and both were found guilty.
Three days afterwards (August 28th), William Surtees
Hetherincrton, another of the gang which had for some
time committed numerous depredations, was put on his
trial for a highway robbery on the 7th of April preceding,
together with Wilkinson and a man named Samuel Mad-
dison, the latter of whom, though as bad as the rest, was
admitted as evidence for the Crown. Hetherington, who
commonly went by the name of Surtees, was the son of a
pitman, and was born at Newburn, on the banks of the
Tyne, a little to the westward of Newcastle, in the year
1789. He was quite illiterate, and his early years were
spent in the pits. But he afterwards went to sea, and
pursued that way of life for upwards of six years.
Then, relinquishing the seafaring business, he began to
lead a vagrant sort of life, taking occasionally any sort of
labouring work in clay-yards, brick-kilns, tile-sheds, &c.,
abandoning himself at last altogether to vicious practices.
Arrested on suspicion of being concerned, together with
one Thomas Bell, in robbing the club-room of the Keel-
men's Hospital, and taking away the box, containing
£34 3s. 3^d., he and his associate were tried at the
Newcastle Court at the same assizes, and acquitted, as
the evidence rested entirely on men who had little or no
claim to credence, from the circumstance of one of them
being in the county gaol on a charge of highway robbery,
and the other a man who had no visible means of obtain-
ing a livelihood, except in ferreting out thieves, under
the agents of the Newcastle police. But though acquitted
on this charge, Hetherington was detained on several
others, particularly that of robbing Mr. William Nesbit,
farmer, of Long Benton. This gentleman, it seems, had
been at Newcastle market on the Saturday before Carling
Sunday, and had left the town at about a quarter to nine.
He had in a pocket-book two notes of £5 each of Ridley
and Co. 's bank, and four of 20s. each. When he had got
half-way up Benton Bank, three men suddenly sprang out
from the side of a wall. Mr. Nesbit was dragged off his
horse, robbed, and beaten so unmercifully that he was
left insensible on the road. After committing the rob-
bery, the three highwaymen — Wilkinson, Hetherington,
and Maddison — went to the Grey Horse, on the Quayside,
where they had some beer and examined the money they
had stolen. The two £5 notes they managed to change in
the Sandhill, buying with one of them a new hat, and
with the other a bottle of ruui. Next, going across to
Gateshead, they went to a public-house which one Turn-
bull kept, and divided the money, Maddison getting 20s.
less than the others, and the watch for the 20s. For this
outrage Hetherington received sentence of death, like his
two confederates, Wilkinson and Dodds. The latter,
however, was afterwards respited.
Wilkinson, when committed to gaol, could neither read
nor write ; but he expressed an earnest desire to learn,
and requested the use of a spelling book, which was
kindly furnished him by a Catholic clergyman. "Being
aided in his endeavours by the humane assistance of the
gaoler, Mr. Blake, he soon acquired a knowledge of the
alphabet, and could read the small words and some of
the easy lessons in his book," with what spiritual benefit
we shall not stop to inquire. Hetherington, too, was
totally ignorant of letters. When asked what religion he
was, he answered, "I do not know; I have been only
once in a place of worship." On being questioned if he
did not know there was a God, he replied, " I have heard
folk speak of it." " Good-bye to you all, my lads ! " ex-
claimed he, with much composure and seeming levity, on
the Sunday before the execution, after the chaplain (the
Rev. Mr. Nicholson) had preached before the prisoner
and a numerous congregation, who had assembled, as was
then the fashion, to gratify a prurient curiosity.
The two convicts awoke in the morning of the fatal
day, evidently filled with the impression that the capital
punishment would be commuted to transportation, be-
cause the priest, as they said, had hitherto visited them
only once a day, whereas, had it been determined that
they should die on the scaffold, his visits would surely
have been more frequent. "However," said Hethering-
ton, "Jack, we'll hev each a pint of beer this morning,
and a quarter of cheese and cakes a-piece ; this may be
wor last day after aall."
After they had been put into the carriage which was to
convey them to the place of execution, the Low Stanners,
a little below the foot of the town of Morpeta, Wilkinson
Mayl
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
231
coolly remarked to Hetherington, " Aa say. Bill, this
just makes ma dream come true ; for aa dreamed last
night that thoo and me was riding in a coach tegethor."
Mr. Thomas Carr, of the Newcastle police — the " slush
TooaCarr" of the scurrilous ballad— endeavoured on the
road to extract some information relative to their associ-
ates. When Wilkinson was asked if they were any way
concerned in the robbery of a gentleman named Major,
Hetherington quickly interposed, exclaiming, "Aa say,
Jack, tell them nowt ; it's ne matter noo ; ye see they're
gannen te de nowt for us." The executioner having
finished his ugly task with great adroitness, the scaffold
was drawn from under the unhappy men, and they were
finally suspended between earth and heaven. Hethering-
ton's mortal remains were next day interred at Newburn,
and Wilkinson's at Jarrow.
It was afterwards stated by the police that they had
got information of no fewer than eighteen robberies in
which either one or other of this formidable gang had
been engaged.
merit, the handling being poor, although this was due in
some measure to his inferior materials.
afcffttt tftt JHulfimto
BOUT fourteen or fifteen years ago I visited
Keswick and painted many fine subjects
near Skiddaw. I often saw George Smith,
the Skiddaw Hermit, roaming about the hills, and I
frequently conversed with him. He was a phrenologist,
and at the fairs held at Keswick he used to "feel the
bumps " of all the yokels. Sometimes he would take
money, but oftener he would not. He was rather too
fond of stimulants, and this brought him no end of
trouble.
His nest, or home, or hermitage, was built amongst the
crags on Skiddaw Dodd. A fair idea may be gained of
this remarkable dwelling from the accompanying sketch,
which I made about the time I have already mentioned.
When Smith retired to rest, he lowered the top, and then
the combination looked like a pie. It was a very curious
object, and was plaited something like a basket. His
arrangements for cooking food were very primitive. A
piece of tallow in a can was lit, and by this means he pre-
pared whatever victuals he might have. He lived in this
peculiar manner during all seasons. As a rule, he came
into Keswick every day ; but if by chance he did not put
in an appearance for a while, his numerous friends always
looked after him, especially during winter.
The Skiddaw Hermit spoke the Scottish dialect. My
impression of him at the time was that he was a re-
ligious monomaniac. I saw some of the portraits he
painted. They were good likenesses, but of no artistic
Smith told me that he would not live in a house. He
was a great lover of nature, and expressed the opinion that
man should live in the open air.
The cause of his leaving Skiddaw was the annoyance
he experienced from roystering excursionists. Some
trippers who went to see " t' funny man on t' Dodd," not
232
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
finding him " at home," pulled his place to pieces. This
conduct disgusted even a hermit, and he left.
G. B. STICKS, Newcastle.
***
The picturesque portrait printed on previous page is
copied from a photograph by Mr. Moses Bowness, of
Ambleside. EDITOR.
j|T has been truly said that "canny Shields,"
from days of yore until now, has ever
received but scant courtesy from scribe or
traveller ; yet there is much in the town of
an historical interest. The Bull Ring, of which we pre-
sent a sketch, is situate in the north-west corner of the
older portion of the town ; it is an open breathing space
amid the densely populated lanes, courts and alleys that
surround it.
The famous bibliographer, Dibdin, rather sarcas-
tically describes the locality in his account of a visit
he once paid it. "Never before" he says, "had such
a scene presented itself to my view. The black tints
of Sunderland were neutralised into grey, compared with
the colour of everything and everybody here around me.
We had to thread streets never to be forgotten for their
combined narrowness, stench, and dense population.
Human beings seemed to have been born and to have
kept together since birth, like onions strung upon a
string. It is a rushing stream of countless population ;
and what houses ! what streets ! what articles for sale !
And yet they all seemed as happy as the Holmes and
Lewises of Regent Street." And much more in a similar
strain says Dibdin, all of which, at his time, was very
true, and in a modified degree is true at the present
day. His remarks anent the articles for sale at that time
are more fully particularised in a local song of the day,
which sets forth the following as being among the spe-
cialities vended in this very locality of the Bull Ring : —
Glass and iron, gin and gallipots.
Porter, parchment, ships, and wheels,
Things of all sort— no sort— lollipopa,
Miy be bought in canny Shields.
The name of the place, the Bull Ring, carries with
it a proof of its origin. That the once popular sport of
bull-baiting was carried on extensively in this portion
of North Shields is undoubted, for we find it recorded
by Sykes that "at certain festivals, in the days of
Tynemouth Priory, the rude sport of bull-baiting was
common at Shields, but after the Reformation and
subsequent civil wars the practice greatly declined."
That the custom had its votaries in the district up to a
comparatively recent date, however, is shown by a record
we find of a bull having been "baited" at Cullercoats
Sands on May 28, 1822, which would appear to have been
the last of these heartless exhibitions on the North-East
Coast.
If any doubt existed as to the authenticity of this
version of the origin of the Bull Ring, it was entirely
dissipated in the month of June, 1820, when some
workmen, digging in the triangular space, "came to
a large, flat, square stone, in which, on being turned
over, were found, greatly corroded, the iron bolt
Majl
1893./
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
233
and the ring to which bulls had been made fast
when 'baited ' there in the old times." So says
Sykes ; and from another source it would appear that,
" in consequence of the numerous accidents and the cruel
barbarities practised, the sport fell into disrepute with
well-regulated minds, and the magistrates ordered its
abolition in the Bull Ring in the year 1768."
|HOTOGRAPHY has made such rapid strides
within the last few years that one hesitates to
decide where a limit may be found to its use-
fulness. Up to the present time, however, no thoroughly
satisfactory method has been invented for transferring
impressions received upon the photographic plate to a
medium which will allow of its being printed by ma-
chinery. But Mr. Surtees Penman, of St. Thomas's
Street, Newcastle, has been able to approach a fair level
of excellence by means of his zinc process. The picture
of Dryburgh Abbey here given is reproduced from a photo-
graph which has been transferred to a half-tone zinc
block. The result is, on the whole, pleasing, there being
just sufficient detail to enable one to make out the archi-
tecture of the venerable ruin, and there is a softness about
the work which is unusual in some photographic repro-
ductions. On the other hand, the foreground is too flat,
that which is intended to represent grass appearing to
rise in a perpendicular plane. Then there is an absence
of depth of tone. But these defects will no doubt be
remedied in time. If photography is useful for one pur-
pose more than another, it is in the accurate rendering of
buildings of any description. Clever, indeed, must be
the draughtsman who can compete with the camera in
placing upon paper the intricate tracery of Gothic archi-
tecture. Dryburgh Abbey, which is situated amongst
the most beautiful scenery of the vale of the Tweed,
is a venerable ruin that presents picturesque asp ects
Founded about 1150 by Hugh de Morville, Lord of Lau-
derdale and Constable of Scotland, it was burnt by
Edward II. in 1322, restored by Robert Bruce, and again
destroyed by the English in 1544-. It was a superb
monastic edifice, but all that now remains of it are the
church transept and remnants of other parts of the struc-
ture. In Dryburgh Abbey is the tomb of Sir Walter
Scott.
DRYBURGH. ABBEY.
234
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
Jrtnmg;
J tfu
account of a powerful Northumbrian family,
some of the members of which were famous
for other qualities besides strength, appeared
not long since in a London paper. The record, though
not new to many North-Country readers, may still in-
terest all. It runs as follows : —
On the 2nd June, 1818, the Society of Arts presented
the silver medal and ten guineas to Mr. John Common,
of Denwick, near Alnwick, for his invention of a double-
drill turnip sower. (See Monthly Chronicle, vol. i., 1887,
page 374.) He was also presented with thirty guineas
from the Highland Society for this invention. Mr.
Common's family was remarkable for strength, stature,
longevity, and cleverness. His great-grandfather,
Thomas, lived till he was above one hundred and ten
years of age. Some time before his death, at Dunsheng,
he was endowed by nature with a new set of teeth. He
left seven sons. One of them, Andrew, measured twenty-
seven inches across the shoulders, and frequently went to
Alnwick market from Thrunton, with a stick over his
shoulder, to which a boll of peas was suspended. Robert,
another son, seized two men who were assaulting
his master, at Warkworth Barns, and, carrying one
of them under each arm, threw them both into the river.
Being present when a party of men were trying their
strength by throwing an axe towards a house at High
Buston, he joined in the sport ; but instead of throwing
it towards the house, he threw it over it. Another son,
named Matthew, was also possessed of uncommon
strength. At one time he leaped forwards and backwards
over a yoke of oxen in Alnwick. Thomas, the youngest
(Mr. Common's grandfather) was the least, yet he weighed
fourteen stones. He had two sons, Thomas and Robert
(Mr. Common's father), who were ingenious mechanics
and noted pugilists. Thomas excelled in the erection of
windmills and steam engines; and Robert in making
winnowing machines on an economical plan. He made
some improvements in the construction of ploughs, and
invented the bonnet-maker's mangle. He also performed
well on the bagpipes and violin, both of which mstru
ments he made himself. When a boy, he was severely
corrected by his father for standing on his head
on the steeple of Shilbottle Church. His eldest son,
Tlromas, was an eminent millwright at Quebec. William,
another son, carried on the same business in Buston,
bis native place. He possessed a portion of the nerve
and agility of his forefathers, as he could leap through a
hoop two feet in diameter while a tall man held it above
his head. His brother, John Common (from whom these
particulars were obtained), when a youth, stood upon his
head on the highest tower of Warkworth Castle. He per-
formed the same feat on the edge of the gate of Brislee
Tower, Alnwick, and also on the stern-piece of a boat
while agitated on the water. He laid his hands on a
board the height of his chin, sprang up, and rested upon
his head. He has likewise walked upon his elbows
on level ground, and upon his bands on the battle-
ments of Warkworth Bridge and Eshott Hall. About
the time that King James I. mounted the English
throne, one of this wonderful family was a farmer at
Freestone-Burn, near Whittingham, and tradition re-
cords how boldly he fought with a party of moss-
troopers who had stolen his cattle. John, the brother,
Mr. Common's great-grandfather before-mentioned, lived
until he was one hundred and fifteen years old; and
Peter, another brother, until he exceeded his one hundred
and thirty-second year. He died at Rugby about ninety
years ago. This patriarch was casting nags on Hazon
Moor, when a Mr. Lisle rode up and demanded to know
by whose authority he worked there. " I have cast flags
here by times," said Peter, "above a hundred years, and
no man ever asked me the question before." "Cast on
while you live," replied the gentleman, throwing him halt
a crown, ''I will never forbid you." When John was a
servant at Titlingtqn, he was seized by a party of soldiers,
whom his master, in a joke, had sent to take him ; but
John defended himself so resolutely with a spade that
the assailants were glad to effect their escape. His
eyesight remained unimpaired to the last ; a few days
before he died, while lying in bed, he could read a printed
paper that was pasted up at some distance upon the wall
of his room. He was buried at Warkworth.
BORDEBEB, Newcastle.
0artft«Cinmtrg VBft& ftunurur.
COFFINS.
At a funeral in Newcastle, two old women were con-
versing about coffins. Referring to the coffin she had just
seen, one observed : — " It's varry canny, for it's lined and
padded all ower inside." "Aye," was the reply, "and
the corpse is like to feel nice and comfortable." " Aa re
member," continued the first woman, "when ma poor
lass wes harried, the coffin wes ower smaall." "Couldn't
they get hor in?" was asked. "Aye, they got hor in,
but the poor thing had ne room te stor ! "
THE BLACKSMITH'S CEOP.
A blacksmith who resides near Monkwearmouth got his
hair cut rather shorter than usual. When he went to his
employment, his mates, observing a change in his appear-
ance, made some remarks not altogether complimentary.
" Wey," observed one brawny smith, " whaat did ye pay
for the crop ?" "Thrippence," was the reply. "Well,"
observed the interrogator, "if ye'd went te wor Jack, he
wad hae cutten it for nowt if ye'd stood him a quairt !"
BOWLS.
A celebrated player at bowls, a local champion, was
very ill. One morning his medical attendant made his
customary professional call. " Now, first of all, tell me
how are your bowels ? " The patient altogether misunder-
stood the question. "Bools?" he exclaimed ; "wey,
man. they're under the bed ; aa hevvent had a gyem for
months !"
DICK TUBPIN'S HIDE TO YORK.
Several Durham pitmen paid a visit to York Minster.
All the beauties of the place were pointed out to them by
a courteous verger, who also descanted upon the past
history of the building. He was interrupted by one of his
auditors, who exclaimed : " Aall that stuff's varry fine, ne
doot ; but can ye show us the gate that Dick Torpin tra-
velled through when he myed his famous ride frae London
te York ?"
THE WINNING HORSES.
Last year, on the day when the Northumberland Plate
was competed for, a pitman, who was very anxious to
be present, lost the train which was to convey him to
Killingworth. However, he caught the next train, and
as he hurried towards the course he met his " marra "
hastening away. " Hey, Geordy, is the Plyate ower ? "
"Aye, she's finished." "Whaat wes the yen, twe,
Mayl
189u./
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
235
three?" " Wey, let's see. What-d'ye-call-em was forst ;
thing-em-bob wes second; an' aa've clean forgetten the
thord ! "
©fcituawd.
On the 13th of March, the remains of Dr. James Atkin-
son, who had died a few days previously, were interred at
West Hartlepool, in which town he had settled many
years ago. The deceased was a kindly man, of genial
presence, and was an active supporter of religious and
social progress.
The death occurred on the 14th of March, of Mr. John
Hinde, who, for a great number of years, carried on busi-
ness in Mile End Road, South Shields. He was a lead-
ing member of the Public Free Library Committee ; and
the museum in connection with that institution in Ocean
Road owed much of its popularity to the care he be-
stowed upon it in the capacity of honorary curator. He
was a member of the Exploration Committee appointed
on the occasion of the discovery of the Roman station
near the La we, at South Shields, and he took an active
part in preserving the relics then brought to light. The
deceased was instrumental, along with other local gentle-
men, in having the gravestone of William Wouldhave,
the inventor of the lifeboat, in St. Hilda's Churchyard,
restored. Mr. Hinde, who was also a prominent Free-
mason, was 75 years of age.
Mr. Rudolph Fernando Thiedemann, of The Cedars,
Low Fell, Gateshead, a well-known Quayside merchant
and chairman of the Gateshead Tramway Company, died
on the Mth of March, in the 65th year of his age.
On the 15th of March, Mr. Thomas Beckwith, one of
the intended candidates for the representation of New,
castle-on-Tyne at the next Parliamentary election, died
at his residence in Blyth Street, in that city. A native
of Yorkshire and a joiner by trade, he came to Newcastle
thirty-nine years ago. For a considerable time, in con-
junction with his wife, he hawked wood ware in the town
and surrounding district; but becoming actively associ-
ated with the local temperance movement, and being
possessed of exceptionally good abilities for a man of his
rank, he for some time acted as agent to the North of
England Temperance League. Mr. Beckwith was 62
years of age.
Mr. William Marshall, a member of the South Shields
Town Council, and closely identified with the Roman
Catholic community, died on the 16th of March, in the
59th year of his age.
On the 18th of March, Mr. William Niell, who for
nearly forty-five years had occupied the position of master
of the Northern Counties Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb,
died in the institution at the Moor Edge, Newcastle.
The deceased, who was a native of Scotland, and had
been connected with the instruction of the deaf and dumb
for fifty-eight years, was 72 years of age.
The death was announced on the 18th of March of the
Rev. Dr. George Butler, Canon of Winchester, who was a
D.D. of Durham University, and was married to Joseph-
ine, daughter of the late Mr. John Grey, the eminent
agriculturist, of Dilston, Northumberland.
Mr. John A. Bryson, assistant City Engineer under
the Newcastle Corporation, and son of the late Mr.
Thomas Brysou, Borough Surveyor, who was killed by
the nitro-glycerine explosion on the Town Moor on the
18th of December, 1867, died on the 20th of March. The
deceased, who had also for many years been organist of
Bath Lane Church, under the pastorate of Dr. Ruther-
ford, was in the 53rd year of his age.
On the 21st of March, the death occurred, under sad
and sudden circumstances, of the Rev. Dr. Rutherford,
who for nearly forty years had been prominently identi-
fied with religious, educational, temperance, and other
philanthropic movements in Newcastle. (See page 226.)
The Rev. the Hon. Francis Richard Grey, Rector of
Morpeth, died on the 22nd of March. He was educated
at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took his degree
in 1834. He was appointed Rector of Morpeth in 1842,
Hon. Canon of Durham Cathedral in 1863, and was
transferred to Newcastle Cathedral in 1882. He was
elected Proctor for the Archdeacon of Lindisfarne in 1874,
was re-elected in 1886, and was made Rural Dean of
Morpeth in 1879, and Chaplain to the Bishop of New-
castle in 1882. The rev. gentleman, who had nearly com-
pleted the 77th year of his age, was the youngest brother
of the presentEarl Grey, and a son of Earl Giey, the
famous Reform Minister.
Mr. Thomas Gray, C.B., assistant secretary of the
Marine Department of the Board of Trade, and who
hailed from Hartlepool, died on the 15th of March.
On the 19th ot March, the death was announced of Mr.
Roger Iddison, a well-known cricketer, at York.
On the 23rd of March, Mr. William Hannay Watts, a
member of a family long connected with Blyth, and head
ot the mercantile firm of Watts, Theophilato, and Co,,
Galatz, died at Cairo.
Mr. Thomas Thompson, a well-known chemist in Sun-
derland, died on the 23rd of March.
On the 26th of March, the remains of Mr. Timothy
Newsome, lion-tamer, who had died a few days before, at
236
MONlHLTf CHRONICLE.
I Mmj
\1890.
the ripe age of 77 years, were interred in Preston Ceme-
tery, near North Shields.
The death was announced, on the 27th of March, of
Mr. Thomas Staff, who was for fifty years an engineman
on board the ferries plying between North and South
Shields.
On the 27th of March, Mr. Edward Hunter, an active
member of the Northumberland Miners' Association,
was killed by a fall of stone while following his employ-
ment at Dudley Colliery.
Mr. Robert Foster, a member of the Sunderland
Town Council, died suddenly in London on the 28th of
March.
On the 28th of March, intelligence was received of the
death, at Allahabad, India, on the 22nd, of George Guy
Hunter Allgood, Lieutenant and Adjutant of Her
Majesty's 60th Rifles, and second son of the Rev. James
Allgood, of Nunwick Park, North Tyne.
Mr. William Waistell, C.E., brother of Mr. C. Wais-
tell, solicitor, Northallerton, died on the 30th of March,
at the age of 58. The deceased gentleman resided at
Cotherstone. For a long time he lived in Italy, and was
on the staff of engineers who surveyed the trunk lines in
that country, under Sir Thomas Brassey.
On the 31st of March, the death was recorded of Mr.
William Dryden, of Blyth, and known in the district by
the familiar title of "Captain." Originally hailing from
Hartley, the deceased was for several years a sailor, but
in 1876 he was working as a labourer on the Blyth and
Tyne Railway, and was living at Cowpen Quay. At
that time he was impressed with the conviction that ho
was the lawful heir to an estate in Tasmania, whither his
grandfather's uncle had emigrated. The necessary evi-
dence having, with difficulty, been obtained, among the
statements elicited being the fact that Dryden's grand-
father and grandmother had been married at Lamberton
Toll Bar, the claim of the Blyth man was established,
with the result that in 1878 he received a fortune amount-
ing to several thousands of pounds. On becoming pos-
sessed of this windfall, the deceased took an inn at New-
biggin, but eventually bought the ketch Drydens, and
traded with that vessel.
Signor Carlo Pallotti, who had been the Italian Vice-
Consul in Newcastle for some years, died at his residence
in Eldon Place, on the 2nd of April, in the thirty-sixth
year of his age.
On the same day, at the age of 51, died at his residence
in Brunswick Place, Newcastle, Mr. Watson Derbyshire,
who had in his time been connected with nearly all the
local orchestras, particularly with those of the Art Gal-
lery, the Tyne Music Hall, and the Theatre Royal.
On the 2nd of April, also, died Mr. Emerson Peart,
who for 27 years successfully occupied the position of
head master of St. Mary's National Schools, Gateshead,
his age being 58 years.
Mr. Andrew Harrison, aged 73, who had for the
greater portion of his career been connected with life-
boat work in South Shields, died in that town on the 5th
of April.
On the 7th of April, Mr. William Charlton, who had
been 42 years in tbe employment of the North-Eastern
Railway Company, and had been station-master succes-
sively at North Shields, Leamside, and Thirsk, died at
the last-named place. The deceased was much esteemed
for his courtesy and obliging disposition, and was 65 years
of age.
On the same day, at tbe age of about 55, died Mr.
Robert Sinclair, a native of Kirkwall, in Orkney, but
who came to Newcastle while a young man, and had long
carried on the business of tobacco manufacturer in that
city.
The death also took place on the 7th of April, at the
age of 86 years, of Mr. John Mavin, who for twenty
years was employed by Messrs. R. Doukin and Son at the
Rotbbury Auction Mart.
The Rev. Joseph Gibson, of St. Mary's Roman Catho-
lic Church. Alnwick, died on the 9th of April The
deceased was 63 years of age, and had been missioner at
Alnwick for the long period of 35 years.
On the 10th of April, Mr. Robert Ferry, well-known
throughout the Northern Counties as a musician and
vocalist, died at Sunderland, aged 60.
On the 10th of April, the remains of Mr. Henry King,
of Prospect House, Hexham, who had died on the 7th,
were interred in the cemetery in that town. The de-
ceased was a trustee of Hexham Dispensary, and took an
active interest in the affairs of the town generally.
It should have been mentioned that the portrait of Mr.
John Fleming, which appears in the Monthly Chronicle
(page 187), was copied from a painting by Mr. J. Hodg-
son Campbell, now hung on the walls of the Fleming
Hospital, Newcastle.
©ccurrencejs.
MARCH.
11. — Great damage was done by a fire which broke out
on the premises of Messrs. J. H. Holmes and Co., paint
manufacturers, in Shieldfield, Newcastle.
— Four persons were injured by the explosion of a
blown-out shot at South Benwell Colliery. Henry
Graham, one of the injured men, died on the 16th.
12. — It was announced that the Queen had been pleased
to appoint the Rev. Brooke Foss Westcott, D.D., Regius
Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, and cbaplain-in-ordi-
nary to her Majesty, to the vacant Bishopric of Durham.
Dr. Westcott was born near Birmingham in January, 1825,
and was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. His
university career was more than ordinarily distinguished,
as he obtained the Battie University Scholarship in 1846 ;
carried off Sir William Browne's Medals for the Greek
Ode in 1846, and again in the following year; and ob-
tained the Bachelor's Prize for Latin Essay in 1847, and
again in 1849. He obtained the Norrisian Prize in 1860,
and was ordained deacon and priest in the following year
by the Bishop of Manchester. He was elected Fellow of
his college in 1849, and proceeded M.A. in 1851, B.D.
in 1865, and D.D. in 1870. Dr. Westcott received from
Oxford University the honorary degree of D.C.L. in 1881,
and that of D.D. from Edinburgh University at its Ter-
Mayl
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
237
centenary Commemoration in 1883. He held an As-
sistant-Mastership in Harrow School from 1852 to 1869,
under Dr. Vaughan and Dr. Montague Butler. In 1868
he was appointed Examining Chaplain to the Bishop of
Peterborough, promoted to a canonry in Peterborough
Cathedral in 1869, and elected Regius Professor of
Divinity at Cambridge in 1870. Nominated honorary
chaplain to the Queen in 1875, he was made a chaplain-
in-ordinary in 1879. He is the author of numerous theo-
EISHOP WFSTCOTT.
logical works, and he was a member of the New Testa-
ment Revision Company. There had existed for many
years the most intimate friendship and scholastic com-
panionship between the late Bishop of Durham aud Dr.
Westcott.
— A new church for the use of the Primitive Methodist
community, situated in Westoe Lane, South Shields, was
opened by Mrs. J. Robinson.
— A meeting, under the presidency of the Mayor, was
held in connection with a newly formed Cremation Society
at Darlington.
13. — At the annual meeting of the Stockton Chamber
of Commerce, Mr. T. Wrightson referred to the possi-
bility of there being petroleum underneath the salt beds
on Teesside. Mr. Grigg, of the Salt Union, said they
had discovered natural gas, and they were going to put
down a very deep borehole in the hope of discovering
petroleum.
—A summary was published of the will of Mr.
Frederick John Leather, late of Middleton Hall, Belford,
Northumberland, the value of the personal estate being
upwards of £84,000.
— Sir Raylton Dixon was presented with the honorary
freedom of the borough of Middlesbrough, in the Council
Chamber of the new Town Hall. On the same occasion,
he was presented by his friends with a portrait of him-
self, while Lady Dixon received a splendid jewel, (See
ante, page 95, and volume for 1889, pp. 110-112.)
— After lasting several weeks, a strike of plumbers in
Newcastle was settled by the employers agreeing to a
compromise offered by the men, making the wages 8id.
per hour. The arrangement was effected through the
mediation of the Mayor, Mr. Thomas Bell.
14. — The result was made known of a ballot that had
been taken among the engineers on the Xorth-East Coast,
as to the demand of the workmen to leave off work at 12
o'clock on Saturdays, the week's work to consist of 53
hours. Against this the employers offered liberty to
leave work at noon in those shops wherein was requested
by thp men, the hour to be worked up during the week as
might be arranged in the different shops, a second
shilling advance in wages to be granted in such cases.
In the aggregate, there were found to be for tho
masters' offer 4,501, and against it 6,604, or a ma-
jority agains of 2,103. The Newcastle vote was, for
the employers' offer 4,272, and for the workmen's
request 1,056 ; while in Sunderland, the numbers
were for the men's demand 1,582, and for the mas-
ters' offer 18. The Newcastle men, notwithstanding
the large majority in favour of acceptance of the
masters' terms, decided to throw in their lot with the
other districts, and the result was that the workmen,
as a body, came out on strike on the 15th. Various
proposals were made with a view to a settlement of
the question at issue ; and Judge Seymour, of the
County Court, offered to constitute and to preside
over a Court of Conciliation for that purpose. At
length, however, as the result of a suggestion by
a correspondent in the Newcastle Daily Chronicle,
the Mayor of Newcastle (Mr. Thomas Bell) inter-
vened, and on the evening of the 24th, as the out-
come of his Worship's action, a settlement of the dispute
was effected. It was decided that the 12 o'clock Saturday
should commence on the 10th of May. Attached to this
concession, however, were several conditions and stipula-
tions of considerable importance. It was understood that
the settlement should apply to the Tyne and Wear dis-
tricts alone. Then it was stipulated that the machinery
should run on, without stoppage for cleaning, to 12 o'clock
on Saturdays— the men, however, not to take advantage of
this to allow their machines to become dirty. Next, there
was a re-arrangement of the holidays, which will in future
consist of Good Friday, Easter Monday, Whit-Monday,
the Race Wednesday and Thursday, Christmas and New
Year's Day. Race Wednesday only to be considered a
holiday as regards the payment of overtime. The expe-
diency of appointing a Board of Conciliation for the set
tlement of future questions was also affirmed. The men
resumed work on these terms on the morning of the 26th ;
and the same basis of settlement was almost simultane-
ously accepted by the engineers of the Tees district.
(See ante, page 191.)
— Mr. David Dale, of Darlington, was among the pleni-
potentiaries appointed by the British Government on the
238
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/May
11890.
.Labour Conference convened by the Enperor of Germany
at Berlin. Mr. Dale was born in 1829, and is the second
son of the late Mr. David Dale, of the H.E.I.C.'s Civil
Service. For many years he has been actively identified
with the manufacturing and commercial undertakings of
Sir Joseph Pease and Company, in the county of Dur-
ham ; and he was one of the chief promoters of the Board
of Conciliation in connection .with the Manufactured Iron
Trade in the North of England. Mr. Dale has also been
Hieh Sheriff of the county of Durham. The list of dele-
Tyneside Sunday Lecture Society was delivered in the
Tyne Theatre, Newcastle, by Sir James Crichton Browne,
formerly medical superintendent of Coxlodge Lunatic
MR. DAVID PALE.
pates on the same mission included Mr. Thomas Burt, the
secretary to the Northumberland Miners' Association,
who has sat in the House of Commons as member for
Morpeth since 1874. Mr. Burt was born at Murton,
Percy Main, in 1838, and commenced working in the coal
pits of his native county at an early age. The plenipo-
tentiaries were further assisted by Mr. John Burnett,
Labour Correspondent of the Board o{ Trade. Mr. Bur-
nett (see page 239) served his time and afterwards worked,
as an engineer in Newcastle. He was one of the leaders
of the Nine Hours Movement, which, after a strike
of twenty weeks' duration, was conceded in Newcastle in
1871. Mr. Burnett for some time thereafter was a mem-
ber of the staff of the Newcastle Chronicle. Previous to
his connection with the Board of Trade, he occupied, for
several years, the position of secretary of the Amalga-
mated Society of Engineers.
— Mr. William Smith was elected an alderman of the
Newcastle City Council, in the room of the late Mr.
Henry Milvain.
16- — A thunderstorm, accompanied by vivid lightning
and heavy rain, passed over Newcastle and district.
— The last lecture of the session in connection with the
Asylum. The subject was "Brain Structure," and
the chair was occupied by Dr. Frederick Page.
18. — At a meeting of the Gateshead Board of
Guardians, it was reported that the new workhouse,
built by Mr. Walter Scott, was now complete, and
in the hands of the Guardians. The amount of the
contract was £41,000, and the total extras reached
which was considered reasonable.
19.— Mr. E. R. Turner, Judge of the Darlington
County Court, made an order for winding-up the Onward
Building Society at Darlington, and adjourned the matter
till the 12th of April. On the 20th, Thomas Dennison, a
late official of the society, was committed for tnal on a
charge of having attempted to commit suicide. The
charge, which had also been preferred against him, of
aiding and abetting frauds on the society was adjourned
till the 2nd of April, He was then committed for trial
on that charge also.
20.— It %vas stated that, under the will of the late Mr.
Edward Fletcher, engineer, of Newcastle, the personalty
had been sworn at £75,178 9s. 2d.
22.— The first sod of a new pit, near Crawcrook Mill,
about a mile to the west of Kyton, was cut by Mrs.
Simpson.
—An advance of 7i per cent, in wages was conceded to
the Northumberland miners by the owners. Mr. Burt,
M.P., had travelled from Berlin to be present at the
meeting at which this arrangement was effected. The
hon. gentleman resumed his journey to the German
capital on the following evening, and remained till the
close of the Labour Conference. The Northumberland
deputies afterwards received a corresponding advance.
May!
18%. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
239
24.— An increase of 2i per cent, in wages was granted
to the men at the Consett Steel Works.
—A verdict of manslaughter was returned by a coro-
ner's jury against John Melville, in connection with the
death of his wife, Anne Melville, who had died in New-
castle Infirmary from injuries alleged to have been in-
flicted by her husband on the 18th.
—It was stated that the will of the late Mr. Justice
Manisty had been proved, the personalty being valued at
£122,815.
25.— Mr. Andrew Wrig was appointed superinten-
dent and head master of the Deaf and Dumb Institution
in Newcastle.
— The War Office authorities informed Mr. R. S.
Donkin, M.P., that they had arranged for the opening of
Tynemouth Castle to the public without the written
orders which for some time past it had been necessary
to obtain from the Town Clerk of Tynemouth.
26.— Mr. Gainsford Bruce, Q.C., M.P., unveiled a
bronze bust of the late Colonel Duncan, M.F., erected on
the staircase of the Holborn Town Hall, London.
—The hours of the engine-drivers, firemen, and guards
on the Earl of Durham's railway were shortened by one
hour per day.
27.— Wingate Co-operative Store was destroyed by fire.
28. — It was announced that the total sum subscribed
towards the Luke Armstrong Memorial was £683 12s.,
and that the first scholarship under the scheme had been
won by Mr. A. E. Cope, a student educated entirely in
the Newcastle College of Medicine.
— A conversazione of the members of the literary, sci-
entific, and artistic societies of Newcastle was held in the
College of Science, Newcastle.
— Morrison Colliery, near Annfield Plain, and Thornley
Colliery, in the county of Durham, were stated to have
been re-opened.
29. — The Newcastle Weekly Chronicle announced that
the Baroness Burdett-Coutts, the well-known philan-
thropist, had accepted the position of an honorary mem-
ber of Uncle Toby's Dicky Bird Society.
29. — The last of the winter series of popular concerts
promoted by the Corporation was given in the Town
Hall, Newcastle. There was a surplus on the thirteen
weeks' concerts of £52.
— The thirteenth annual dinner of the Hotspur
Club was held in the painted hall of the London
Tavern, Fenchurch Street. Considerably more
than a hundred gentlemen attended. The chair
was occupied by Mr. A. Cocks, the president of
the club, who was supported by several well-known
North-Countrymen. In the course of the evening,
Mr. Thomas Connolly, of Manchester, referred at
length to the development of the Newcastle Chronicle,
and Mr. W. E. Adams gave a detailed history of the
Dicky Bird Society.
31.— One of the crocodiles escaped from the tank
in Day's menagerie, in a field at Chester-le-Street,
and was recaptured with difficulty.
to take up the affairs of the Newcastle T«mperancfl Festival
Associatiou.
— At a meeting of the Newcastle Council, it was re-
solved to confer the honorary freedom of the city on Mr.
H. M. Stanley, the celebrated explorer, on the occasion
of his visit in May.
3. — It was announced that Miss Clara Waddington,
last surviving sister of the late Dean Waddington, of
Durham, whose death had recently occurred in London,
had by her will bequeathed £2,000 to the funds of the
Durham County Hospital.
4. — To-day, being Good Friday, was observed as a
general holiday, and the weather was beautifully fine
throughout the North of England.
5. — An aquatic match for £100 a-side was decided on
the full Tyne championship course between George J.
Perkins and George Norvell, of Swalwel], the former
winning easily by three lengths.
• — W. H. Shipley, a painter, of South Shields, made a
first accent in a balloon from a field at Westoe, and, after
attaining a height of 9,300 feet, descended by means of
a parachute.
7. — In the presence of a large concourse of spectators,
the Earl of Camperdown, great-grandson of the Admiral
who commanded the ship Venerable at the battle of
Camperdown, unveiled a bronze statue to the memory of
Jack Crawford in the Mowbray Park, Sunderland. The
monument, which was the work of Mr. Percy Wood,
sculptor, London, is 20 feet 7 inches in height, and bears
mi tV« base the following inscription :— " Jack Crawford,
the hero of Camperdown who so heroically nailed Ad-
miral Duncan's flag to the maintopgallantmust of
11. M.S. Venerable in the Glorious Action off Camper-
APRIL.
1.— Buddie Hall, Wallsend, long the residence of Mr.
John Buddie, the well-known mining engineer, was de-
stroyed by fire. (See vol. iii., pp. 150 and 162.)
2. — It was decided to form a limited liability company
ME. JOHN BURNETT.
240
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/May
\ 1890 .
down, on October 11, 1797. Jack Crawford was born at
the Pottery Bank, Sunderland, 1775, and died in his
native town, 1831, aged 56 years. Erected by Public Sub-
scription. " The seamen of the gunboats Hearty, Grappler,
and Bullfrog, to the number of 300, coastguardsmen,
life-brigadesmen, volunteers, and members of various
trade societies took part in the ceremony, which was
of a most imposing character. A bazaar, in aid of the
memorial fund was afterwards opened by the Earl of
Durham in the Drill Hall of the Artillery Volunteers, in
the Green. The idea of commemorating Jack Crawford's
heroic act originated in the Monthly Chronicle. (See
vol. i., pp. 8, 91, and vol. ii., pp. 96, 414, 431.) The
bazaar realised £540, of which £200 was devoted to clear-
ing off the debt on the Jack Crawford Fund, the balance,
after the payment of necessary expenses, being handed
over to the Sunderland Orphan Asylum.
— Sandow, a young German, whose extraordinary feats
of strengtli had produced a great sensation in London,
gave the first of a series of exhibitions of his skill and
power, in St. George's Drill Hall, Newcastle.
— Arthur Adams, a young man 22 years of age, was
drowned in an attempt to save his brother Benjamin, who
had fallen into the river Tees, near Eston Jetty, but who
was eventually rescued by means of a coble.
8. — The twenty-eighth annual conference of Sunday
School teachers connected with the unions in the Northern
Counties was held at Jarrow.
— During the prevalence of a strong north-easterly gale,
the barque Abbey Holme, of Liverpool, from Leith bound
for the Tees, was observed drifting helplessly towards the
south side of the Tyne, and ultimately she went ashore,
the sea washing over her. The crew, with the captain's
wife, were rescued by the Life Brigade. Two refresh-
ment tents were wrecked and washed away at Whitley,
and a wall was blown down at Middlesbrough. The
most lamentable occurrence, however, was an accident
which befel a party of excursionists, while returning from
Holy Island to the mainland in a one-horse conveyance.
They had proceeded only a short distance across the
sands, when they were suddenly overtaken by the tide
and a heavy sea. The party consisted of six persons, of
whom five were rescued by a, fishing boat, but the sixth,
a man named Robert Gibson, who had for many years
held a responsible position at the works of Sir W. G.
Armstrong and Co., Newcastle, was, unfortunately, car-
ried out to sea and drowned. The horse and cart were
also lost.
9. — At the Durham Registry Probate Court the will
and two codicils of the late Bishop Lightfoot were proved,
the personal estate being sworn at £23,622 17s. 7d. The
testator bequeathed all his real estate to his nephew,
William Francis Lightfoot Harrison, and the bulk of his
personal estate he left in trust for his sister, and at her
death to his nephew.
— Winlaton School Board election took place, the poll
being headed by the Rev. A. B. Tebb, Congregational
minister.
10.— Sir Horace Davey, Q.C., M.P., opened a new
school, erected by the Stockton School Board at a cost of
£5,495.
— Mr. Thomas Wrightson was presented at Stockton
with a testimonial portrait of himself, in recognition of
hu services to the Conservative party.
(Sentral ©entrances.
MARCH.
14. — The French Ministry resigned, and a new Cabined
was formed by M. de Freycinet.
— Baron Dowee, the senior judge on the Munster cir-
cuit, took suddenly ill at Tralee and died.
— A Parliamentary election took place at Stoke-on-
Trent, the result being as follows : — Mr. Georfre G.
Leveson Gower (Gladstonian Liberal), 4,157; Mr. W.
Shepherd Allen (Liberal Unionist), 2,926.
—Owing to a demand for a 10 per cent, advance in
wages not being granted, the miners in the Midlands
went on strike, altogether about 250,000 men leaving
work. The coalowners, however, made an offer of a
compromise, which was accepted on the 21st.
18. — Prince Bismarck resigned his offices of President
of the Prussian Ministry and Chancellor of Germany.
20. — Intelligence was received of the massacre of Senhor
Castra, a Portuguese customs official, and his escort of
300 natives, near Nyassa, Central Africa.
21.— The Duke of Manchester died.
24. — Mr. Balfour introduced an Irish Land Purchase
Bill into the House of Commons.
28.— The Ohio Valley in the United States was visited
by disastrous tornadoes, which did fearful damage to
life and property.
APRIL.
1. — It was announced that Emin Pasha had entered the
German service, and was about to start for the interior of
Africa.
3. — News from St. Petersburg was received to the effect
that explosives had been found in the neighbourhood of
the palace of Gatchina, leading to the supposition that an
attempt was to be made on the life of the Czar.
— Death of the Marquis of Normanby.
— The German Emperor issued an order forbidding
luxurious living in the army.
8. — Serious riots occurred at Vienna, and the military
forces were called out to suppress the disturbances.
— H.M. cruiser Calliope, which was saved from ship-
wreck at Samoa through the skill of the captain and crew,
arrived in Portsmouth.
— The town of Edgerton, Kansas, U.S., elected a
municipal ticket entirely composed of women, including
the mayor, judge, councillors, and police.
— Richard Davies, who had with his brother George
been sentenced to death for the murder of his father near
Crewe, was executed at Chester. George was respited
and sent to penal servitude for life. Extraordinary exer-
tions were made to obtain the same clemency for
Richard, but without avail. The action of the Home
Secretary gave rise to much dissatisfaction throughout
the country.
9. — Alarming riots occurred at Valencia, Spain, where
a mob endeavoured to set fire to public buildings. A
detachment of cavalry charged the people, and many
persons were injured.
11. — The result of an election at Carnarvon was as
follows :— Mr. Lloyd George (GJadstonian), 1,963 ; Mr.
Ellis Nanuey (Conservative), 1,945 ; majority, 18. The
seat was previously held by a Conservative.
Printed by WALTER SCOTT, Felling-on-Tyne.
tlbe
Gbronicle
OF
NORTH-COUNTRY*LORE*AND*LEGEND
VOL. IV.— No. 40.
JUNE, 1890.
PRICE CD.
<grtt>, mitt il«tfi)
33n'lirlci>.
FEW words of genealogical explanation will
serve to introduce the chief personage in the
melancholy tale now to be told. One branch
ot the great family of Gray or Grey, which
"came over with the Conqueror," was settled almost from
the first in Northumberland. -It is not necessary for our
purpose to go higher up on this line of descent
than to Sir Thomas Grey, of Berwick and Chil-
lingham, who died in 1402. His eldest son, Sir John,
was created Earl of Tankerville in Normandy by
Henry V. ; and his second son, Thomas Grey, of Wark.
was the ancestor of Sir Ralph Grey, of Ohillingham. and
Sir Edward Grey, of Howick, from the latter of whom
Earl Grey is descended. Sir Ralph's son William was,
in 1623, created Lord Grey of Wark, and William's son
Forde, the main subject of our story, was, as will be
related in its place, invested with the lapsed title of the
Earl of Tankerville in 1695. Once again the. title, dying
with him, was revived in the person of his daughter's
husband, Lord Ossulston, in which line it still remains.
It is with Forde, Lord Grey, that we have now to do.
He was a man of strong will and impetuous passions.
Either from untoward circumstances or from tempera-
ment, he was much given to litigation and a sort of high-
headed, cavalier rowdyism. Hio life was a series of ad-
ventures, hairbreadth escapes, oscillating fortunes, great
crimes, and extraordinary deliverances. He was married
to Lady Mary, the daughter of the first Earl of Berkeley,
and by her had one daughter, already alluded to as
married to Lord Ossulston. Shortly after his marriage,
and possibly even before it, Lord Grey conceived a
passion for his wife's sister, the Lady Henrietta. This in-
famous amour began, on his part, when the girl was only
fourteen years of age; but it had proceeded with
fluctuating force and success for four years before it
reached its climax in the abduction and subsequent
debauchment of its victim in 1632.
1C
Fo>cL Lord Gr<?y
The unavoidable and most natural intimacy between
Lord Grey and his wife's family effectually covered the
guilty liason for. a considerable time ; but the eagerness
242
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f*
\i
uno
1890.
of passion on the one part concurred with the incautious-
ness of youth on the other to betray the dreadful secret
to Lady Henrietta's mother. One day it so happened
that the Countess of Berkeley, on entering her daughter's
room, surprised her in the act of writing a letter, which,
to all appearance, she was endeavouring to conceal.
Asking to whom she had been writing, her ladyship
received for reply that her daughter had been making
up her accounts ; but the blush upon the face told a
different tale, and induced the mother to order another
of her daughters, the Lady Arabella, to search the
apartment. To prevent this, Lady Henrietta, with
painful shame, delivered into her sister's hands a letter
addressed to Lord Grey, which was as follows: — "My
sister Bell did not suspect our being together last night,
for she did not hear the noise. I pray, come again,
Sunday or Monday ; if the last, I shall be very
impatient,"
Lady Henrietta at once acquainted Lord Grey with the
fact that they had been discovered, and shortly after-
wards his lordship arrived at the house and requested an
interview with Lady Arabella. Before this interview had
well begun, Lady Henrietta came into the room and fell
down, as one dead, at her lover's feet, L'ird Grey raised
her from the ground, and, turning to Arabella, said,
"You see how far it has gone between us," adding, "I
tell you that I have no love and no consideration for any-
thing on earth but dear Lady Hen," on which Arabella,
addressing her sister in tones of remonstrance, exclaimed,
" I am very much troubled and annoyed that you can sit
by and hear my Lord Grey declare such things when it so
much concerns my sister Mary ; for my part, it stabs me
to the heart."
Shortly after tins, the Countess of Berkeley sent for
the recreant son-in-law, and reproached him fcr the
grief and dishonour he had brought upon the family,
telling him that he had (here we quote the report of
the trial which arose out of the affair) "done bar-
barously, basely, and falsely with me iu having an
intrigue with his sister-in-law ; that he, who should
have risked his very life in defence of her honour, had
done worse to her than if he had murdered her by
thus indulging in criminal love for her. " She asked him
if he was indeed in love with his sister, and with tears
he confessed it, bewailing himself as the most unfortunate
of men, and beseeching her by many arguments to keep
the matter secret. He promised that, if she would still
allow her unhappy daughter to go into society as usual,
so as to avoid curious remarks, he would take care to keep
out of her way ; and to this arrangement the countess
substantially agreed. But as there was some hitch
which disabled Lord Grey from keeping his promise of
going out of town, the prudent mother decided to send
her daughter on a visit to her son, Lord Dursley. To
this the young lady would not consent "When I
came to my daughter" (again quoting from the report
of her ladyship's evidence), "my wretched, unkind
daughter — I have been so kind a mother to her, and
would have died rather than brought this matter into
court if there had been any other way to reclaim her —
this child of mine, when I came up to her, fell into a
great many tears, and begged my pardon for what she
had done, promising that if I would forgive her she
would never again hold any converse with her
brother-in-law, adding all the things which would
make a tender mother believe her." Receiving her pro-
testations in all good faith, the countess recalled her plans
for the visit to Lord Dursley, and this the more readily
as her own household were on the point of removing for
the season to their home at Durdants, near Epsom, so
that the separation of the two guilty ones could be
maintained without exciting special observation. But
when they got there, it was found to be impossible to
maintain the separation with needful stringency without
awakening uneasiness in the mind of Lady Grey. In-
deed, the injured wife had already got an .inkling that
something was amiss, but of the dreadful truth she was
entirely ignorant, until it burst upon her like a thunder-
clap one fine Sunday morning iu August, 1682, when her
sister disappeared, as was suspected and afterwards
proved, by appointment with Lord Grey.
So far as ever transpired, no one actually accompanied
Lady Henrietta in her flight, but it seems probable that
the whole affair had been, arranged by one Charnock,
Lord Grey's confidential servant. It came out on tho
trial that Charnock had been at certain houses a short time
previous to this date, inquiring for lodgings, pretending
that they were for his wife, who was near her confinement.
At all events, on that Sunday, there came to the house
of Mrs. Hilton, not far from Charing Cross, at seven
o'clock in the morning, a lady attired precisely as Lady
Henrietta was when she left her father's house. Char-
nock was not with her, and she did not stay long. Mrs.
Charnock called upon her, and then she, as well as Mrs.
Hilton, went with her to the house of one Patten, in
Wild Street, Leicester Square. Here it is probable she
met her lover ; for, on the following day, Monday, Lord
Grey called on David Jones, who lived "over against the
statue " at Charing Cross, and engaged lodgings for a
lady, who on the Tuesday came with his lordship.
Of course, the Earl of Berkeley could no longer be kept
in ignorance of the unhappy trouble, and both he an.1
other members of the family were at first only anxious to
have the affair hushed up as soon and as quietly as
possible. He authorised one Mr. Smith, a son-in-law of
his, to propose to Lord Grey to give up his mistress to be
decently married to some parson or other, if one suffi-
ciently compliant could be found, and there appears to
have been no doubt that plenty such were to be had, in
which case Lord Berkeley was willing to give his
daughter the handsome portion of £6,000. This probably
suggested to Lord Grey the course he actually adopted.
ae\
a/
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
243
He declined to give up his mistress ; but to baffle her rela •
lives, in case matters came to the worst, he had her
married privately to one Turner, a creature of his own,
although a son of one of the judges by whom the case
was investigated before a formal trial became necessary,
All the efforts of Lord Berkeley to recover possession
of his daughter proving abortive, he at length proceeded
by way of indictment against Lord Grey, the Char-
nocks, man and wife, and Mr. and Mrs. Jones, lodging-
house keepers, for a misdemeanour of the nature of a
conspiracy to debauch Lady Henrietta. The trial took
place before Chief-Justice Pemberton and others, in
November, 1682. By the mouths of many witnesses the
story of shame and sorrow was unfolded to the jury,
substantially as we have already presented it. The
unfortunate lady was in the court during the trial,
and the sight of her, after all the infamy she had
brought upon herself and on her family, unnerved
her mother and sisters, while it exasperated her
father to fury. At her first entrance he could
not restrain himself, but passionately besought the
judges to restore his daughter to his custody and control.
The court, however, refused to entertain the question at
that stage. For the defence several witnesses weru called
to prove that Lord Grey had no hand in the business.
The most important of these witnesses was the Lady
Henrietta herself. She distinctly swore that Lord Grey
had no hand in her escape, that she had no advice from
him or anybody connected with him, and that he knew
nothing of her design. In answer to questions, she
denied that she had seen his lordship on the day of
flight, Sunday, or on Monday, or " for a great while
after." She admitted that she had written to him on the
Tuesday, alleging that she deemed it the most natural
thing in the world, "he being the nearest relation
she had to. whom she could look for protection. " She
further swore that his lordship's reply was very harsh,
and ' that he repeatedly urged her to return to her
father. The presiding judge summed up dead against
all the accused except Mr. and Mrs. Jones, who were
acquitted. When the jury were in the act of retiring.
Lord Berkeley, addressing the court, prayed that he
might have his daughter delivered up to him. The
Lord Chief-Justice signified his concurrence iu the
demand, but the lady herself cried out, "I will not go
to my father again. My lord, I am married." Lord
Chief-Justice : " To whom ?" Lady Henrietta : " To
Mr. Turner." Judge :" Where is he ?" Lady:' "Here
in court." Way being made for him, Turner took hia
place beside the lady who had claimed from him the
protection of a husband's authority. But this mode
of settling the claim was not to pass unchallenged, as
will appear by the following extract from the report of
the trial : —
Lord Chief -Justice : Let's see him that has married you.
Are you married to this lady ?
Mr. Turner : Yes, I am so, my lord.
Lord Chief-Justice : What are you ?
Mr. Turner : I am a gentleman.
Lord Chief -Justice : Where do you live?
Mr. Turner : Sometimes in town, and sometimes in the
country.
Lord Chief-Justice : Where do you live when you are
in the country ?
Mr. Turner : Sometimes in Somersetshire.
Justice Dolben : He is, I believe, the son of Bir William
Turner that was the advocate ; he is a little like him.
Serjeant Jeffries: Ay, we all know Mr. Turner well
enough. And, to satisfy you this is all a part of the same
design, and one of the foulest practices that ever was
used, we shall prove he was married to another person
before, that is now alive, and has children by him.
Mr. Turner : Ay, do, if you can, for there was never
such thing.
Serjeant Jeffries : Pray, sir, did not you live at Bromley
with a woman as man and wife, and had divers children,
and, living so intimately, were you not questioned about
it, and you and she owned yourselves to be man and
wife ?
Mr. Turner : My lord, there is no such tiling ; but this
is my wife I do acknowledge.
Attorney-General : We pray, my lord, that he may
have his oath.
Air. Turner : My lord, here are the witnesses ready to
prove it that were by.
Earl of Berkeley : Truly as to that, to examine this
matter by witnesses, I conceive this court, though it be a
great court, yet has not the cognizance of marriages ; and
though here be a pretence of a marriage, yet I know you
will not determine it, how ready soever he may be tu
make it out by witnesses ; but I desire she may be de-
livered up to me, her father, and let him take his remedy.
Lord Chief-Justice : I see no reason but my lord may
take his daughter.
Karl of Berkeley : I desire the court he will deliver her
to me.
Justice Dolben : My lord, we cannot dispose of any
other man's wife, and they say they are married ; we
have nothing to do with it.
Lord Chief-Justice : My Lord Berkeley, your daughter
is free to you to take her ; as for Mr. Turner, if he thinks
lie has any right to the lady, let him take his course.
Are you at liberty and under no restraint ?
Lady Henrietta : I will go with my husband.
Karl of Berkeley : Hussey, you shall go home with me.
Lady Henrietta : I will go with my husband.
Karl of Berkeley : Hussey, you shall go with me, I say.
Lady Henrietta : I will go with my husband.
After an interlude concerning the bailing of Lord Grey,
the old earl renewed his demand to have his daughter
given up to him. The Lord Chief-Justice said, "My
lord, we do not hinder you; you may take her." Lady
Henrietta: "I will go with my husband." Karl of
Berkeley: "Then all that are my friends, seize her, I
charge you." Then the court broke up. "Passing through
the hall," says a contemporary account of the occur-
rence, "there was a great scuffle about the lady, and
swords drawn on both sides, and my Lord Chief-Justice,
coming by, ordered the tipstaff who attended him (who
had formerly a warrant to search for her and take her into
custody) to take charge of her, and carry her over to the
King's Bench ; and Mr. Turner, asking if he should be
committed too, the Chief-Justice told him he might go
with her if he would, which he did, and, as it is reported,
they lay together that night in the Marshal's house, and
she was released out of prison by order of the court the
last day of the term."
The verdict of the jury was against the chief offender
244
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f Ju
i 18!
1890.
and his two principal agents, the Charnocks ; but ulti-
mately the affair was compromised, and ended in a record
of nolle prosequi.
Lord Grey had his hands full enough of plots
and risks, in addition to his disgraceful amour. In
this very year, 1682, he had been indicted, with several
others of better fame than his own, for a 'riotous
interference with the election of sheriff for the city
of London, and fined one thousand marks. Before
many months had elapsed, he was involved in the cele-
brated Rye House Plot, wherein for a while he was
associated with men who bore the honoured names of
Sidney and Russell. But he was more wary or more
fortunate than they. When on his way to the Tower, he
contrived to get his guards intoxicated, and, leaving
them peacefully slumbering in the carriage, betook
himself to flight. Holland was the place he selected as a
hiding place, and thither he went, accompanied by his
mistress and her nominal husband. In 1685, he returned
to England in the suite of the Duke of Monmoutb, and
took part in the rash enterprise which culminated in
the battle of Sedgemeor, Both at Bridport and in the en-
gagement of Sedgemoor, Lord Grey is said to have
behaved in a dastardly fashion, thereby adding a fresh
blot to his already sullied name. To crown his cowardice,
he purchased his pardon by writing, when a prisoner in
the Tower, a full confession, which was a designed
justification of the severity with which Lord William
Russell had been treated for tlie Rye House Plot, and a
tissue of falsehoods against the Duke of Monmouth.
Subsequent to the Revolution of 1688, Lord Grey
continued in the background for a time, but gradually
recovered more than his old influence, and for services,
supposed or real, was invested with the earldom of
Tankerville. Macaulay, describing the debates in the
Upper House on the insertion of the words "right
and lawful" as applied to William of Orange in the"
Act of Succession, says:— "But no man distinguished
himself more in the debate than one whose life,
both public and private, had been one long series
of faults and disasters, the incestuous lover of
Henrietta Berkeley, the unfortunate lieutenant of
the Duke of Monmouth. He had recently ceased
to be called by the tarnished name of Grey of
Wark, and was now Earl of Tankerville. He spoke on
that day with great force and eloquence for the main-
tenance of the words 'right and lawful.' "
After this, it is not wonderful that he attained places
of trust and power. During the absence of King
William in 1700, he was appointed First Commissioner of
the Treasury and one of the Lords Justices. Later in
the same year he was made Lord Privy Seal.
Lord Grey died on Midsummer Day, 1701. The hap-
less victim of his passion spent the remnant of her days in
obscurity abroad.
liffimet.
jlROM the very nature of his employment,
mining, mole-like, far underground, with a
constant liability to loss of limb or life, the
uneducated pitman of every land is prone to superstition.
The Northumberland coal-miner, such as he was less than
a century since, was no exception to this rule. He be-
lieved in all sorts of omens, warnings, and signs. Many
things, insignificant in themselves, had a weighty mean-
ing to him. A rabbit, a hare, or a woman crossing the
path on his way before daybreak to the pit, would cause
him to return home and go to bed again, thereby losing a
day's winning. Nightmare or other dreams were, of
course, premonitory of sudden inroads of water, outgush-
ings of gas, or fatal falls of stone. Knockings were heard
occasionally down below, of which no account could be
given : these were also ominous. And the pits were,
moreover, haunted by mischievous goblins, whose sole
delight VMS to annoy and terrify the pit people, men and
boys. One of these was that spiteful elf Cutty Soarns,
whose doings have already been recorded in these pages.
(See ante, vol. i., p. 269.) Of another goblin— altogether a
more sensible, and, indeed, an honest and hard-working
bogle, much akin to the Scottish brownie — a writer
in the Colliery Guardian, of May 23rd, 1863, wrote as
follows : —
The supernatural person in question was no other than
a ghostly putter, and his name was " Bluecap." Some-
times the miners would perceive a light-blue flame flicker
through the air, and settle on a full coal-tub, which im-
mediately moved towards the rolley-way as though im-
pelled by the sturdiest sinews in the working. Industrious
Bluecap required, and rightly, to be paid for his services,
which he modestly rated as those of an ordinary average
putter ; therefore, once a fortnight Bluecap's wages were
left for him in a solitary corner of the mine. If they
were a farthing below his due, the indignant Bluecap
would not pocket a stiver ; if they were a farthing above
his due, indignant Bluecap left the surplus revenue where
he found it. The writer asked his informant, a hewer,
whether, if Blueeap's wages were now-a-days to be left
for him, he thought they would be appropriated ; the
man shrewdly answered, he thought they would be taken
by Bluecap, or somebody else.
At Shilbottle Colliery, near AInwick, Bluecap was better
known as Blue Bonnet. But the Shilbottle pitmen no
longer believe in any such unearthly dimiautive imp as
their forefathers used to think and say they saw, pushing
the full tubs to the rolley-way, when there were no human
putters there. They are now a well-educated, intelligent,
orderly class of men. Seventy or eighty years ago, how-
ever, their parish minister thought it his duty to report
concerning them to Parliament, that " most of the poor,
being pitmen, are able to educate their children ; but
they are regardless of their receiving any instruction, or
observance of the Sabbath, which is attributed," con-
cludes the worthy man, "to the dissemination of athe-
istical and seditious pamphlets." This curious report
was printed, by order of the House of Commons, on the
Jane
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
245
1st of April, 1819, in a blue book entitled " A Digest of
Parochial Returns."
The Dutch or Flemings have a counterpart of our Blue
Bonnet in a spirit whom they call Roodkep, that is Red
Cap, and also "the little brisk boy," Kaboutermannetjes.
Like the Scottish Brownie, he vanishes for ever on re-
ceiving a gift of new clothes ; and, unlike the Northum-
berland sprite, he does not seem to expect any money
wage.
All these dwarfish beings, according to Norse myth-
ology, were bred in the mould of the earth, just as
worms are in a dead body. " It was, in fact, in Ymir's
flesh " — [Ymir, a giant whom the divine sous of Bor slew
to form from his corpse this terraqueous globe] — "it was
in Ymir's flesh that the dwarfs were engendered, and
began to move and live. At first they were only maggots,
but by the will of the gods they at length partook both of
human shape and understanding, although they always
dwell in rocks and caverns." So the illustrious Snorri
Sturlason tells us ; and if we do not believe his tale to be
strictly true, we may perhaps still believe some things
that are equally false.
Screnriaft
dan.
jjASON and Dixon's Line was more familiar
to the general public during the old slavery
days in the United States than it is now.
The name was given to an imaginary line
which, stretching across the continent of North America,
separated the Free States from the Slave States. It gave
rise to the well-known negro song, "Dixie's Land."
The line got its name from two English astronomers
and mathematicians — -Charles .Mason and Jeremiah
Dixon — who in 1763-67 marked out the boundaries be-
tween the possessions of Lord Baltimore and the family
of William Penn, then the rival proprietors of Mary-
land and Pennsylvania. But it is not generally known,
even in the County Palatine, that the Dixie of the negro
song, the Jeremiah Dixon of American history, was a
native of Durham. A biographical sketch of this worthy
and distinguished man was contributed by Mr. Matthew
Richley to a Bishop Auckland magazine in 1854. What
follows is copied with a few slight corrections from Mr.
Richley's sketch.
Jeremiah Dixon, one of the greatest mathematicians as
well as one of the most ingenious men of his age. was born
in the out-of-the-way village of Cockfield, and was the son
of an old and faithful servant of the Raby family, whose
picture is still preserved in Raby castle, bearing the fol-
lowing inscription — "An Israelite, indeed, in whom there
is no guile." Jeremiah received the first rudiments of his
education under Mr. John Kipling, of Barnard Castle,
but was in a great measure self-taught. He was a con-
temporary, and on very intimate terms, with that cele-
brated and strange compound of genius and eccentricity,
William Emmerson, of Hurworth ; and also with John
Bird, of Bishop Auckland, another ingenious and kindred
spirit, who was an engraver and mathematical instrument
maker, and who made an instrument for taking the
latitude at sea which surpassed all others previously
used.
There appears to be no record left, either written or
oral, with respect to the early manifestations of Dixon's
genius ; but, if the history of the development of his
peculiar turn for mathematics and mechanics could be
traced from its first rude dawning up to the time when
he came out a public character — to be entrusted with
responsible tasks requiring abilities of the first order —
there can be no doubt that there would be found in it,
a* in that of most men of genius, many pleasing inci-
dents worthy of being preserved.
Jeremiah was selected by the Royal Academy of
Woolwich as a fit person to be sent out to the island
of St. Helena for the purpose of observing the transit of
the planet Venus across the sun's disc ; he was recom-
mended by his friend, John Bird, who had some connection
with that school. When Dixon was undergoing his
examination by the learned of that establishment, with
respect to his qualifications for the task, the first question
put to him by them was, "Whether did you study mathe-
matics at Cambridge or Oxford ?" " At neither place,"
said Jeremiah. "Then at what public school did you get
your rudiments ?" " At no public school," was the reply.
" Then at what particular seat of learning did you acquire
it?" "In a pit cabin upon Cockfield Tell," said the
humble scholar.
Dixon's abilities were tested, and found equal to the
task ; he was accordingly sent, and performed the work
, to the' satisfaction of his employers. The Academy
which sent him out was a military one ; and from that
time till the day of his death he wore its uniform— a red
coat and a cocked hat. It was after the expedition to St.
Helena that he was engaged to fix the boundaries of the
provinces of Maryland and Pennsylvania.
It is known that Dixon was the originator of many of
the mechanical contrivances and machines now used
about coal works. There is even a belief that he was
the original discoverer of coal gas, and that his own
garden wall, on the edge of Cockfield Fell, was the first
place ever lit up by that most useful article. This dis-
covery is generally attributed to William Murdoch,
a native of Cornwall, who, in the year 1792, employed
it for lighting his own house and offices at Redruth,
and in 1798 constructed the apparatus for the purpose
' of lighting Boulton and Watt's Works, Soho, near
Birmingham. With respect to Dixon's claim to the
discovery, the probability is that it was simultaneous
with that of Murdoch, and that, living in an obscure
246
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/Jiina
11890.
locality, and beinjz also of a retired and unostentatious
disposition, his discovery did not become known till after
that of the Cornish inventor. Dixon's first experiment
is said to have been made — like that of many other
embryo philosophers — with rather a rude sort of appa-
ratus; his first retort was an old tea kettle, and for
pipes, to convey the gas along the orchard wall, he used
the stalks of hemlock !
at
ftam.
URING the Jacobite rebellion of 1745— com-
monly known as " The Highlander Year " —
a very general alarm naturally prevailed
among the dalesmen of the North, when,
after the rout of the Royal forces at Prestonpans and the
disgraceful flight of the English general, the "Johnny
Cope " of the popular song, it became known that the
Highlanders had entered England, and were marching
unopposed towards London. Previous experiences of the
Scottish inroads led to the belief that the redoubtable in-
vaders would seek to penetrate into the land, not along the
most frequented high roads, where they were likeliest to
meet with troublesome obstructions and trying delays, but
through the unguarded hill passes and down the seques-
tered dales, every foot of which had been familiar to the
old mosstroopers.
One of the favourite routes of these marauders pre-
vious to the union of the crowns was that which has been
immortalised in the ballad of "Rookhope Ryde." (See
ante, p. . ) It led over the wild moors from Allen-
heads to Stanhope. Nothing was more likely than that
some of the Highlanders at least, cattle-drovers who
knew all the "drove roads" from Stirlingshire to Hert-
fordshire, would take this way into Weardale, across the
wastes and commons, to harry the rich granges of the
bishopric. At Wolsingham, which would be the first
place of any consequence lying right in their path on this
particular route, the peaceful villagers, tenants of the
Church, were for some days in sore suspense ; for a report
reached them that a strong body of the kilted invaders,
fully armed with dirks and claymores, had marched from
Penrith by way of Alston, and might be expected on the
banks of the Wear at any moment. It was said they
raised forced contributions at every house as they went
along, their peremptory order to the mistress of each
being something like this, "Put toon a preed, a sbeeze,
an' a shillin'," which order, if not instantly complied
with, led to violence and spoliation. In this emergency,
every fencible man in Wolsingham, that is, every male
inhabitant between sixteen and sixty, was ordered by
Bishop Chandler's local representative to hold himself in
readiness in case of surprise, with such arms as he could
provide ; and the order was promptly obeyed by all.
When the universal fear was at its height, a man who
had run " like a hatter " all the way from the head of the
Wascrow Beck down to Wolsingham, knocked loudly at
the door of the first house in the village that he came to,
and called out that the rebels were fast approaching.
When standing on a hill-top, late the previous afternoon,
he had seen them making their way past the Dead Friars,
over Stanhope Common, and he verily believed they were
now close at hand, from the rate at which they were
marching. Horns were at once blown and the church
bells set a-ringing, to arouse the inhabitants from their
peaceful slumber. It was a dark, rainy November night,
like that on which Tarn o' Shanter set out on his memor-
able ride home. It was consequently under very dis-
agreeable circumstances that the villagers had to turn
out ; but as they felt that their lives and properties were
at stake, a unanimous resolution was formed that they
would patrol the street till the enemy should appear, or
at any rate till daylight. Morning came, but not the
rebels. As they could not be very far off, however, scouts
were sent (jut in different directions to ascertain their
actual whereabouts. The scouts all came back, saying
they could hear no tidings of them. It was consequently
agreed that a score of horsemen should cross the Wear
and ascend the neighbouring hills, from whence they
would have a view of the whole country round ; while
such as were unprovided with horses should remain to
defend the village in case of a sudden attack.
The cavaliers set off accordingly, and soon reached the
top of a ridge called the Shull Hills, where they halted to
reconnoitre. They had not been there many minutes
before a large moving mass was seen to reach the top of
Bollihope Fell, a few miles to the westward ; in quite a
different direction, therefore, from that which the man
had indicated ; and the alarmed scouts at once jumped
to the conclusion that this mass could only be composed
of rebels. Rebels or not, it was soon clear that they were
marching straight in the direction of Wolsingham, and
that, from the pace at which they were advancing, it
could not be above an hour ere they would be close upon
the town. Nor was this all : the first band had not got
far down the hill before another appeared, and then a
third, all going at the same rate and in the same course.
What was now to be done ? Judging from appearances,
there could not be less than five or six hundred of the un-
breeched vagabonds ; and to wait their approach where
the scouts stood would, of course, be'inevitable death or
capture. A retreat was therefore commenced, in the
hope that, on regaining home, they might bn enabled,
with the assistance of their fellow-townsmen, to check and
drive off the enemy, or least to make terms with them.
Orderly enough at first, the retreat by and by became
a race. A cry having been raised that the vanguard of
the rebels had gained the top of the hill behind them,
June!
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
247
each man felt that his own personal safety now depended
on the speed of his charger, and off they all galloped
helter-skelter. Those whose horses were swift of foot took
the lead, whilst, as a necessary consequence, the slowest
were left behind.
To add to the confusion, a poor tailor, who had bor-
rowed for the occasion a rather spirited mare belonging
to a neighbouring farmer who was lying ill at the time,
irritated his beast by tugging hard at the check rein and
simultaneously sticking his spurs into her flanks, in the
vain endeavour to lessen her speed. Eager to compete
among the foremost in the race, and unaccustomed to the
methods of her rider, the mare began plunging and kick-
ing in a desperate manner. So the tailor, who carried
athwart the saddle-bow an old blunderbus ready loaded,
got into such a predicament that he fairly lost his head.
Expecting every moment to be landed among the horse's
feet, he grasped the pommel convulsively, and, in so
doing, touched the trigger of the blunderbus, which went
off with a bang, and shot the horse of the miller, who was
passing at the moment. Down went miller and horse,
and over him rolled the tailor and his mare, and as the
path was narrow and steep, and stony withal, and
several more riders were spurring on behind, the two un-
happy wights ran great risk of having their limbs brokeu ;
but luckily both escaped with a sore fright.
Meanwhile, the enemy was close behind, and it behoved
miller and tailor to pick themselves up as best they could.
When lo ! instead of four or five hundred ferocious Celts,
bent on slaughter, out came about two hundred little
Highland kyloes, snorting, stamping, and lashing their
tails, followed by half-a-dozen lithe-limbed, belted and
plaided gillies, who had brought the cattle all the way
from Doune Latter Fair, along the drove roads, as they
were called, which lay over the wildest tracts of the South
of Scotland and North of England.
It had been, therefore, a shameful panic, unworthy of
the descendants of the men who fought so valiantly and
successfully against heavy odds at Rookhope. But in
this world, and doubtless in every other, the inevitable
must be accepted, and it is always best to accept it, if
possible, with a good grace. So thought the Wolsingham
bravoes, all at least but the miller, who had lost a valu-
able horse. The tailor, as we may safely presume, never
heard the end of the ridiculous tragi-comedy, he having
been the only man who had shed blood during the per-
formance.
The rebels, as history tells, went another road, and
never came within the bounds of the bishopric. But it
was a long time before any of those who had escaped the
stigma of cowardice, through not having steeds to be-
stride, durst mention the word "kyloe" in the hearing
of any of their equestrian friends ; for, unless they were
prepared and able to defend themselves against the stam-
peders in a game of fisticuffs, they would have been sure
to rue their funning. The expedition to Shull Hill forms
a prominent episode in the history of the town, and, as
such, will not be allowed to fall into oblivion.
- Etrtr.
||CCORDIXG to Dr. Brehm's arrangement,
the Shrikes (Lanii) are a numerous and
well-known group of birds, found in all
parts of the world. Though over a score of
different species have been noted and described, only
three at most have been observed in this country. In all
these birds the body is powerful and the breast promi-
nent ; the neck is strong, the head comparatively large
and round ; and the wings are broad and rounded. The
third or fourth quill exceeds the rest in length, while the
tail is long and graduated. The beak is powerful, com-
pressed at the sides, and terminates in a strong hook,
near whicli the upper mandible has a very perceptible
tooth-like appendage. The fret are large and strong, the
toes long and armed with sharp claws, and the plumage is
rich, thick, and varied.
Shrikes, which prey more or less on the smaller mem-
bers of the feathered family, frequent wooded districts
and pasture lands where shelter is abundant. Such
species as frequent high latitudes migrate regularly in the
autumn, and find their way, in search of food, as far south
aa Central Africa. In their habits they closely resemble
some of the birds of prey, and their movements are said
to be similar to those of the raven family. They can
easily imitate the notes of other birds, and this habit, no
doubt, secures them a portion of their feathered prey.
Their flight is irregular, and they progress on the ground
by a succession of jumps or hops. They devour insects
in large numbers, and prey extensively on finches,
sparrows, &c. A remarkable characteristic of this family,
through which they are called butcher birds, is a habit
248
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
fjnne
•(.189U.
they have of spiking their victims, birds and beetles alike,
on sharp thorns. They nest in well-sheltered places, and
the broods, of from four to six, remain for a considerable
time in the company of their parents. They are believed
to breed but once a year, except in cases where the nests
have been plundered.
The Ash-coloured Shrike (Lanius excubitor) has a long
list of common names, such as Great Shrike, Great Grey
Shrike, Greater Butcher Bird', Sentinel Butcher Bird,
Murdering Pie, and Shreek. It is found in nearly every
country in Europe, from north to south, and also in the
temperate parts of North America. It is described by
Mr. Hancock as "a rare winter migrant." But corre-
spondents of the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle have men-
tioned that specimens have been seen near Morpeth and
elsewhere in the Northern Counties during the early
months of the present year.
Butcher birds are said to be easily tamed, even if cap-
tured when full-grown. When in confinement they
fasten their prey, or food, to the wires of the cape.
Yarrell says that the bird "isiised by falconers abroad
during autumn and winter when trapping falcons."
"The shrike," he adds, "is fastened to the ground, and,
by screaming loudly, gives notice to the falconer who is
concealed, of the approach of a hawk. It was on this
account, therefore, called 'excubitor' — the sentinel."
Mr. Knapp, however, in his "Journal of a Naturalist,"
says that the above name was appropriately given to the
bird by Linnaeus from its seldom concealing itself in a
bush, but sitting perched on some upper spray, in an open
situation, heedful of danger, or watching for its prey.
One was caught in the act of pouncing on the decoy bird
of a fowler, "who, " says Bishop Stanley, " having kept it
awhile in confinement, was soon glad to get rid of it, as
the sound of its voice at once hushed to silence the notes
of his whole choir of birds." Speaking of the peculiar
habits of these birds in spiking their prey, one writer
says: — "We have seen the New Holland butcher bird
f Vanga destructor) act in this manner when in captivity,
and after strangling a mouse or crushing its skull, doubled
it through the wires of its cage, and, in very demonstra-
tion of savage triumph, tear it limb from limb and devour
it. The bird to which we allude had the talent of imita-
tion to great perfection, and had learnt to aing several
bars of airs, with a full-toned musical voice. It executed
the first part of 'Over the Water to Charlie' with a spirit
that would have gone to the heart of an old Jacobite."
Rennie tells us that the great shrike is trained in Russia
to catch small birds, and is valuable for its destruction of
rats and mice. It is a very courageous bird, attacking
fearlessly those which are much its superior in size, even
the eagle it is said, and it will not allow a hawk, crow, or
magpie to approach its nest with impunity. Montagu,
who kept several of these birds, found that at the end of
two months they lose the affection for each other which
they seem to exhibit in the wild state, and quarrel and
fight even till one is slain.
The flight of the great grey shrike is slow and undulat-
ing, and can rarely be sustained for more than a few
minutes at a time ; even when merely passing from one
tree to another it moves in undulating lines, keeping near
the ground, and rapidly agitating both its wings and tail.
When the bird is perched, the tail is in constant motion,
like that of the magpie. Its sight is excellent, and its
sense of hearing so delicate as at once to detect the
slightest sound. During the breeding season, it lives
peaceably with its mate ; but after that period each indi-
vidual provides only for itself, and carries on an incessant
warfare with other birds.
The male bird weighs a little over two ounces ; length,
June\
1S1W. I
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
249
from nine to ten inches; the upper mandible is bluish
black at the base, and there is a strong projection near its
point, which is considerably hooked ; the lower one is
yellowish brown at the base, brownish black at the tip ;
a black streak runs from it to the eye, and a narrower one
under the eye — over the former is a streak of white,
which runs into the grey of the nape, widening into an
oval patch over the ear ; iris, dark brown ; forehead, dull
white ; head, crown, neck, and nape, light ash prey ; chin,
throat, and breast, white; back, light ash grey. The
wings, which are short, expand to a width of one foot
two or three inches. The female resembles the male, but
the colours are more dull, the b'.ue grey assuming a
brownish tint ; and the breast is marked with numerous
semicircular greyish lines. Temminck says there is a
variety that is nearly pure white, the black parts slightly
tinged with grey. Another variety is described as entirely
white, with a tincre of rich yellow.
jjWIZELL HOUSE, the residence of the Rev.
Edmund Antrobus, is picturesquely situated
about ten miles north of Alnwick, in the
county of Northumberland. For the greater part of
the present century Twizell was a place of interest to
lovers of natural history as the seat of Mr. Prideaux
John Selby, whose " Illustrations of British Ornithology "
and "History of British Forest Trees " have given him
a wide and well-merited reputation. Mr. Selby was born
in Bondgate, Aluwick, on July 23, 1788, and died at
Twizell House, March 27. 1867.
ftenvitft CastU,
HHE ruins of Penrith Castle are situated
close to the railway station of the old
Cumberland town. They consist only
of a few bare walls unrelieved by ivy
or other natural adornments. Constructed of the
red stone of the district, the fortress appears to
have been a perfect quadrangle, with a tower at each
corner. The entrance was on the east, and the moat
can still be traced. Like most old castles, it has its
subterranean passage, which was supposed to lead from
the castle to a house in Penrith, called Dockwray Hall,
about 300 yards distant. Viewed from the other side of
the vale, the ruins have a certain amount of dignity.
Erected about the end of the fourteenth century, Penrith
Castle was for some time the residence of the Duke of
Gloucester, afterwards Richard III., who won the good-
will of the inhabitants of Penrith by the magnificence of
bis style of living. It continued in the possession of the
Crown till the Revolution, when it was granted, together
with the honour of Penrith, to Walter Bentinck, first
Earl of Portland. During the contest between Charles I.
g45£w8
T^^J^iSi
> -- j^-llSBfspr ^-v^-
^. # KM^
f;/f)
l^Sfi^m ~ f '"/,: ¥ »
250
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/June
\1890.
and the Long Parliament, the castle was seized and dis-
mantled by the adherents of the Commonwealth, and the
lead, timber, and other materials, were sold. In 1783,
the Duke of Portland disposed of it, together with the
honour of Penrith, including Inglewood Forest, to the
Duke of Devonshire, who made it away to other parties.
at iflarft 'fttoijrt ftim* atrtt
$32 JUdjarb cBelforb.
FOUNDER OF SEATON SLUICE.
OR a summary of the early descents of the
Delavals, recourse may be had to an
interesting paper contributed by the Rev.
Edward Hussey Adamson to the twelfth
volume of the " Archseologia ^Eliana." Whatsoever was
obscure in the genealogy, or erroneously described in
visitations and pedigrees of the family, has been
rectified by Mr. Adamson's investigations ; while the
eventful career of one conspicuous representative of his
race has received fresh elucidation through the patient
researches of Mr. John Robinson among forgotten
salvage from the family archives. In the pages of the
Monthly Chronicle much of what was known before-
hand about the Delavals, and most of that which has
recently been discovered concerning them, have, from
time to time, appeared. It remains now to gather up
what is left, and try to make the biographical record
consecutive, complete, and intelligible.
During the greater part of the reign of Queen
Elizabeth, the local representative of this ancient
tamily was Sir Robert Delaval, Knight. His eldest
eon, Sir Ralph Delaval, who had married a daughter
of Thomas, Baron Hilton of Hilton, and was thrice
High Sheriff of Northumberland, succeeded him.
Another of his sons became Sir John Delaval of
Dissington, Knight, twice High Sheriff, and, in the
second Parliament of Charles I., one of the M.P.'s
for the county. A third son, Claudius Delaval,
received the appointment of Town Clerk of Newcastle ;
other sons were Edward Delaval, of Bebside, and
Robert Delaval, of Cowpen. To Sir Ralph, the heir
of Sir Robert, also came numerous offspring, but he
outlived his first-born son Robert (married to Elizabeth,
daughter of Sir George Selby, of Newcastle), and when
he died, in 1628, the property passed over to bis grandson
(Robert's son), Ralph Delaval.
Ralph Delaval married, at St. Nicholas' Church, New-
castle, on the 2nd of April, 1646, the Lady Anne,
daughter of General Lesley, Earl of Leven, commander
of the Scottish army by which, two years before, the
town had been stormed and taken. Under the will of
his grandfather he did not come into possession of the
whole of the family property till 1649. In that year
he was appointed High Sheriff of Northumberland, and a
member of the Commission appointed to report upon
the number and value of Church livings in the county
—a Commission which produced what is known as the
"Oliverian, or Parliamentary Survey." These duties
discharged, he lived, till nearly the close of the
Commonwealth, the life of a country gentleman, ab-
sorbed in the management of his estates, collieries,
and saltpans. But when the Lord Protector died,
and a Hestoration of the Monarchy became imminent,
he entered Richard Cromwell's Parliament as a knight
of the shire for his native county. As soon as the
Restoration had been accomplished, he was re-elected,
and then the family of Delaval, which for generations
had borne the honour of knighthood, were advanced a
step in dignity and precedence. On the 29th of June,
1660, Charles II. made Ralph Delaval a baronet.
To the Pensionary Parliament, elected in the spring
of the following year, Sir Ralph Delaval did not go.
He made way at that election for Henry Cavendish,
Viscount Mansfield. The motives of his retirement
were creditable to him. He was desirous to see the
county represented by a rising statesman, and he had
in view an undertaking of great moment to himself,
and of considerable value to the commerce of the
district. Upon his manor of Seaton he possessed an
ancient landing-place, dry at low water and difficult
of access at all times, and he contemplated the con-
struction of a new harbour, which should afford
adequate accommodation for increasing traffic in coal,
fait, corn, and other produce of his estate. In the
face of great difficulties he proceeded to realise his
design. The stone pier which he erected to with-
stand the influx of the sea was washed away more
than once ; his new entrance silted up and threatened
to become as troublesome as the old one. But these
difficulties seemed only to stimulate his energies. He
rebuilt the pier better and stronger each time, and to
prevent silting he erected sluice-gates, which, being shut
by the flowing tide, compelled the water in the burn to
accumulate till the ebb, when it forced open the gates,
scoured the bed of the stream, swept the haven, and
rendered navigation safe and easy. Thus was created
the little harbour of Seaton Sluice, one of the local
wonders of maritime commerce in the last century.
Upon the elevation of Viscount Mansfield to the
peerage in 1676 as Duke of Newcastle, Sir Ralph
Delaval resumed the seat which fifteen years earlier
he had surrendered. He attached himself to the Court
party in the House, and in a dispute between the king
and Parliament, which occurred the year after his return,
took the side of the monarch. For this he was pilloried
Jnnel
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
251
by a contemporary satirist, who, having insinuated that
some of the Court party were "enlisted by offices,
nay, a few by bribes secretly given them," put him
into a list of that party, with the sum of £500 attached
to his name.
Sir Ralph was an active justice of the peace for
Northumberland, and as such was appointed one of
the Commissioners of Gaol Deliveries in the county.
His name occurs in a rent roll of the first Earl of
Derwentwater as a tenant owing half a year's fee
farm rent for land in Tynemouth due at Pentecost,
1671. With the ducal family of Northumberland, he
held the alternate presentation to the church at Tyne-
mouth, and appears to have taken some interest in
parochial affairs there, acting as one of the Four-and-
Twenty, and attaching his signature to the minutes of
the Testry meetings as chairman.
When King Charles II. died, Sir Ralph was over
sixty years of age, and being unwilling, or unable, to
bear the fatigue which travelling to London and
attendance in Parliament involved, he retired, and
William Ogle, of Cawsey Park, took his place. Settling
down once more at Delaval Castle, he outlived the
Revolution and flight of James II., saw the Prince of
Orange established on the throne, and died on the
29th of August, 1691. His wife, the Lady Anne, by
whom he had seven sons and six daughters, followed
in 1696. Within forty years of her decease this large
family of thirteen ended in daughters, and practically
came to an end. The heir died, as we have seen,
before his father, leaving no issue. Sir Ralph, second
Bon, succeeded to the property, and died five years
after his father, at the age of 46, leaving an only
daughter, Diana, who married William, son of the
second Sir Edward Blackett. After Sir Ralph came
the third son, Sir John, who, being the last male
survivor, sold the Seaton estate to come after
his decease to his kinsman, Admiral George Delaval.
Thenceforward Sir John lived at "The Lodge," Seaton
Sluice, which, he boasted, was the finest thatched house
in the kingdom. He also, like his brother, had an
only daughter, and, according to Spearman's MSS.,
it was to provide her with a dowry of £10,000 upon
her marriage with John Rogers of Denton, that he
sold the reversion of his patrimonial estate. " Mrs.
Rogers," continues Spearman, "died within the year,
as was said by a posset given by Sir John's mistress,
Mrs. Poole, and Mr. Rogers went distracted."
Admiral George Delaval, who thus acquired the
ancestral home of one branch of his family, was a
son of George Delaval of North Dissington, aitfl
grandson of Sir John Delaval of the same place,
which Sir John, as described at the outset, was a
younger son of Sir Robert Delaval and Dorothy Grey.
He was placed in the navy under the auspices of hia
relative, Admiral Sir Ralph Delaval (of whom more
presently), and, rising to a position of trust in the
service of his country, was employed in embassies
to Portugal and Morocco. He pulled down the old
castle, and began to build, from the designs of Sir
John Vanburgh, the sumptuous palace known in after
years as Seaton Delaval Hall. But dying before the
design was completed, he left the estate, and the un-
finished hall, to his nephew, Francis Blake Delaval,
the son of his brother Edward, of South Dissington,
by marriage with a daughter of Sir Francis Blake, of
Ford Castle. In this way the Delaval property was
continued in the family, though the direct line had
died out.
j&ir flalpl)
A HERO OF LA HOGUE.
Reverting now to the main line of descent, we find, on
the authority of Le Neve, though the late Mr. Hodgson
Hinde was never quite satisfied on the point, that
William, sixth son of the first Sir Ralph Delaval and
Lady Jane Hilton, married a daughter of Sir Peter
Riddell, Alderman and sometime Mayor of Newcastle.
From that union came another Ralph Delaval, first
cousin of the baronet who founded Seaton Sluice, and
equally distinguished, though in quite another sphere of
public life.
At an early age this Ralph Delaval entered the navy
under the protection of the Duke of York, At the
Revolution, when his patron, then King James II.,
fled the kingdom, he was captain of a man-of-war ; as
soon as King William obtained the throne he was
knighted (May 31, 1690), and promoted to the rank
of Rear-Admiral of the Blue. In that station he
served under Lord Torrington at the disastrous engage
ment off Beachy Head, June 30, 1690, and to him was
assigned the presidency of the court-martial by which
Lord Torrington was tried and acquitted. Shortly
afterwards King William made him a Vice-Admiral
of the Blue, and gave him command of a squadron
by which, the following year, the enemy were prevented
from relieving Limerick. In the spring of 1692, when
it was known that the French were fitting out the
greatest fleet they had ever sent to sea, enormous
preparations were made to receive them. By the
second week in May ninety sail of the line, manned
by from thirty to forty thousand of the finest seamen
which England and Holland could muster, assembled
at St. Helen's under the command of Admiral Russell,
with Sir Ralph Delaval, Sir Cloudesley Shovel, Sir
John Ashby, and other picked officers under him, Ou
the 17th of that month the whole fleet stood over to
the French coast, and on the 19th encountered Tourville,
the French admiral, in his magnificent vessel, the Royal
Sun, with forty-three ships of the line supporting him.
The battle began at eleven in the forenoon, and lasted
till four in the afternoon. Sir Ralph Delaval commanded
252
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/June
\1890.
tbe rear, and manoeuvred his vessels so well that, although
several French ships hovered round, they were unable
to do him mischief. By sunset the enemy's fleet was
scattered. Sixteen French men-of-war — half of them
three-deckers — were sunk or burnt, and the English
loss was one fireship only.
For some reason or other the advantage gained by
this victory was not improved. During the autumn,
Jean Bart, with his formidable Dunkirkers, prowled
along the coasts, while other privateers roamed about
the North Sea, capturing Newcastle colliers, and
making prizes of London and Bristol merchantmen.
All this time the victorious fleet lay idle at St. Helen's.
A general feeling of insecurity seized the mercantile
community ; ships dared not puc to sea without a
strong convoy ; the coal trade was paralysed ; trade
was brought to almost a standstill. When Parliament
assembled, the administration of the navy formed the
subject of angry debate, while throughout the country
its administrators were the objects of vigorous denuncia-
tion. In February following, the king, to satisfy the
contending factions, entrusted the command of the fleet
to Sir Ralph Delaval and Henry Killegrew, who were
reputed Tories, associating with them Sir Cloudesley
Shovel, a Whig.
Immediately after their appointment the admirals
made preparations for convoying an accumulated fleet
of merchantmen from the Thames and the Texel to
the Mediterranean and Levant. But the preparations
occupied a long time. March passed away, April
came and went, May had come to an end, and the
convoy was not ready. It was June before the flotilla
set sail. In the meanwhile Tourville had stolen out
to sea, and while Delaval and his coadjutor supposed
him tD be quietly lying at Brest, he sailed down the
Bay of Biscay and awaited the fleet in the Bay of
Lagos. The admirals, fearing that in their absence he
might cross the Channel and attempt a landing in
England, proceeded only a couple of hundred miles
beyond Ushant. There they left Vice-Admiral Rooke
with twenty armed vessels to proceed to the Mediter-
ranean, and made all haste back to England. Thus
the merchantmen, nearly four hundred in number,
with cargoes valued at several millions sterling, were
left to the protection of twenty men-of-war. Tourville
fell upon them in Lagos Bay and scattered them in all
directions. Some escaped, some were captured, more
were destroyed. The loss was terrible ; the whole
nation was thrown into a state of gloom and dejection.
Delaval and Killegrew were lampooned, satirised,
derided, and denounced. Immense crowds flocked
to see a show at Bartholomew Fair in which they
were represented as flying with their whole fleet
before a few French privateers, and taking shelter
utider the guns of the Tower. A Dutch picture was
issued wherein the victory of the French was repre-
sented at a distance, with Sir Cloudesley Shovel on
board his own ship, his hands tied behind him, one
end of the cord being held by Sir Ralph Delaval and
the other by Killegrew, to insinuate that he would
have prevented the misfortune if his colleagues had
not hindered him. When Parliament met, a public
inquiry into the disaster was demanded and granted,
and a resolution was carried in the Commons by 140
votes to 103 that the miscarriage in Lagos Bay was
due to "notorious and treacherous mismanagement."
But when it came to a question of identifying the
traitors, opinions were widely divided. Sir Ralph
Delaval and his brother-admirals were twice called
before the House arid examined, and on the last
occasion, December 6, 1693, a resolution, affirming that
by not gaining such intelligence as they might have
done of the Brest fleet before they left the squadron,
they were guilty of a high breach of the trust that
was put in them, to the great loss and dishonour of
the nation, was lost by the narrow majority of ten.
One result of these angry debates was Sir Ralph
DelavaFs retirement from the navy.
Freed from the responsibilities of active service, Sir
Ralph endeavoured to be of use to his country in
Parliament. At the general election in October, 1695,
the electors of the little Wiltshire borough of Great
Berhvin sent him to the Commons as one of their
members. In that capacity he sat in judgment upon
Sir John Fenwick, who, the following year, was
attainted of high treason. It is not known upon
which side he voted, though as his name had been
mentioned by Sir John in an exculpatory paper pre-
sented to the king, and he could obtain no satisfactory
answer respecting it from the prisoner at the bar of
the House, it may be supposed that he went with the
majority. To the next Parliament, which met in 1698,
Sir Ralph did not return. He lived in retirement for
the rest of his days. These came to an end in January,
1707, and on the 23rd of that month he was buried in
Westminster Abbey.
3oh.n
LORD DELAVAL OF BEATON DELAVAL.
Francis Blake Delaval, son of Edward Delaval, of
South Dissington, by his marriage with Mary, daughter
of Sir Francis Blake, was the heir to the property of his
uncle, Admiral George. Under his uncle's patronage he
entered the navy, and became a captain. While he was
yet a young man, the expulsion of General Forster
from the Commons, for participation in the rebellion
of 1715, created a vacancy in the representation of
Northumberland, and he was put forward to contest
the seat. His opponent was John Douglas, an attorney,
who, having made a fortune in Newcastle, had purchased
Matfen, and was ambitious of a seat in Parliament, In
June!
1890. f
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
253
the Spearman MSS. it is stated that Douglas was can-
didate on the Tory side, that it was a hard contest,
that the writer's grandfather, Philip Spearman, "carried
it for Delaval, with sixteen votes from Preston," and
that when Douglas petitioned against Delaval's return,
alleging want of fortune, ''the mansion, &c., at South
Dissington, were valued to make up £600 a year," and
enable him to retain his seat. The meaning of which
is that there was a doubt as to Captain Delaval's
qualification, for, although heir to his uncle, that
eminent diplomatist was still living, and he had pro-
bably only his captain's pay to depend upon. The
time came when he was among the best endowed of the
Delaval race. On the death of his maternal grandfather,
Sir Francis Blake, he obtained Ford Castle ; at the de-
cease of Sir John Delaval, he entered into possession
of the Seaton property, including the unfinished hall of
Admiral George ; upon the death of his father, he became
owner of South Dissington. Moreover, he had in right of
his wife (Rhoda Apreece, granddaughter of Sir Thomas
Hussey), the fertile lands of Doddington in Lincolnshire.
Parliamentary work not being much to his taste, he
retired at the dissolution in 1772, devoted himself to
the completion of Delaval Hall, and the supervision of
his wide-spreading properties, and, with the exception
of filling the office of High Sheriff in 1730, took no
further part in the public life of the county. One day
in December, 1752, he had the misfortune to fall from
his horse at Seaton Delaval and break his leg, from the
effects of which he died. Among the sons and daughters
who survived him were Francis Blake Delaval, his heir —
the "gay Lothario" whose dashing career has already
been described in volume i. of this magazine ; Rhoda,
who married Edward (afterwards Sir Edward) Astley, of
Melton Constable ; Edward Hussey, M.A. and F.R.S. :
Sarah, who became Countess of Mexborough ; Thomas,
engineer and merchant ; Anne, married to the Hon.
Sir William Stanhope, Knight of the Bath ; and John
Hussey, whose name, as Lord Delaval, forms the
heading to this article.
John Hussey Delaval, second son of Captain Delaval,
came into possession of the maternal estate of Dodding-
ton at his father's death, and, having married his cousin,
Susanna, widow of John Potter, arranged terms with his
elder brother, Sir Francis, for the acquisition of Ford
Castle. Possessing the sanguine temperament and im-
petuous ardour of his race, and desirous of achieving
distinction in Parliament, he began at an early age to
woo the adjoining constituency of Berwick. When,
therefore, in 1754, a dissolution occurred, the electors,
reviving recollections of his grandfather's representation
of the town, accepted him as a candidate. There had
been no contest for some time in Berwick, and it was
expected that the old member, Thomas Watson, and
Mr. Delaval, would have a walk over. But to the
surprise of the electors, a Londoner named John
Wilkes, a young man of twenty-seven, of whom
nobody had heard (though the whole kingdom knew
him soon after), was coming down to contest the seat,
and that he was sending round by sea a number of
Berwick electors, resident in London, to vote for him.
Wilkes came, but his voyaging voters came not. Con-
trary winds detained them (giving rise to the oft-told
legend that Wilkes shipped a batch of his opponents to-
Norway), and when they arrived, Delaval and Watson
had been elected.
At the dissolution, in 1761, the occupant of Ford Castle
did not seek re-election. The young king, George III.,
recognising his abilities and public spirit, created him a
baronet, and with his honours fresh upon him he entered
into the projects which had occasioned his retirement.
These were the rebuilding of Ford Castle, then rapidly
becoming uninhabitable, and the improvement of Seaton
Sluice, which the improvidence of his elder brother had
placed under his control. Both undertakings were com-
pleted about the same time. It fell to the lot of the first
editor of the Newcastle Chronicle to record in his first
issue (Saturday, March 24, 1764) the successful achieve-
ment of the last-named enterprise : —
The same day [Monday, March 19] the new harbour at
Hartley pans was opened for the reception of ships ; on
which account a grand entertainment wu,s given by Sir
John Hussey Delaval to a great number of gentlemen,
masters, &c. Three oxen and several sheep, with a large
quantity strong beer, were given to the workmen, &c., on
the same occasion.
These important undertakings accomplished, Sir John
resumed his political career. His successor in the repre-
sentation of Berwick died within a year of the re-opening
of Seaton Sluice, and he was restored to his old seat for
that borough. He was equally successful in retaining
the confidence of the burgesses at the election of 1768,
but at that of 1774, deserting Berwick to stand for
the Bounty, under the patronage of the Duke of
Northumberland, he was defeated. At the next elec-
tion, in 1780, his old constituents at Berwick, condoning
his temporary desertion, accepted him without a contest.
He was re-elected for the borough in 1784, as Baron
Delaval, having been the year before created an Irish
peer ; and two years later his career in the Commons
ended by his elevation to the English peerage. During
his later occupancy of a seat in the Lower House,
wavering, like other members, upon the great question
of the India Bill, he came under the lash of the writers
in the Rolliad. In that remarkable series of political
eclogues he appears as —
The Noble Convert, Berwick's honour'd choice,
That faithful echo of the people's voice.
One day to gain an Irish title glad,
For Fox he voted— so the people bade ;
'Mongst English Lords ambitious grown to sit,
Next day the people bade him vote for Pitt ;
To join the stream, our Patriot, nothing loth,
By turns discreetly gave his voice for both.
In another part of the work, a whole poem is devoted
to him, under the title of "The Delavaliad." Every
254
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{Jung
1890.
other line, and there are dozens of them, ends with his
name. Thus : —
What friend to freedom's fair-built Hall
Was louder heard than Delaval ?
Yet who the Commons' rights to maul
More stout was found than Delaval ?
'Gainst Lords and Lordlings would'st thou brawl ?
Just so did he — Sir Delaval :
Yet, on thy knees, to honours crawl
O ! so did he — Lord Delaval.
For two-and-twenty years after his elevation, Lord
Delaval enjoyed the honours pertaining to his rank
and the diversions procurable by his wealth, at his
magnificent home of Seaton Delaval, and the scarcely
less palatial residence of Ford Castle. Of the life which
he and his family lived at these places, their unbounded
hospitality, and the luxurious feasts at which they
entertained their friends, neighbours, and dependents,
the annals of the period bear ample testimony. Here
ia an account of a tenantry dinner at Ford, for example,
in October, 1787 :—
Upwards of five hundred tenants and servants belonging
to the right lion. Lord Delaval assembled at his lordship's
seat at Ford Castle, where they were entertained with the
utmost liberality ; fifty of the most seasonable dishes were
placed on each table ; a large fat ox was prepared ; and
the liquor, which was plentifully supplied, was of the very
best finality. One hundred and fifty gallons of rum,
eighty gallons of brandy, one hundred and eighty bottles
of wine, and several barrels of strong bier were drank ; one
bowl of punch contained eighteen gallons of spirits, six
stones of sugar, and forty lemons. The remaining victuals,
which weighed upwards of eighty stones, were distributed
to the poor inhabitants of the neighbourhood.
Throughout his career Lord Delaval was a man of
business, holding enlightened views of commerce and
giving practical effect to advanced ideas in agriculture.
Under the direction of his brother Thomas he carried out
the improvements at Seaton Sluice, extended his colliery
operations at Seaton Delaval. and established at Hartley
manufactories of glass and copperas. The country
around Ford, which was one continued sheep walk,
he divided, planted sheltering hedges, and clothed the
bare hills with fine plantations.
By his wife, Lady Susanna, who died shortly after his
elevation to the peerage, Lord Delaval had an only son
and six daughters. The son, his father's hope, and two of
the daughters, died young. The survivors grew up into
beautiful and accomplished women, whose high spirit
and frolicsome adventures gave to Seaton Delaval a fame
that lingers around it even yet. Sarah, her father's
favourite, married the Earl of Tyrconnel, and left an
only daughter, who became the wife of the second
Marquis of Waterford. Elizabeth was united to the
21st Baron Audley ; Sophia Anne and Frances married
commoners. In his old age, Lord Delaval took a second
wife, and when he died, May 17th, 1808, at the lordly
age of fourscore, he bequeathed to this lady .a life interest
in Ford Castle, with remainder to his granddaughter, the
Marchioness of Waterford. The entailed estates passed
to his brother, Edward Hussey Delaval, and from him to
his nephew, Sir Jacob Henry Astley, whose sou, Sir
Jacob, proved his title, in 1841, to the abeyant barony of
Hastings.
e,l)tmus pcluul,
MERCHANT, ENGINEER, AND POLITICIAN.
While Sir Francis Blake Delaval was spending the
fortune which his ancestors had left him, and Sir John
Hussey Delaval was making his way to a baronetcy and
the peerage, two younger brothers— Edward and Thomas
— were gaining honourable positions in wholly different
directions. Edward became engrossed in science and
philosophy ; Thomas cultivated a passion for industrial
and mechanical pursuits ; both of them achieved distinc-
tion in their respective branches of study.
Thomas Delaval, who married a lady of fortune —
Cecilia Watson, of London — began life as a merchant
in Hamburg. In that famous town he was able to
combine commercial speculation with the pursuits of
his youth, and to interest himself in the progress of
mechanics, navigation, and manufactures. When Sir
John Hussey Delaval acquired from his elder brother
Francis the control of the family property, Thomas
returned from Germany to develop the natural resources
o£ the Seaton estate. It was he who planned the new
entrance to the harbour of Seaton Sluice, introduced the
manufacture of glass, and constructed floors and crystal-
lising cisterns for the extraction of copperas from the
pyrites of the coal measures. In no long time after his
return, visitors who participated in festivities at Seaton
Delaval saw the little harbour of Seaton Sluice filled with
ships, the fishing village of Hartley thronged by glass-
workers and copperas-boilers, the Delaval pits working at
full stretch, the whole estate surrounded by a thriving
industrial community.
In the midst of all these commercial activities, Thomas
Delaval had the misfortune to be drawn into politics.
Under what inducements he entered that arena of
rancour and bitterness Mr. Clephan has told us in an
article which links Marat's " Chains of Slavery " to the
political history of Tyneside. . (See vol. i., p. -49.) Let
it suffice here to state that the Hon. Constantine John
Phipps and he were the candidates chosen by the
" independent " burgesses to contest the representation
of Newcastle against Sir Walter Blackett and Sir
Matthew White Ridley. It was a hopeless struggle
from the first. Mr. Phipps was a stranger ; Mr. Delaval
was untried, and, politically, unknown. The only man
of influence on the "independent" side was the Rev.
James Murray. His trenchant pen was employed for
them in The Freemen's Magazine, a monthly publica-
tion which he issued between May and October, when
the poll was taken. On the eve of the election he came
out with a slashing pamphlet of forty pages, entitled
"The Contest," bearing as its motto the proverb "Give
the devil his due." But theirs was a party which, as was
bitterly remarked by one of themselves in a later publica-
Jnne\
1896. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
255
tion, "had not in it one lord, one baronet, one knight, one
magistrate, one councillor, one placeman, and, the reader
may be sure then, not one bishop, dean, priest, or deacon,"
When the poll was taken, Sir Walter Blackett stood at
the top with 1,432 votes, and Mr. Delaval at the bottom
with 677.
Once again Mr. Delaval, who is described as of
Clapham, near London, was induced to try his fortune
at a parliamentary contest in Newcastle. He allowed
the by-election of 1777 (occasioned by the. death of Sir
Walter Blackett) to be fought out between Sir Walter's
nephew, Sir John Trevelyan, and the adventurer, Stoney
Bowes. But at the general election in 1780 he suffered
himself to be nominated against Bowes and Sir Matthew
White Ridley, and was again beaten. No more is heard
of him in local affairs. It is supposed that he retired to
his home at Clapham, where he would be able to share,
for the rest of his life, the congenial society of his brother
Edward. He died in 1787, aged bb years.
(Dbtoart)
pclaoal,
THE LAST OF THE DELAVAL RACE.
Sir Francis Blake Delaval died in 1771 ; Thomas
Delaval, as we have just seen, passed away in 1787 ;
after the death of the latter there remained but two
of the four celebrated brothers Delaval — John Hussey
the peer, and Edward Hussey the philosopher.
Edward Hussey Delaval was born in 1729, and from
early youth devoted himself to a life of study and
scientific experiment. He matriculated at Cambridge,
where he took the degree of M. A., and became a
fellow of Pembroke Hall. Distinguishing himself in
chemistry and experimental philosophy, he was elected
in 1759 a member of the Royal Society, to the
transactions of which learned body he contributed,
from time to time, the results of his researches and
investigations. His first paper, read to the Society in
1764, described the effects of lightning upon St. Bride's
Church, Fleet Street, London ; his next, contributed the
following year, and rewarded with the Society's gold
medal, detailed the result of elaborate experiments
which he had undertaken with the object of proving
the applicability of Newton's optical theories to
permanently coloured bodies, and demonstrating the
agreement between specific gravities of metals and their
colours when united to glass. About this time he was
associated with Benjamin Franklin in the study of
electrical phenomena, and as members of a committee
appointed by the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's to
report upon the best means of preserving the Cathedral
from lightning. In 1775, in conjunction with Benjamin
Wilson, painter and electrician, he conducted a series of
experiments upon phosphorus, and the colours produced
by it in the dark. Developing still further his theories
regarding colour, he published in 1777 a quarto volume,
which ran into a second edition, upon the cause of the
changes in opaque and coloured bodies. Later on he
wrote a treatise upon another branch of the inquiry—
the cause of permanent colours in opaque objects, which,
being read to the Manchester Literary and Philosophical
Society, procured for him the honour of that society's
gold medal. Among his lesser undertakings were the
construction of a set of musical glasses, till then
unknown in England, the extraction of fluor from
glass, the making of artificial gems, and the manufac-
ture of artificial stone.
Mr. Delaval did not participate to any great extent
in the gaieties of his brothers at Seaton Delava1,. He
made the Metropolis his home, and his friendships and
connections were among men of a different order. His
"neat Gothic house in Parliament Place" was a resort
of the leading scientists of the day. The poets Mason
and (Iray were his familiar friends ; nor were other
literary companions wanting, for he was a sound clas-
sical scholar, conversant with several modern tongues,
and an accurate judge of music and art. Abroad his
experiments and discoveries were highly appreciated.
Several of his productions were translated into French
and Italian ; he corresponded with some of the chief
investigators and students of philosophy on the Con-
tinent ; he received the unsolicited honour of election
as a member of the Royal Societies of Gottingen and
TJpsalu, and the Institute of Bologna.
Upon the death of his brother, the peer, the entailed
estates of the family cauie into Mr. Delaval's possession.
Being then seventy-nine years of age, and having passed
his life among totally different surroundings, he was un-
willing to exchange his home and its treasures for the
magnificent abode of his predecessors. He maintained
the reputation of the family for charity to the poor and
benevolence to local institutions, subscribed forty pounds
to the Newcastle Society of Antiquaries, and accepted
the position of an honorary member, but, although his
tenure of the property lasted six years, to Northumber-
land he came nevermore. He was the last of his race,
and when he died, on the 14th of August, 1814, aged 85,
the great local family whose name he bore practically
ceased to exist. In a few years after his death, little
remained but the record of their lives and characters to
attest their former magnificence. Their estates passed
into the hands of others— relatives, but strangers; the
harbour of Seaton Sluice went to decay ; the industries
of Hartley died out ; and a devastating tire brought
ruin to
"The hall
Of lofty Seaton Delaval."
256
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
fjn
tlS:
GTfte iicrturd ^HttoVum st
itartf Castle.
R. E. Y. WESTERN, the sole acting executor
under the will of the late Mr. John Bowes,
of Streatlam Castle, thus explains the origin
of the Bowes Museum at Barnard Castle : —
The late Mr. Bowes and his first wife, the Countess of
Montalbo, when they formed the idea of founding a
musuem, did not originally propose to locate it at Barnard
Castle. Their first idea was to place it at Calais, within
the Countess of Montalbo's own country, and yet looking
towards England, Mr. Bowes's country. They abandoned
this idea from a consideration of the permanently un-
settled state of politics in France. They thought there
was less chance of revolutions occurring in England than
in France, in which the works of art might be injured.
About the year 1865, proceeds Mr. Western, they began
to buy land for this purpose. But they were several years
maturing their plans, and it was not until about 1872 that
the building of the museum really commenced. Mr. Jos.
Kyle was the builder, and Monsieur Jules Pellichet, of
Paris, and the late Mr. J. E. Watson, of Newcastle, were
joint architects. So long as the prosperity of the coal
trade lasted the building proceeded apace. When the
prosperity had departed, the rate of progress of the build-
ing slackened, and, about 1882, ceased altogether.
The Countess of Montalbo died on February 9, 1874.
Her will and the codicil to it are the documents which
founded the museum and gave this princely gift to the
inhabitants of Barnard Castle and the world. What she
and her husband spent upon it can never be known, as
imperfect records only exist of the details of their pur-
chases of the works of art which are now in the museum.
On the purchase of land and on the building of the
museum and laying out of the park they spent from first
to last something over £100,000.
Mr. Bowes died on Oct. 9, 1885. He left his affairs, un-
fortunately, in a state of considerable complication. By
his will he bequeathed legacies to the amount of £135,000
to the museum. But of course debts had to be paid before
the legacies, and Mr Bowss himself had bequeathed a
large number of other legacies which he directed to be
paid before the legacies to the museum. Immediately
after Mr. Bowes's death, the surviving trustees of the
Bowes Museum met to consider the situation. They
found themselves in possession of an incomplete building,
with contents of an enormous value, but without any
funds.
The Countess had bequeathed the land and a large
quantity of works of art, but she left no money. Mr.
Bowes had spent money on the place, and had presented
to it works of art, but he had not in his lifetime trans-
ferred to it any money. What the trustees did was, first,
to dismiss several of the employees and generally to reduce
the expense of maintenance as low as possible, consis-
tently with the protection and preservation of the pro-
perty. Secondly, the trustees resolved to temporise until
it should be seen how Mr. Bowes's estate was likely to
turn out. The funds necessary for this interim mainte-
nance the trustees provided partly by advancing it out ot
their own resources and partly by borrowing on their
personal responsibility from bankers. The Countess of
Montalbo had not foreseen or provided by her will for
the position of affairs which had occurred. Tne trustees,
therefore, in May, 1887, applied to the Charity Com-
missioners for help under the statutory powers. The case
put forward by the trustees to the Commissioners was, in
substance, this :— That the museum ought to be kept
together, and ought not to be broken up so long as a pros-
pect remained of receiving the legacies under Mr. Bowes's
will ; that this could not be done without money ; and
that the obvious and only feasible plan for providing the
June!
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
257
money needed for this interim maintenance of the museum
was to borrow on mortgage of the land and building?.
The Commissioners ultimately assented to this view, and
granted to the trustees the scheme dated 8th of November,
1889.
The museum to this hour remains in an incomplete
state, with an income of no more than £50 a-year to keep
it from falling into decay.
The building is erected in the style of the French Re-
naissance, the design being copied from the Palace of
the Tuilleries, which was destroyed by the Paris Com-
munists. The south, or principal front, is 300 feet in
length ; the east and west wings are each 130 feet in
length. The basement and top floors are set apart for
residential purposes. In the rooms on the first floor
are collections of pottery, porcelain, glass, carved
ivory, crystals, &c. On the second floor, the rooms
in the west wing form the library. The picture gal-
lery consists of a suite of magnificent rooms, the entire
length being two hundred and four feet, and the width
fifty-four feet. In these rooms are about a thousand
religious, allegorical, and other pictures by foreign
artists, including specimens by Murillo, Fra Angelico,
Baron Gros, &c., besides works by Sir Joshua Reynolds,
Hogarth, and modern painters.
Although the museum has not yet been opened to the
public, the trustees have arranged that small parties of
not more than six persons may be admitted on three
days in each week, viz., Mondays, Wednesdays, and
Fridays, upon production of an order which must have
been previously obtained from the curator, Mr. Owen
Stanley Scott.
flcta Cftuvrft J^chmrtrf, f?eto=
rattle.
|]HE accompanying illustration represents the
new premises of the Newcastle branch of
the Church Schools Company (Limited),
which were opened by Miss Gladstone, daughter of the
Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, on Saturday, May 3.
The new schools, which have been erected in Tankerville
Terrace, Jesmond, are arranged to accommodate some
300 girls. Executed in red bricks, with deep red brick
mouldings and slated roofs, the new building in design
and general grouping presents a pleasing and picturesque
appearance. The schools were designed by Messrs. Oliver
and Leeson, architects, of Newcastle, under whose super-
intendence they have been built.
rrf
tocrrtft
th.e late games
JIO the long and lengthening roll of the pub-
lications of the Surtees Society, which
worthily keeps alive the memory of the
historian of the county palatine of Durham,
there was added in 1879, " Selections from the Household
Books of the Lord William Howard of Naworth Castle ;
with an Appendix, containing some of his Papers and
258
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
. 1890.
Letters, and other Documents illustrative of bis Life and
Times." It throws a flood of light on English history.
If it takes something away from treasured traditions,
it makes ample amends for the loss ; and venerable
myths may willingly be let die, when the void is so well
supplied by charming pictures of actual life and manners.
In place of the legendary Belted Will, we have the his-
toric Baron of Gilslund. " Tradition," observes the Rev.
George Ornsby (who ably edits the volume), " presents
him to our view in a picturesque and romantic aspect,
and additional vitality has been sriven to them by the
graphic portrait which Sir Walter Scott has drawn, in his
' Lay of the Last Minstrel ' (1805), of the outward garb
and the gallant bearing of the Lord William Howard as
Lord Warden of the Marches, though for purposes of
his story the poet antedated his existence, and assigned
to him an office which in reality he never filled."
The Household Books, beginning in 1612, and extending
(with some breaks) to 1640, show with what liberal thrift
the days of Lord William Howard and his dame flowed
past. Kindly were my lord and lady, simple their sway,
careful the housewifery of the gentle mistress of Naworth,
and generous the welcome of her guests. Pray you, good
reader, turn over the leaves so serviceably annotated for
your instruction by Mr. Ornsby, and frame for yourself a
gallery of pictures of family life in the reigns of King
James and his son Charles.
Naworth resorted largely to Newcastle for commodities
of all kinds. To fair and market, to shop and warehouse,
came the purchasers from the castle. At Lammas fair
" lawne for my Lady " was got ; and at St. Luke's, " new
English hoppes." In 1624, " My charges and Tho. Hes-
ket's and 2 others at Newcastle, x. Maij, going to buy my
Ladye's gown, etc., et spices, xxvij.s." In 1625, consider-
able quantities of wine were furnished by Leonard Carr,
as to whom Bourne's History of Newcastle is quoted in
a foot-note. A merchant and an alderman, Carr did not
forget the poor in his prosperity and promotion, and in
death left them £5 yearly charged upon houses in the
Butcher Bank, where he lived. "He was.au alder-
man of the town before the Rebellion, and turned out
by the rebels." In the Calendar of State Papers he
occurs in connection with an inquiry of 164-0 (the year
of the rout of Newburn and occupation of Newcastle
by the Scots). Certain visitors to the Tyne, lodging at
Leonard Carr's inn, the Nag's Head (where Printing
Court Buildings now stand), fell under the suspicion of
the authorities, who feared they meant mischief to the
party in power.
"Pottles of ynck " were obtained from Newcastle, with
more bulky wares. To Newburn, " a sort of inland port
for vessels of small burthen," the " heavier goods appear
to have frequently been sent by water, and thence by
land carriage to Naworth." Thus—" Botehire of trees to
Newburne, and postage, ij.s." " Carriage of ij. cart loades
of fish from Newburne, xxi.s."
From the east coast came large quantities of fish.
"Cockells" and "wilkes" were consumed. "Aporpos
and a seale " figure at a charge of 6s. 4d. " Sea pads "
(star fish) did not come wrong. Among birds were "sea
larkes " (the ring dotterel or ring plover), " heronshawes, "
"throssells," "ringdowes," "black birds," cormorants,
&c., &c. " 2 curlues and 12 sea-larkes " are entered as
costing 2s. 4d.
The "Tho. Hesket" mentioned above, was he not the
same who occurs in 1621 ? " June 10, to Mr. Heskett,
for mending my Lord's closett, gilding a bedstead, draw-
ing Mrs. Elizabeth and Mrs. Marye's pictures, and Mr.
Thomas's, x.l." With gifts so varied, he must have been
a valuable member of the Border household.
Our forefathers were greatly dependent on salted food.
Stores of salt fish were laid iu, and much salt was
bought. In ten months of 1629, 76 pecks of salt, and two
bushels, with als:> "salt for Corbye," appear iu the ac-
counts. The total sum, for salt and fish, was £66 5s. 4d.
The writer — and some of his older readers born before
friction lucifers — acquired in their youth the art and
mystery of making and using tinder. The tinder-box
was various in form and material. There was the cir-
cular box of metal, with its lid or damper. On the lid
slumbered through the day the flint and steel, ready for
their work at night and morning. There was also the
oblong box of wood, with at one end the receptacle for
tinder, and ac the other a place for the flint, steel, brim-
stone matches, &c. To make good tinder and strike a
quick spark, required the skill of an expert ; and on a
cold winter's morning much time was often lost before a
light was won. The tinder-box — where, is it now?
"Snuffers" may still be seen, if almost obsolete ; but
which of us has, for many a year, looked upon a tinder-
box? At Naworth Castle they were familiar things —
necessaries of life, and iu daily use. " 2 tynder boxeis
and 4 dooters, xxij.s."
We see by the Household Books the inmates of the
Castle in their very habits as they lived, from top to toe.
Their stockings were of various kinds. There were
"white kersey stockins for Mr. Thomas." My Lady
had stockings made of "Devonshire kersey." "A yard
of fustian " (a finer sort of fabric than now goes by the
name) was bought for my Lord's ; and an item occurs for
the " scouring " of it. His lordship and others had also
stockings of silk and of worsted. There was " cloth for
W. Smith's stockins." My Lady had stockings " dyed,"
and my Lord's were "soled." "Dankester stockins"
were worn at Naworth ; for Doncaster was then, and for
generations afterwards, famous for hose.
"A pair of cardes, iiij.d.," occurs in the accounts.
Were these playing cards ? What we now call a " pack,"
was commonly enough called a " pair " in former days,
when a " pair of drawers " and a " pair of stairs " were
phrases in frequent use, and St. John's Church in New-
castle had "a pair of organs." Card -play ing was a com-
June\
1890./
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND. LEGEND.
259
mon pastime in the leisure hours enjoyed at Naworth by
the active lady of the household ; with also "tabells,"by
which we must understand, as Mr. Ornsby remarks,
draughts and backgammon. Embroidering diversified the
family pursuits. The children had their football ; and
saw and heard, in common with their seniors, the tra-
velling dancers and actors, the jugglers, the pipers and
fiddlers. Welcome were the wandering musicians from
far and near. If fish came from Hartlepool, fiddlers
came from places still more remote. There were waits
from Ripon and Doncaster, Penrith and Richmond,
Carlisle and Darneton. Sir Henry Curwen's waits made
their way to Naworth. A cornetter, and " a piper that
came out of Lankyshire," had each 2s. The ''musician
sent from Mrs. Taylor " got a pound. Mrs. Mary had
half-a-crown "to give unto 2 fidlers." Nor was music
the only commodity brought to the gates of Naworth
Castle for a market. Utilities of sundry kinds came in
the pedlar's pack ; and Lady Howard inspected his wares,
and made her purchases. " Pins bought at the gate,
xij.d." "Bobbing lace bought at the gate, ij.s." "For
ribben bought at the gate for my Lady and Mrs. Mary,
iiij.s. vj.d."
1629. December 5, "For carrijnge a cradle for Mr.
Thos. Howard's wife, and trenchers, to Corbye from
Morpeth, v.s." — "For bringing a horse-load of trenchers
from Morpeth, v.s." The "trencher" (whence the old
adage, " a good trencherman ") kept the cunning work-
men employed in the good old times — times in which the
platter might fall on the floor and be picked up unbroken.
"Boldon Buke " gives us a glimpse of the manufacture of
the wooden plates of our forefathers in the twelfth cen-
tury. In Wolsingham there were three turners, holding
seventeen acres of land, " and they render three thousand
one hundred trenchers, and make four precations (boon
days of the tenant co his lord), and assist in mowing the
meadows and making the hay. " The scythe, the hayfork,
and the lathe were equally at home in their hands ; and,
doubtless, with full trenchers of their own turning before
them, they could valiantly empty their handiwork.
Mithridate was in great favour among our forefathers,
For " an ounce of mithridate at Penrith " 2s. was paid
on the 18th of October, 1612. It could cure more diseases
than the doctor of the sword dancers. Mr. Ornsby quotes
William Turner, Doctor of Physic, who flourished in the
seventeenth century, and from whom we learn the universal
virtues of mithridate. Nothing came wrong to it, from
"the stopping of the liver," to " gathering together of
melancholy," and "dnlness of the eyesight." "All
deadly poison " found in it an antidote. Its merits were
so proverbial that a letter-writer of the period, alluding
to some event which had happened to him, describes it as
"medridate to his hart." There is a tradition that the
royal inventor of the drug, wishing in advanced age to
poison himself, discovered that he was so satuarated with
his own safeguard that he could not succeed !
" Travelling," as Mr. Ornsby observes, " was a tedious
and costly affair in those days. The expenses of my
Lord's journeys to London will be found duly entered.
The route was by way of Bowes. The road over Stane-
rnoor was doubtless rugged enough, but it was passable
for wheeled carriages. On one occasion, Sir Francis
Howard, ' beinge sick, ' hired a coach for his journey from
London to Bowes, which cost £18. At the latter place,
my Lord's coach met him, and brought him home. It
seems to have been a usual thing to send the coach
some distance to meet members of the family who
were on their way to Naworth. It was sent (in the
summer of 1633) as far as Ferrybridge, to meet Mr.
Thomas Bedingfield (grandson of Lord William) and
his wife ; and several years previously, an entry tells
us that it went as far as Appleby to meet Mrs.
Howard. Lord William's journeys to London were
always taken on horseback, and he was generally
ten or eleven days on the road ; the travelling ex-
penses varying according to the number of his retinue
and the direction of the route taken. A journey by way
of Shiffnal and Lydney occupied eleven days, and cost
£30 17s. Id. ; whilst the expenses of another, from Thorn-
thwaite to London, with twenty-four men and twelve
horses in his train, came to £20 15s. 4d. Other entries
give leaser amounts. The mention of a coach occurs in
the earliest of the Household Books ; and it appears to
have been always in use, though evidently at times under
difficulties, as when we find an item for 'hewing a way
for the coach beyond Gelt Bridge.' A coach and four
horses, bought in 1624, cost £30. When my Lady went
to pay formal visits to Rose Castle, or some other great
mansion, she doubtless went in her coach in all due state ;
but on other occasions it is more than probable that she
preferred the less dignified (but also less jolting) mode of
locomotion called double-horse. The mention of her
'double gelding,' and of the 'mending of my Ladye's
pileon cloth,' shows that it was a way of moving about
which was frequently adopted."
"To Ch. Eliot," May 8, 1613, "for watching the or-
chard for deare." Items of this kind besprinkle the
accounts, pointing to a difficulty in the olden time which
has not descended to the present day. Where there was
space and shelter for deer, and large herds roamed over
the open country, neighbouring inhabitants suffered from
their depredations. The editor quotes from the manu-
scripts of the Yorkshire antiquary, Abraham de la Pryme
(born in 1671), an account derived from informants who re-
membered Hatfield Chase in all its wildness, of the watch
and ward that was needed before Vermuyden brought it
into cultivation. At certain times of the year, the deer
" were commonly so unruly that they almost ruined the
country; for great numbers of people were constantly
set, night and day, to tent the fields and closes of corn at
different posts one from another, with horns in their
hands to sound when they perceived any, and cur dogs to
260
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I Jim.;
1890.
fright them away, or else, if they had not done this,
their whole crop would have been immediately destroyed
and trodden down and spoiled by the vast numbers of
these creatures that were always ready to break in if they
were not prevented ; and it was a common thing every
year to hear that the deer had destroyed one body's crop
or other, and sometimes many people's at one time, so
that there was not a few of the inhabitants of their town
(Hatfield) especially, and some others, that refrain from
sowing their grounds and closes, for no other reason than
the great trouble they were put to in keeping them, if
they could, from the ingress of the deer."
The sleuth hound was in use on the Borders for track-
ing fugitives. Lord William Howard was paying 3s.
" for a slue-dog " in the reign of James the First ; and in
the time of Elizabeth (1593), the town-purse of Newcastle
disbursed 5s. "for a sloo-hound aud a man who led him."
Chester-le-Street and Denton had' in those days blood-
hounds for hire ; and there, probably, they were bred for
the catching of men.
An item occurs, April 27, 1629, "To the collectors
within the parish of St. Clement's, for assessment for
makinge stocks, sockhouses, cuckinge stooles, and other
thinges, for correction of rouges and malefactors, x.s."
In 1467, when the Mayor of Leicester was commanding,
in the King's behalf, that no butcher should kill a bull,
on pain of forfeiture, unless it first were baited, he was
also ordaining that all manner of scolds were to be pun-
ished on a cuckstool before their doors, and carried forth
to the four gates of the town. This ancient implement of
correction, which assumed many forms aud was applied
in divers modes, existed in the land prior to the Con-
quest— an evidence of the state of civilization to which
England had attained without Norman assistance ! The
parish of St. Mary's, Gateshead, was fined 6s. 8d. in 1627
for having no ducking-stool ; and one was provided in
1628 at a cost of 12s.
The plague, which prevailed when James the First
came to the -English Crown, was still wasting the nation
when he was gone. October 5, 1625, at Naworth, there
was "given to my Lady for the poor at Sir Francis'
Ladye's funerall, iij.l." Lady Francis Howard had died
of the plague on the 7th of September. On the 10th,
Henry Lord Clifford wrote to Secretary Conway from
Appleby Castle: — "The plague is gotten into my Lord
William Howarde's house, and the first that died of it was
Sir Francis Howarde's lady, who tooke the infection from
a new gowne she had from London, soe as she dyed the
same day she tooke it, whereupon they are all dispersed
most miserably, with the greatest terror in the worlde,
since they had all beene with the lady, and all in danger
by that meanea. God knowes it is a most lamentable acci-
dent, and worthy of the tenders! pytty, to have all his
children and grandchildren in this aparant danger, and
the lady of Sir William Howards, the hope of his house
(beeinge his heyer), greate with childe." In May, 1629,
we have Lord William caring for poor plague-stricken
people in London: — "To a house in Bluinsberrie, neare
Houlborne, infected with the plague, xx.s." "For Lon-
don treacle and figgs for a house in Bluinsberrie which is
infected with the plague, vij.a. ij.d." Smitten house-
holds, sealed up in their homes, and shut off from the
world without, would have the strongest claims on the
sympathies of the wealthy and benevolent.
Frequent are the entries of expenditure over measurers
of time. Not only had William Howard clocks and
watches and sun-dials, but himself constructed the
shadow clock. Some shillings were laid out in 1629 for a
treatise on dialling ; and one or two of the most ancient
of chronometers were in the course of the year quarried
out of his lordship's land : — " To William Ridley, for one
day at the quarry making a stone for a diall, xij.d."
"To William Ridley for iij. dayes at the diall and one at
the pond, iij.s." " For ij. gnomons for 2 dialls, v.s."
Gifts have always been current among mankind ; and
the rarer the more acceptable. When sugar-loaves were
not easy to be had, the ancient Corporation of Newcastle
presented them, with measures of wine, to distinguished
strangers. In 1633, "my Ladie Lampleugh's manne "
brought "2 sugar loafes " to Naworth, and had five shil-
lings as a gratuity. The offering was of frequent occur-
rence in former times. "In Burnett's Life of Sir Mat-
thew Hale," as Mr. Ornsby reminds us, "there is men-
tion made of the Dean and Chapter of Salisbury having,
according to the custom, presented the judge with six
sugar loaves on his arrival at that city in the course of his
circuit."
In the month of May, 1623, Lord William Howard
made an excursion to the Continent, the cost of which is
given in detail : —
From London to Callis, and fees, and a bark to
Callis £10 I 6
For fees at landing at Callis, and on[el night's
charges ' 4- 12 8
Rewards aud extreordenaries in the jurnie from
Spawe from Callis 16 7 0
Chargeis from Callis to Spawe in June 23 9 6
For 2 carrebins at Ledgs [Liege] 24-6
Dyett at Spawe for 40 days 29 5 6
For chambers, lining [linen], and firinge 666
Rewards, nessesareis and extreordenans 24 3 2
Stable and hors chargeis 10 Oil
Chargeis from Spawe to Dunkirke 19 7 0
At Dunkirke six neights, dyett and stable 9 18 4
Rewards and nessessaries and extreordiuareis by
the way in travell from Spawe 11 2 2
For wyne in tune [tun], and bedding and vittals
to the shipe 27 7 3
Chargeis, and shiping and ship hire, from Spawe
to Newcastell and to Naward 18 1 5
Casting up these items, they make a total of £212 9s. lid.
as the cost of a nobleman's trip to Spa, in the reign of
King James, with his companions and attendants.
In the summer of 1624, a shilling had been expended
on "slings and a home book." There were "horn
books " for the children, and " wax books " for the
seniors. The Romans, who flourished centuries before
the rise of the BrStish Constitution, had their "tablets " ;
.Innol
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND
261
and they lingered in English use beyond the days of
Gunpowder Plot. A leaf of the Roman note book re-
sembled the modern slate of the schoolboy, with its raised
frame. The hollow was filled with wax, levelled over,
and characters were traced on the surface with a pointed
implement — a pencil or style. The leaves, thus written
upon, could be preserved, if required, and kept together
as a book. Such conveniences for notes or memoranda
were in vogue on the Borders when King James came
into England ; and the scholarly peer of Naworth
Castle had one at his elbow for daily service: — "Fora
waxe book for my Lord, vij.d." Another, of a superior
sort, with probably a greater number of leaves, appears
in the accounts at a charge of half-a-crown.
Lord William Howard lived down to a period in which
men's minds were sorely exercised by public events. A
war of opinion was on foot. The Monarchy was in peril.
The Royalists had been routed at Newburn-on-the-Tyne
only some few weeks prior to his lordship's death. This
encounter occurred on the 28th of August, 1640. On the
30th, there was paid 5s. "to James Drydon, bringinge
intelligence of the Scotts armie." Who could tell how
severely the Covenanting invasion might affect the Lord
of Gilsland? He and his household must have been filled
with anxiety, and impressed with the necessity of prepara-
tion. On the day when Dryden brought his news, " John
Litle" was " bringing cloth, fustian, and other necessaries
for sutes for my Lord's 4- light horsemenne, bought by
Sir Francis Howarde at Penreth." September 1, "to
Thomas Cragg (the gardener) for his charges going to
Newcastle toviewe the Scotts armie, x.s." September 8,
" to a manne bringing letters from Morpeth, iiij.s." Sep-
tember 18, " to Andrew Pott for bringing intelligence
from Morpeth of the Scotts, x.s." The strong man's
powers were now failing. September 22, removing to
Corby, he must have the easy motion of a litter. " Tho.
Baitie, for waitinge up on the litter, 5 days," had 4s. on
the 26th of September. On the 23rd, his lordship passed
on to Greystoke. He was now far advanced in the 77th
year of his age ; his hours were numbered ; at Greystoke
he died on the 7th of October ; and within two or three
lines of the entry relating to Andrew Pott, we come to
his master's burial.
SC a&untatt ftrafolier in tit*
Urn-tit
JOPE PIUS II. (^Eneas Sylvius Piccolomini)
was born in 1405 at Consignano, Italy. Even
his childhood was eventful. His later life
was full of startling incidents. At the age
of thirty we find him the private secretary of the Bishop
of Santa Croce, a trusted servant, whom his master can
safely employ in any secret service. He is sent to the
court of Scotland, his mission being to reinstate a certain
prelate in the favour of the Scottish king.
^Eneas proceeded first to Calais. There he fell into the
hands of the English, who, suspicious of the object of his
journey, would neither permit him to cross the Channel
nor to return homeward. Fortunately, at this juncture,
the Cardinal of Winchester arrived on the scene, and, by
his intercession, ^Eneas obtained permission to embark.
Arrived in the English capital, he found it impossible to
procure letters of safe conduct. He saw, however, the
sights of London, including the splendid tombs of the
kings in Westminster Abbey and the old house-fringed
London Bridge, itself, he says, "like a city." He visited
a village where men were said to be born with tails !
Canterbury, and the tomb of St. Thomas a Becket,
covered with such costly offerings as lay on no other
shrine in Europe, kindled his admiration.
Disappointed in his intention to travel from London by
land to Scotland, ^Eneas took ship for Flanders. From
Bruges he proceeded to Sluys, where he once more em-
barked. The voyage was most tempestuous. The ship
was first driven towards the coast of Norway, and en-
countered two terrible storms, one of which continued
fourteen hours, and the other two nights and a day. -The
vessel was carried so far north that the mariners did not
recognise the stars. On the twelfth day the wind fortu-
nately changed, and JEneas landed on the coast of Scot-
land. In gratitude for his safe deliverance from the
perils of the ocean, he, so soon as he had set foot on dry
land, set out barefoot on a pilgrimage to the famed shrine
of St. Mary at Whitekirk, in East Lothian. It was mid-
winter ; the ground was covered with ice, and the dis-
tance to be traversed no less than ten miles. ^Eneas
offered his devotions ; but when he rose from his knees, he
was so benumbed with cold that he could scarcely move.
He was half carried, half led from the place. The pil-
grimage, he ever afterwards believed, was the cause of
pains which at times racked his joints to the very end of
his life.
On his way to Edinburgh he saw, for the first time in
his life, that marvellous substance known as coal. To
him it was miraculous, and he speaks with amazement of
seeing the poor, half naked beggars at the doors of
the churches receiving with undisguised joy what seemed
to him to be only pieces of black stone. "This kind of
stone," he says, "impregnated with matter which is
either surphurous or fatty, they burn in place of wood,
of which that district is destitute." The Scottish king
received our ambassador with every mark of favour, and
the request he came to prefer was granted. James gene-
rously paid his expenses, and gave him fifty nobles and two
palfreys for his homeward journey, besides a costly pearl
which .<Eneas sent to his mother.
Our traveller informs us that Scotland is an island, two
hundred miles in length and fifty in breadth, and divided
from England by two narrow rivers and a range of lofty
262
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{June
1890.
hills. It is, he says, a cold, bleak, wild country, producing
little corn, almost without wood, but yielding a
sulphurous stone which is dug out of the ground for fuel.
The cities had no walls. The houses were usually built
without mortar. In the towns they were roofed with
turf, and in the country an ox-hide served for a door.
The common people were poor and rude. They had
abundance of flesh and fish, but wheaten bread was only
occasionally eaten as a delicacy. The men, he says, are
small in stature, but bold ; the women of fair complexion,
good looking, and affectionate, kissing in Scotland being
considered of less account than shaking hands in Italy.
There was no wine but what was imported. The horses,
diminutive ambling nags, were uncurried, uncombed, and
unbridled. The Scottish oysters were larger than the
English ones. The exports of the country were hides,
wool, salted fish, and pearls, all of which were sent to
Flanders. The one thing that most thoroughly delighted
the Scots was to hear the English abused. Scotland
might, thought .-Eneas, be described as two countries, the
one cultivated, the other wild, where corn was not grown,
where the people spoke another language and sometimes
lived on the bark of trees. In mid-winter, the time when
./Eneas was in Scotland, the days were only four hours
long. He was told of a tree, which grew by river banks,
whereof the fruit resembled geese. If the fruit fell on
land, it rotted away ; if it fell into the water, it at once
acquired life and feathers and wings, and swam as if upon
its native element and even flew through the air. The
traveller naturally wished to see this marvellous tree, but
was told it no longer grew in Scotland, and could only be
found in the Orkney Isles.
When the time came for JEneas to return, he was not
willing again to brave the dangers of the North Sea. He
would, at all hazards, travel by land. The risk of a
journey through England was great, but he would take
any chance rather than again trust himself to the mercy
of Neptune. His decision, if not wise, was fortunate.
The ship in which he was to have embarked foundered at
the mouth of the haven. The captain, who was return-
ing to Flanders to be married, and all the passengers and
crew, were drowned within sight of shore.
-•Eneas left Scotland disguised as a merchant. He
passed over the stream which divides the two countries
in a boat. The name of the stream he does not mention,
but says it descended from a high mountain. It can
scarcely have been other than the Tweed. As the sun
went down, he came to a large village, and entered a
peasant's house, where he took his supper in company with
the priest of the place and his host. Abundance of broth
and fowls and geese was set before him, but there was
neither wine nor bread. All the villagers, both womeu
and men, crowded to see him, staring at him with amaze-
ment, just as the Italians would state at an Ethiopian
or an Indian. "Who is he? Where does he come from ?
Is he a Christian ?" they asked the priest. ..Eneas, know-
ing the nature of the country through which he had to
travel, had provided himself, from the stores of a certain
monastery, with bread and red wine. These things were
no sooner placed on the table than they excited the
amazement of the rustics, who had never seen wine or
white bread before. The women and their husbands
came nearer to the table, handled the bread, smelled the
wine, and begged for some of both, ^neas found it
necessary to give away all he had. The supper continued
till the second hour of the night, when the priest and the
host, with his sons and all the men, left .(Eneas, saying
they must betake themselves to a certain tower a con-
siderable distance away, for fear of the Scots, who
were accustomed, when the tide went down in the
night, to come over the river and plunder. The
traveller made urgent but fruitless requests to be
allowed to accompany them. Neither did they take
with them any of their women, although many of them
were young girls and blooming matrons, for, they
thought, their enemies would do them no harm.
They regarded female virtue as a thing of no moment.
.iEneas, therefore, remained with two servants and a guide
amongst a hundred women, who formed themselves into a
circle round the fire, and spent the night in carding hemp,
and talking with his interpreter. But after a great part
of the night had passed, there was a loud -noise of dogs
barking and geese cackling. The women ran off in various
directions, and the guide followed them. There was as
great a tumult as if the enemy had really come. ^Eneas
determined to lie still in his chamber — which was a
stable — and await the event, lest, if he took flight in a
region of which he knew nothing, he should only run into
danger, and be robbed by the first man he met. Before
long the women with the interpreter returned, declaring
that there was nothing to fear, for that friends, and not
enemies, had arrived.
With daybreak the traveller resumed his journey, and
in due time reached Newcastle, "which, "says he, "they
say is the work of Caesar. " Such a tradition, one would
think, could only have originated in the presence of very
considerable visible evidences of the Roman occupation of
Newcastle. So completely, in our century, have such
evidences disappeared that it is doubly interesting to find
reason to believe that in the fifteenth century, or not long
before it, some unmistakable remains had suggested to
the local mind the name of Caesar. Arrived at Newcastle,
it seemed to *Eneas that he had returned to the habitable
face of the earth — quite a compliment to the Novocastrians
of that day—" for," he says, " the land of Scotland, and
the part of England near Scotland, has nothing even
resembling our country "—his own native Italy, that is.
" Horrible, wild, and in winter inaccessible to the in-
fluences of the sun," are the epithets --Eneas bestows
upon our Borderland.
At Durham the traveller visited the tomb of the
Venerable Bede. At York, he was struck with the
Junel
1890.)
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
263
magnificence of the minster. On his way southward he
fell into the company of an English judge, who was re-
turning to London, with him he travelled to the great
capital. Thence he proceeded to
Dover, crossed to Calais, and at
length rejoined his master at
Basle, having faithfully and suc-
cessfully, if adventurously, fulfilled
his mission.
Twenty-two years after his visit
to England, -lEneas was raised to
the chair of St. Peter, as Pius
the Second. He was pope only
for six years. He died in 14-64.
The morality of his early life is
open to the greatest censure ; but
it is gratifying to learn that in
his later years he deeply regretted
the errors of his youth. On his
sins and weaknesses we will not
dwell. Let us rather remember
his virtues. Throughout his life
he was a zealous advocate of
education and learning, and was
a warm friend of the poor. Un-
like many of his predecessors and
successors, he cared nothing for
money, and was never guilty of
simony. After he became pope,
he endeavoured to maintain a
policy of peace amongst the
governments of Europe. As a
man of letters, too, he deserved
to be remembered. His many
writings, all in Latin, are charac-
terized by ease and gracefulness of
style. I believe he was the only
traveller through Northumberland
who ever wore the triple crown,
and certainly no writer of ancient
or modern times who has visited the
Borderland has left a more pic-
turesque account of his experiences.
J. R. BOYLE, F.S.A.
ariti it$
IJEWOASTLE it celebrated for its two bridges
— the High Level Bridge and the Swing
Bridge. Both are enduring monuments of
t**^^i North-Country genius and skill.
The possibility of crossing the River Tyne at a high
level occurred to Edward Hutchinson, master mason, of
Newcastle, in the year 1771, when the old Tyne Bridge
which spanned the river was swept away by a flood. He
brought his prospectus and plan before the Newcastle
NEWCASTLE FROM GATBSHEAD.
Corporation, but the members thereof could not see their
way to adopt the suggestion. Still the project was only
suspended for a time. In 1826 and succeeding years,
proposals having the same object in view were made, and
in 1839 Messrs. John and Benjamin Green published a
scheme for crossing the river at a high level. None of
the plans, however, met with approval, and it was not
until 1846 that the matter took practical shajie. A high
level bridge had then become a necessity. Railways
were being formed all over the country, and it was
evident that, unless traffic could be conducted alonj the
eastern route, the western lines would obtain a great
advantage. Many difficulties presented themselves, but
June I
18DO. I
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
265
TYNE BRIDGE, NEWC AS TLE-ON-TYNE, 1859.
266
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
( June
1.1890.
all were surmounted by Robert Stephenson, who devised
the present noble structure.
The High Level Bridge is a composite viaduct, having
a passage for the railway above, and a covered way for
vehicles and passengers below. The bridge consists of
six cast-iron arches, supported upon piers of solid
masonry. The length of the viaduct is 1,337 feet ;
length of the waterway, 512 feet ; height from high-
water mark to the line of railway, 112 feet ; and height
from high water to the carriage way, 85 feet. The first
pile of a temporary viaduct was driven on April 24, 1846 ;
and the first permanent pile for forming the foundation
was forced into position on October 1, 1846. The last
key, closing the arches, was fitted into its place on
June 7, 1849. On August 15, 1849, the upper roadway
of th_e bridge was opened for use ; and the lower road
was thrown open to the public on February 4, 1850. The
total cost was nearly half-a-million of money, made up as
follows :— The bridge, £243,096 ; approaches, £113;057 ;
land, compensation for buildings, &c., £135,000. Into
the masonry of the piers and the land arches there
entered 681,609 cuoic feet of ashlar, 116,396 of rubble,
and 46,224 of concrete. As many as 4,728i tons of cast
iron and 321^ tons of wrought iron were consumed. An
Act of Parliament permits the North-Eastern Railway
Company, the owners of the bridge, to charge at the
rate of three miles for carrying a passenger across the
upper portion ; foot passengers pay a toll of a halfpenny
when crossing by the roadway; and a carriage drawn by
one horse is charged threepence.
The Tyne Bridge, which succeeded the old bridge
destroyed in 1771, was erected in 1781, but it was
far from being a satisfactory structure, and before
it had been in existence some seventy years it waa
showing signs of failure. In 1861 a bill was ob-
tained for the substitution of "a bridge of a
different construction." The first pile of a temporary
erection was driven on September 7, 1865, and in 1866-7
the Tyne Bridge was removed. Industrial works had
extended westward to such an extent that it was
absolutely necessary that the new bridge should present
no difficulties in the navigation of the river by large
ships. It was resolved, therefore, to construct such a
bridge as would be no impediment to river traffic. The
new bridge, a structure of iron of the class known as the
hydraulic swing bridge, was designed by Mr. John F.
Ure, then engineer to the River Commissioners. Begun
in 1868 and completed in 1876, the Swing Bridge has four
openings corresponding with those of the High Level
Bridge. The carriage way is 24 feet wide ; the two
footways are each 8 feet 6 inches. The superstructure
of the bridge consists of a central or swinging portion,
which is made to turn on a central pier, so as to form an
opening for masted vessels to pass on each side of the
pier, with two spans next the land on either side. The
swing is constructed of wrought iron girders of what is
called bowstring form, connected by cross girders, also
of wrought iron, and supported in the centre by rollers on
circular roads ; and a large hydraulic press or ram, which,
when the bridge is swung, shares a portion of the weieht
with the rollers. The whole weight of the swinging
portion is about 1,500 tons, and the total length about
281 feet. It is moved round by powerful hydraulic
machinery. The levers for working the machinery are
placed in a raised lantern tower in the centre, and above
the top of the girders. The bridge is so constructed that
THE SWING BRIDGE, NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE.
Juno)
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
267
a weight of sixty tons, on four wheels, can be safely
passed over any part of the roadway ; and it stood a
test of this description before being opened for traffic.
The whole of the ironwork of the superstructure of the
side spans and the swinging portion, with the hydraulic
and other machinery, was constructed by Sir William
Armstrong and Company, at Elswick, Newcastle. The
rest of the work, including the foundations of the piers
and abutments, masonry, approaches, &c., was executed
by the workmen of the River Tyne Commissioners.
Our illustrations include a drawing of the old Tyne
Bridge from the Gateshead side of the river, made about
1859. (P&ge 265.) In the extreme distance may be seen
Grey's Monument ; nearer are the Old Castle, the tower
of St. Nicholas' Cathedral, and the Moot Hall ; in the
middle distance are a number of warehouses ; the small
erection at the end of the bridge was a toll-house ; close
to it was a public-house, the landlord of which was
Richard Ayre, a celebrated Radical, and a friend of
Mr. Feargus O'Connor ; part of the Guildhall may be
observed on the right. The view of the High Level
Bridge (on page 264) is taken from the north shore of
the river. Here we have a familiar scene on the Tyne.
A couple of scullers are about to row a race. The
starters are in their places, and all are eagerly waiting
for the signal to commence the contest. Two or three
steamboats are filled with excited passengers ; whilst a
few spectators have taken temporary possession of
wherries and boats ; others again are content with the
view from the causeway of the bridge, and a small group
has congregated on an open space on the south side of
the river. The drawing by Mr. Robert Jobling (page
263) also shows the Old Castle, St. Nicholas' Cathedral,
the Fish Market, and the Moot Hall, but from a higher
level. Many of these buildings are likewise depicted in
the sketch of the Swing Bridge, the most noticeable
object seen in the bridge itself being the tower from
which the machinery which turns it is worked.
t) JKttrraffi at
j|T is not generally known that the grammarian
who exercised so much influence over the
English language was closely associated
with Yorkshire Quakers. Nor is it quite
understood how the American scholar came to pass his
days in England without ever returning to his native
country. Both points are fully explained in "The Records
cf a Quaker Family, the Richardsons of Cleveland, " by
Mrs. Anne Ogden Boyce, which has been published by
Messrs. West, Newman, and Co., of Hat ton Garden. A
whole chapter of this interesting narrative is devoted to
Lindley Murray. Born at Swetara, Pennsylvania, in
1745, he grew up a " mischievous child " and a " heedless
boy," though he believed he " never failed to perform his
tasks." When his schooling was over, he "wished to be
anything rather than a merchant," and, with the way-
wardness of youth, resenting chastisement, he left his
home and took up his abode in a distant seminary. Even-
tually his father allowed him to choose the legal instead of
the mercantile profession. In the year 1766, when he was
twenty-one, he was called to the American bar, and
about the same time he married " a good and amiable
woman." While the War of Independence was raging,
Lindley Murray fell into ill-health, being troubled with a
weakness in the muscles of his limbs. Nothing seemed
likely to restore him, and at length a physician proposed
a residence of two or three years in England, so as to
escape the hot, exhausting summers of America ; the
climate of Yorkshire, we are told, being especially re-
commended. Thus it came that the voyage to England
was made, and the parting from his native land proved to •
be for life.
Lindley Murray and his wife landed in England in
1784. the year in which peace was ratified. After visit-
ing many places in Yorkshire, he bought a house and
garden in the village of Holdgate, near York, and settled
there in 1785. At first he had hopes of returning to
America a vigorous man ; but the improvement from
change of climate was only temporary, and we find
Lindley Murray writing in 1806:— "Two-and-twenty
years have passed away since we left our native land, and
little hope remains of our ever being able to visit it again. "
He was, however, quite resigned, and, indeed, became
closely attached to this country. It is very refreshing at
the present day to read the following expression of the
leelings of this eminent scholar : —
Our attachment to England was founded on many
pleasing associations. In particular, I had strong pre-
possessions in favour of a residence in this country,
because I was ever partial to its political constitution,
and the mildness and wisdom of its general system of
laws. I knew that, under this excellent Government,
life, property, reputation, civil and religious liberty are
happily protected, and that the general character and
virtue of its inhabitants take their complexion from the
nature of their constitution and laws. On leaving my
native country, there was not, therefore, any land on
which I could cast my eye with so much pleasure ; nor is
there any which could have afforded me so much real
satisfaction as I have found in Great Britain. May its
political fabric, which has stood the test of ages, and
long attracted the admiration of the world, be supported
and perpetuated by Divine Providence ! And may the
hearts of Britons be grateful for this blessing, and for
many others by which they are eminently distinguished !
The American lawyer who formed this estimate of
British institutions did not surrender himself to the
morbid fancies of an invalid. For years he took a daily
drive to see "the busy or the cheerful faces of his fellow-
men," while he occupied himself with writing his first
work, entitled " The Power of Religion upon the Mind,"
which was printed at York in the year 1787. The first
edition of five hundred copies, neatly bound in leather, was
distributed at the author's own expense. "I sent them,"
he says, " to the principal inhabitants of York and its
268
MONTHL Y CHRONICLE.
{June
1890.
vicinity ; and accompanied each book with an anonymous
note requesting a favourable acceptance of it, and
apologizing for the liberty I had taken." This modesty
had its reward. "The publication," writes Mrs. Boyce,
"was well received, and several editions were printed in
London. When a sixth edition was called for, Lindley
Murray enlarged and improved the book, and placed his
name on the title page, and then gave away the copy-
right to a London publisher, hoping in this way to attain
the end he had in view of making the work useful."
Lindley Murray found pleasant and congenial society
amongst members of the Society of Friends in York. An
undertaking of the Tuke family, a school for girls, was
a source of interest and pleasure to him. The historian
of York School (speaking of Holdgate) says : —
" In this pleasant home Lindley Murray was compelled
to lead a quiet, sedentary life, so he devoted his time
chiefly to reading and writing. He took a great interest
in the school, and was often consulted as a literary oracle
by his friends there. The teachers, Ann and Mabel
Tuke, and Jane Taylor, who were intimate friends as
well as colleagues, feeling their inability to teach
grammar, applied to him for aid ; and during a succession
of winter evenings he gave them regular lessons, much to
their own enjoyment and the benefit of their pupils. The
walks to Holdgate, as well as the lessons, were note-
worthy, for the road was dark and rough ; but the young
pedestrians, shod in pattens, and escorted by a man
carrying a lantern, bravely and cheerily wended their
way to their preceptor's home, where their pre-
sence was both welcome and enlivening." Although
a hundred years have passed since then (Mrs.
Boyce proceeds), we can picture the scene, and almprft
seem to hear the voices of those lively girls as, casting
aside cloaks and pattens, they passed from the darkness
of the steep Holdgate Lane into the cheerful parlour,
where they brought the freshness of youth and health and
of active work into the quiet lives of their genial
instructor and of his kind, hospitable wife. " A little
later, " says the historian, "we find three of the teachers
uniting in a 'humble petition to the Right Hon.
Lindley Murray, teacher of the English language,
&c., &c.' After stating the inconvenience they
have experienced 'from the want of a com-
plete English grammar, with examples and rules
annexed,' and expressing their faith in ' the incomparable
abilities of their able preceptor,' they humbly solicit the
preparation ' of his materials for a work so important, and
in the execution of which they will gladly afford him their
feeble assistance. And his petitioners will, as in duty
bound, desire (also pray) that his labours may be amply
rewarded by the manifest fruits of its utility to the present
and succeeding generations.'" Lindley Murray 's reply to
this petition is a doubtful one, but it contains the
sentence that he "entertains such a respect and affection
for his dear friends, Ann Tuke, Mabel Tuke, and
Martha Fletcher, that it would be no easy matter for him
to refuse any request that they might think proper to
make." So, in the words of the Historical Sketch, "It
was to this playful yet earnest appeal from the teachers,
seconded and strengthened by the representatives of other
schools, that we owe the Grammar which for half a cen-
tury was decidedly the most useful and popular class-book
in England ; we think deservedly so when compared with
its contemporaries, and judged by the standard that pre-
vailed at the time. It was published in 1795, and the
profits of the first edition were devoted to the benefit of
the school. "
The Grammar was followed by other works, such as
the "English Reader," and it is pleasant to know that
their great sale brought large profits to the author and the
publishers. Indeed, the latter wished to have Mr.
Murray's portrait painted at their expense ; but, in
accordance with the views of most Friends of that day, he
declined the proposal. Though his income from property
in America rarely exceeded £600 a year, he considered
this quite sufficient for his wants, and the money which
the Messrs. Longman paid him for his copyrights all
went to increase his charities. " These," says Mrs.
Boyce, "were varied and judicious, including the payment
of school fees tor many poor children, and the quiet giv-
ing of help to persons in straitened circumstances. One
trifling act of kindness," she adds, "is still remembered in
York. Within sight of his house a footpath ran over some
fields to the city. Lindley Murray kept this path in
repair at his own expense, and placed seats upon it ; and
it gave him pleasure when, by the aid of a glass, he
could see that these seats afforded rest to some tired
wayfarer. "
Lindley Murray's association with the Richardsons
of Cleveland was through Hannah, one of the three sisters,
daughters of Henry Richardson of Stockton, who take the
chief place in Mrs. Boyce's biography : —
Somewhat changed from the stylish girl in the gip^y
hat and feathers, we now behold her in the neat close cap
of Quakerism, writing from Lindley Murray's dictation,
reading aloud to him slowly and distinctly, and presiding
over his household. When she became a resident at
Holdgate, Lindley Murray was entirely confined to the
house, his strength being no longer equal to his daily
drive. "His gentle wife," writes a correspondent,
" was so entirely devoted to his companionship
that she rarely left the house, and their sprightly
and energetic young friend (Hannah) formed a
needed link between them and the outer world." Every
morning her tall, lissom figure was seen on the road be-
tween Holdgate and York, her feet shod with pattens if
the weather was wet, her hand carrying a basket, her
walk full of energy and directness of purpose. Her
lightness of heart did not depart with her feathers, nor
did her quiet dress dull her spirits. Not only in the
seclusion of Holdgate, but in many a home in York, her
cheerful presence was welcome. It is still remembered
how her coming was watched for in houses which she
passed in her daily walk ; and how her friends would rush
to door or window to beg for a few minutes of her com-
pany ; but, beyond the time required for loving greetings
and inquiries, she might not prolong her stay. The
invalid almost counted the minutes until her return with
his letters, his daily paper, his A'cwcattle Chronicle once a
week, and the news of his friends. Some marvelled at
the way in which his messenger curbed her natural
inclinations and strongly social instincts, and bent her
will to that of another. But if this caused her a struggle,
it was known to herself alone.
Very tranquil was the life led in this spot ; the Quaker
home was indeed a resting-place to be envied : —
Holdgate was the home of Hannah Richardson for
twenty years. During most of this time, there was only
one female servant, a Friend, called Mary Hollings-
worth, whose beautiful complexion, happy countenance,
and spotless Quaker dress added to the charm of the
household. One of Mary's duties was to bake, with the
household bread, large soft biscuits, so that beggars who
came to Holdgate, if not relieved by money, might never
be sent away hungry. So closely in readiness did Mary
keep these biscuits that it is said she slipped one
into the hand of the genial minister, James Back-
house, when he came to call upon her master !
During the last twelve years of Lindley Murray's life,
from 1814 to 1826, he became increasingly dependent,
Junel
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
269-
Mrs. Boyce informs us, upon Hannah Richardson as his
reader and secretary. Indeed, his correspondence with
his family in America came, in the end, to be conducted
entirely by Hannah, and formed an important part of her
duties; and long after the venerable pair at Holdgate
were gathered to their rest, she continued to receive
tokens of esteem from the unknown friends who loved her
for their sake. It was at the age of eighty-one, having
lived forty-one years at Holdgate, that the kind-hearted
and high-souled American breathed his last, leaving his
devoted wife, "a remarkably sweet and unselfish woman, "
to be tended for eight years longer by the no less devoted
representative of a noble Quaker family.
After the death of the aged widow of Lindley Murray
in 1834, Hannah Richardson undertook the duties of
"governess" in Ackworth School — the post nearly
resembling that of " principal" in a modern institution.
The school, wrote the historian, "never had, and never
will have, one who more successfully occupied her trust
and won the hearts of all around her."
Cite
(Sarlsntr
ljn £tokoe.
THE SKIPPER'S WEDDING.
HERE is no subject more calculated to give
such an insight into the inner life of our
ancestors than the study of the local popular
songs which treat of domestic life, courtship,
or marriage ; and the song of " The Skipper's Wedding "
is a graphic picture of men and manners about the close
of the last century.
Weddings have from time immemorial been looked
upon as peculiarly occasions on which to create festivals
of eating, drinking, and dancing, and from the catalogue
of good things named in the song the preparations of the
bridegroom and the parents of the bride for the wedding
suggest that none of the company expected to be present
would have appetites of the valetudinarian kind.
The song was very popular for many years, though,
with the exception of Blind Willy, nothing is known of
any of the eccentric characters named as expected to
honour the bridal by their presence. Possibly they only
existed in the imagination of the author.
Mr. William Stephenson, the elder, the author of the
song, was born in 1763 in Gateshead, and died there in
1836.
The tune to which the ballad is sung is Irish, and
usually known as " The Night before Larry was
Stretched," and some of our best local songs have been
written to it, such as William Mitford's "Pitman'*
Courtship," &c.
-* — — y— '
Neigh - hours, I'm come for to tell you, Our
g±=-*» s N ^ \ j m •—
skip - per and Moll's to be wed ; And
if it be true what they're say - ing, E-
?=3==*=f=^=Z==s^^(
, / / — i" — /= =*^=3
gad ! We'll be all rare - ly fed. They've
> .7
brought home a should - er of mut - ton, Be-
sides two thump - ing fat geese, And
when at the fire they're roast - ing We're
the grease. Blind
£=•=?=£
Wil - ly's to play
the firi - d!e.
Neighbours, I'm come for to tell you
Our skipper and Moll's to be wed ;
And if it be true what they're saying,
Egad ! we'll be all rarely fed.
They've brought home a shoulder of mutton,
Besides two thumping fat geese,
And when at the t're they're roasting
We're all to have sops in the grease.
Blind Willy's to play on the fiddle.
And there will be pies and spice dumplings ;
And there will be bacon and peas ;
Besides a great lump of beef boiled,
And they may get crowdies that please.
To eat of such things as these are
I'm sure you have seldom the luck ;
Besides, for to make us some pottage,
There'll be a sheep's head and a pluck.
Blind Willy's to play on the fiddle.
Of sausages there will be plenty,
Black puddings, sheep fat, and neats' tripes ;
Besides, for to warm all your noses,
Great store of tobacco and pipes.
A room, they say, is provided
For us at " The Old Jacob's Well " ;
The bridgroom he went there this morning,
And spoke for a barrel o' yell.
Blind Willy's to play on the fiddle.
There's sure to be those things I've mentioned,
And many things else ; and I learn
That there's white bread and butter and sugar
To please every bonny young bairn.
270
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/Jnne
i.1890
Of each dish and glass you'll be welcome
To eat and to drink till you stare ;
I've told you what meat's to be at it,
I'll next tell you who's to be there.
Blind Willy's to play on the fiddle.
Why, there will be Peter the Hangman,
Who flogs the folk at the cart tail ;
Auld Bob, with his new sark and ruffle,
Made out of an old keel sail :
And Tib on the Quay who sells oysters,
Whose mother oft strove to persuade
Her to keep from the lads, but she wouldn't,
Until she got by them betrayed.
Blind Willy's to play on the fiddle.
And there will be Sandy the Cobbler,
Whose belly's as round as a keg ;
And Doll with her short petticoats
To display her white stockings and leg ;
And Sail, who. when snug in a corner,
Her glass was ne'er known to refuse ;
She cursed when her father was drowned,
Because he had on his new shoes.
Blind Willy's to play on the fiddle.
And there will be Sain the Quack Doctor,
Of skill and profession he'll crack ;
And Jack who would fain be a soldier,
But for a great hump on his back ;
And Tom, in the streets for his living.
Who grinds razors, scissors, and knives,
And two or three merrv old women
That call "mugs and dublers,* wives."
Blind Willy's to play on the fiddle.
But, neighbours, I'd almost forgotten
For to tell you— exactly at one,
The dinner will be on the table,
The music will play till it's done :
When you'll all be heartily welcome
Of this merry feast for to share ;
BuMf you won't come at this bidding,
Why then you may stay where you are.
Blind Willy's to play on the fiddle.
Ectoto titcr
(]ATIMER'S "Local Records," under date
15th September, 1842, contains the following
entry :—
15-^=^1 The celebrated racing mare, Bee's-wing,
the property of William Orde, Esq., of Nunnykirk,
Northumberland, closed her wonderful career on the
turf by winning the Doncaster Cup. This was Bee's-
wing's fifty-first victory, and the twenty-fourth gold
cup which she had won, a number quite unprecedented.
After having eight foals — four colts and four fillies-
several of which proved themselves worthy descendants of
"the pride of the North," Bee's-wing died March 4,
1854, near Chester, aged 21 years.
The author of a chatty work on turf worthies— "The
Druid "—tells some good stories about the owner of Bees-
wing and his jockey, one Bob Johnson. Thus he tells
us that owner and jockey once duly decided, after
accepting sixpence for the purpose from a facetious
friend at Ascot, to "let t'aud mare win first, and get
shaved afterwards." Another time they were heard to
take counsel together about the state of Mr. Orde's
betting book. "I've taken fifteen sovereigns to two,
Robert, about the mare," said the owner, most meekly :
• A dubler or doubler was a larpe dish, plate, or bowL— Ottolete.
"shall I hedge?" "In course, nowt of the sort," was
the prompt answer. "Stan'it oot; be a man or a moose."
On one occasion, when this comical pair were separated.
Bob suddenly felt constrained by a sense of duty to com-
municate stable intelligence to his employer, and he
dictated the following note to Will Beresford, whom he
requested to act as his secretary : " Sir, the meer's weel,
aa's weel, we're all weel." It must, however, be explained
that this missive was much more voluminous as originallv
drafted, for it contained a number of expletives which
Bob was in the habit of using. When Beresford read it
over to him, he remonstrated thus: "In course, thoo
knaas, Mr. Beresford, aa didn't tell thee to put in 'In
course ' all that number of times. Noo, aa'll gie it thee
plain." And so it was abbreviated as above.
Bob was born at Sunderland, and was apprenticed in
that town to a quack doctor or herbalist, who also dealt a
little in smuggled spirits. The herb and bottle business
was not at all to Bob's taste : so he soon deserted it, and
took up the more congenial occupation to which his after
life was devoted. He won the St. Leger three years out
of four on Ottrington, General Chass<5, and St. Patrick ;
but, after that, he had always the ill luck to be only
third, so that when his friends at Doncaster consulted
him as to his chances, they never got much more out of
him than this : "In course, thoo may back me to be thord
—likely enough t'aad place— aa never get forrarder."
"In his wasting days," we quote from "The Druid,"
" Bob was an eminent member of that School of Industry
which met during the Newcastle race mornings in the
servants' hall at Gosforth. Mr. Brandling liked this
custom kept up, and often a muffled troop of Sim,
Jacques, Scott, Harry Edwards, Holmes, Garbutt, Cart-
wright, Lye, Gates, Gray, &c., would be found there
about ten o'clock, sipping the warm ale which the butler
always had in readiness for them after their three miles'
walk from the Grand Stand (the Grand Stand was then
on the Town Moor), and listening, if Bill Scott was not
just i' the vein, to Bob Johnson's comments on nags and
men. One morning Bob did not get on with his ale, and
Mr. Brandling asked him if there was anything else he
would like better. ' Aa don't knaa, sor,' said he, ' but aa
should like a bottle of your champagne.' It was accord-
ingly brought, and Bob considered that he put his host up
to such a good thing for the day while they were drinking
it, that he wound up with, ' Weel, aa think aa should like
another away with me, Mr. Brandling, to drink yor health
when aa's won.' His companion protested in vain, but
Mr. Brandling was intensely amused, and sided so
energetically with Bob that another was fetched and duly
stuffed into his pocket, and away he went rejoicing, and
verified his Gosforth tip by beating Sim cleverly."
A story is related of Mr. Orde in connection with Bees-
wing which smacks of the flavour of the soil. It is said
that the Queen was so much struck with what she had
heard of the merits of the famous mare, that she asked
June \
1890. )
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
271
Mr. Orde whether he would part with her. Mr. Orde is
reported to have replied that he would personally have
been happy to oblige her Majesty, but that Beeswing
belonged to the people of the North !
While Beeswing was the Northumberland, Laneroost
was the Cumberland favourite. The sire of Lanercost
was Liverpool, the property of Mr. Ramsay, of Barnton,
who, having bought him, when a yearling, from his
Cumbrian owner, for £130, sent him to Tupgill to
be trained. That great authority, Tom Dawson,
next season considered him the finest-grown two-
year-old he ever saw, and could hardly believe he was
the same beast, "all belly and no neck," which he
had seen at The Bush, at Carlisle, the year before.
On his first trials, he failed, and disappointed the
Carlisle folks ; but the spirit of his nominator, James
Parkin, did not flag. Parkin was a man who, in a
general way, did not care much for racing, being
devoted rather to steeple-chasing, fox-hunting, and
stage-coach driving, in which latter line of business
he was in his glory ; but he nominated Lanercost
for all his three-year-old engagements, in the firmest
belief that he would yet prove to be one of the best
horses the world ever saw. The animal verified Parkin's
hope so far as to win at Newcastle, then at the
Caledonian Hunt, then at Dumfries, and finally at
Ayr, where the rivalry for the Cup was in those days
high and keen among the Scottish dons. Lanercost
was the winner of five races, in Scotland and England,
between the 4th of September and the 18th of October ;
and on the 28th of the latter month he won the great
Cambridgeshire Stake?, the first year they were estab-
lished. In the following season, he gained a short-head
victory over Beeswing for the Newcastle Cup, and also
beat her on the Berry Moss for the Kelso Cup. Next
year Lanercost won the Cup and two other prizes at
Ascot, but was beaten at Newcastle by Beeswing.
After that, he was sold for £2,800 to Mr. Kirby, for
whom he won the Chester Cup in 1842. This was the
last of his brilliant public performances. His stud
career ended at Chantilly, in the Emperor Napoleon's
splendid stables.
l ANFIELD, a small and scattered village on
sout'1 bank of the Tees, five miles west
of Darlington, and nine miles north-east of
Richmond, has to the north-east of it a number of high,
bleak, lonely grass fields called the Carrs. In the midst of
these Carrs there is a small house, used as a hind's house,
built on the site of a former farm-house. In that farm-
house the farmer, Stephen Hollin, was murdered by .his
two nephews, and his body was buried in the fields ; but,
as suspicion was aroused some time after by his dis-
appearance, his bones were taken up by them, and burnt
in a brick oven. I well remember coming home from
gathering mushrooms in these Carrs on misty autumn
evenings, and looking round quite expecting to see
Stephen Hollin's ghost coming along the "long grey
fields " in the brown suit and low-crowned hat of which
I had so often heard.
A dear old woman who lived near us, and who died a
few years ago upwards of eighty, never tired of telling us
tales of "Stephen," as the ghost was familiarly called.
Her father, who died over ninety years of age, was the
village blacksmith. The Tweddles have time out of
mind been the blacksmiths at Manfield ; the present
blacksmith's name is Tweddle. Around Bessie's fire on
winter nights, or seated on her " bink " at the door on
summer evenings, we have listened spell-bound to strange
tales of the ghost. I cannot say when the murder was
committed ; it must have been long, long ago, as the
stories were then things of the past. Only one old man
besides Bessie professed to have seen the ghost. A
servant boy who came to her grandfather's blacksmith
shop rather late in the evening, with a "plough coulter ''
to be sharped, was warned that he might see Stephen as
he returned home. He had to pass through the Carrs
to another lonely farm-house. He replied that he didn't
care for Stephen ; if Stephen came to him, he would
throw the "plough coulter " at his head. Next morning,
his dead body was found in the fields, all scratched and
torn. Of course, Stephen Hollin had killed him. A
relation of my father's, who was coining from Grunton
one winter night in the snow, saw Stephen's low-crowned
hat over the hedge. She ran for her life, and lost her
shoe in her fright. Many people searched for the shoe,
but it could never be found. Stephen had got it.
At Cauldknockles, as his own house was called, he was
on quite familiar terms with the inmates. He would
sometimes hold the "milkus" door, preventing all admit-
tance at his pleasure. Sometimes in a playful mood he
would roll cheeses downstairs. Once he stole a tailor's
thread, took it upstairs, and threw it down from a hole
in the ceiling into the tailor's face. Sometimes, in a
morning, the horses would be "all in a lather." Stephen
had been riding them all night. Occasionally the noise
of threshing (of course with a flail then) would be heard,
and dust and " caff " would be seen streaming abundantly
out of the barn door ; but the initiated would take it as a
matter of course, simply remarking, "It's only Stephen."
A servant girl was on such familiar terms with him that
she used, when she had a heavy "skeelful"of calf-meat
to convey, to say, in a coaxing manner, "Tak haud,
Stephen," and the invisible Stephen used to hold up the
other side and carry exactly as a real person would do.
But the strangest of all his pranks was a meaningless one.
A cow had calved one night, and the calf disappeared,
and could nowhere be found. At last it was heard to
272
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/June
\1890.
"blair" in the air, and there it was thrown across the
rigging-tree of the house. Of course, Stephen had put it
there.
Many more such tales I could tell. These tales were
spread far and wide over the neighbouring villages, and
formed the subject of conversation round many a winter
tire. Their real existence was devoutly believed in. We
durst not venture on a word of unbelief to Bessie. Had
she not seen Stephen herself when a girl ?
Alas ! he no more revisits the glimpses of the moon.
He was conjured into a well by a priest. Will he ever
return ? I am afraid not. DAKLINQTON,
Cffttff(je,
JOURISTS who travel from Ambleside to
Keswick will notice a cottage on the road-
side near the foot of Nab Scar — an offshoot
of Fairfield — and within a few yards of
Rydal Water. This modest dwelling does not present
any extraordinary external features. Within a short
distance there are many houses that are much more
picturesque. Nab Cottage, as it is called, derives,
indeed, all its interest from the circumstance that it was
at one time the temporary residence of two of the literary
giants of " Wordsworthshire " — Thomas de Quincey and
Hartley Coleridge.
De Quincey lived for many years in a small house at
Town End, Grasmere, which had been vacated by
Wordsworth. Having married Margaret Simpson,
daughter of a Westmoreland farmer living at Nab
Cottage, he, after this happy event, alternated between
the two places. A great collector of books and papers,
he first filled every conceivable corner in the Town End
house with his treasures, and then stored the surplus in
Nab Cottage. It does not appear that De Quincey was
at any time the tenant of Nab Cottage ; for after he left
the Lake District in 1830 and went to Edinburgh, he still
retained the place at Town End for a few years.
Nab Cottage was Hartley Coleridge's home for some
seventeen or eighteen years. It is known that Hartley was
held in great esteem by all the inhabitants of the valley
of the Rothay. "La'al Hartley " (little Hartley) was a
prime favourite with the sturdy yeomen, and the declara-
tion that "he's yan on ue " indicated how close was the
intimacy. But Hartley Coleridge's irregular habits were
a source of perpetual regret to his relatives and friends
Many will remember the forebodings of Wordsworth : —
I think of thee with many fears,
For what may be thy lot in future years.
Harriet Martineau thus writes on the same subject : —
"Those who knew the Lakes of old will remember the
peculiar form and countenance which used to haunt the
roads between Ambleside and Grasmere — the eccentric-
looking being whom the drivers were wont to point out as
the son of the great Coleridge, and himself a poet. He is
more missed in his neighbourhood than in the literary
world ; for he loved everybody, and had many friends.
His mournful weakness was regarded with unusual for-
bearance ; and there was more love and pity than censure
in the minds of those who practically found how difficult
it was to help him. Those who knew him most loved
From Harper's
Copyright. 1891, by Harper 1 Brothnt.
NAB COTTAGE, RYDALMERE.
June!
1890..T
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
273
him best; but he was sufficiently known afar by his
works to be an object of interest to strangers who passed
his home."
Hartley Coleridge died at Nab Cottage on January 6,
1849, and lies buried in Grasmere Churchyard.
Speak, giant-mother ! tell it to the morn
While she dispels the cumbrous shades of night ;
Let the moon hear, emerging from a cloud,
At whose behest uprose, on British ground,
That sisterhood, in hieroglyphic round
Forth-shadowing, some have deemed, the infinite,
The inviolable God, that tames the proud !
2Uns #T*s; antt for Saugfcttrrf.
J1BOUT half-a-dozen miles north-east of Pen-
ritb, on an eminence intersected by a public
road and a boundary wall, is the Druidical
monument known as Long Meg and her
Daughters. Authorities differ as to the exact number
of stones that constitute the circle, and it will be suffi-
cient to state that there are between sixty and seventy.
The residents aver that the stones cannot be counted
twice alike, which is not at all surprising, since some
of them are covered with herbage. It is also gravely
affirmed that the relics are the remains of a company
of witches that were transformed into stones on the
prayer of a saint. Long Meg, the principal stone, stands
25 yards south of the circle, opposite four other stones
which suggest the form of a gateway. It has four faces.
is 12 feet high and 14- feet in girth, and is computed to
weigh about seventeen tons. About twenty-seven of
the "daughters" are standing erect. Some of the
stones in the circle are limestone, some granite, and
others greenstone. Wordsworth wrote of them : —
"When I first saw this monument, as I came upon
it by surprise, I might over-rate its importance as an
object ; but, though it will not bear a comparison with
Stonehenge, I must say I have not seen any other
relic of those dark ages which can pretend to rival it
in singularity and dignity of appearance." The same
poet apostrophises Long Meg in the following lines : —
A weight of awe not easy to be borne
Fell suddenly upon my spirit — cast
From the dread bosom of the unknown past,
When first I saw that sisterhood forlorn —
Speak thou, whose massy strength and stature scorn
The power of years — pre-eminent and placed
Apart, to overlook the circle vast —
jjN the morning of Friday, the 15th day of
March, 1786, was found dead in his bed, at
an obscure lodging near Chiswell Street,
London, Mr. William Swan. He was the
only surviving male heir of Thomas Swan, Alderman and
Mayor of Hull, who left estates to the amount of £20,000
per annum, to recover which William had been trying in
vain for twenty-five years. This man's history, and still
more that of his father, afford a striking confirmation of
the truth of the old proverb, that "Truth is stranger than
fiction."
The father, so the story goes, was the eldest son of
Richard Swan, of Benwell Hall, near Newcastle, and was
trepanned from his father's house when nine years of age.
He was put on board the Britannia brig, which formed
part of the squadron of Sir Cloudesley Shovel, and he
began his career in that vessel as cabin-boy, or, to use
old-fashioned seamen's language, as powder-monkey, his
chief duty being to bring powder from the magazine to
the guns during a sea-tight. In this capacity he served
in the unsuccessful expedition against Toulon in 1707 ;
and on the return home of the fleet, he was wrecked ou
the Scilly Isles in the great disaster of the 22nd October.
On that occasion Sir Cloudesley's flagship, the Associa-
tion, in which were several persons of rank and eight
hundred brave men, went instantly to the bottom ; the
Eagle, the Romney, and the Firebrand were also lost
with all on board ; but the rest of the fleet escaped. Not
long afterwards, however, the vessel in which Swan sailed
was taken by an Algerine corsair, the captain of which
sold him as a slave to the Moors. He remained in bond-
age in Barbary for about four years, after which he was
From Harper'* Magazine. Copyright, 183:!, by Harper & Brothers.
LONG MEG AND HER DAUGHTERS, NEAR PENRITH.
18
274
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/June
\ 1890.
set at liberty by the Redeeming Friars, an order of monks
devoted to the redemption of Christian captives from
slavery, through whose instrumentality many thousands
of such poor wretches were restored to their homes.
After his redemption from the Moors, however, poor
Swan was again taken prisoner, and this time he was
carried off and sold for a slave to an English planter in
South Carolina. There he suffered almost every woe that
human nature is capable of enduring, being compelled to
work under a burning sun, on the cotton and rice planta-
tions, from sunrise to sunset, with the merciless slave-
driver's lash swinging over his back. He managed to
escape, and got back to England in 1726, after a banish-
ment of twenty years.
Making his way to Newcastle, he was identified by
his nurse and his father's footman. Then be laid claim
to the estates of his uncle, the Hull alderman ; but,
having neither money nor friends to assist him, all his
efforts proved abortive. After this, he settled at the
village of North Dalton, near Great Driffield, in York-
shire, where he married Jane Cole, who bore him, with
other issue, one son, William, whom he left heir to
his claims and his misfortunes, dying, as he did, in his
thirty-eighth year, of a broken heart.
Left a mere infant to the care of his mother in 1735,
William Swan was naturally told, when he grew up, to
what rich estates he was the legitimate heir. He had his
father's melancholy experience and premature death to
warn him ; but it would have been an almost superhuman
stretch of self-denial if he had quietly abandoned his pre-
tensions to wealth and rank, and settled down as some-
thing like a common day-labourer. He consulted a cer-
tain pettifogging attorney in Driffield, who, anxious for
business, and zealous to distinguish and perhaps enrich
himself, advised the young man that his claim was good
and valid, and offered to conduct his case, without any
advance of money on his part except a mere trifle for
correspondence, postages, court fees, &c., until judgment
should be given in bis favour, when his guerdon, honestly
earned, should be ten thousand pounds — a half-year's rent
of the estate. This offer was accepted, and the prelimi-
nary steps were taken. The attorney reported from
time to time how his case was going on, and got from
his client every guinea he could spare — not many, in
truth — to meet current expenses. The young man and
his mother denied themselves all but the bare neces-
saries of life, in order to make these payments. Weeks
and months passed away, but no decision was given.
Years elapsed, yet still it was no otherwise. Hope de-
ferred, as Solomon says, maketh the heart sick ; and in
Mrs. Swan's case, the saying came literally true, and led
to a melancholy result. For she fell into despondency,
sickened, and died, her last words to her son being, "Oh,
William, let this horrid plea drop. Don't pay that man
any more money. I feel that he would skin us both alive.
They're a bad set, all these law-men." But William, more
hopeful, as well as more obstinate, was determined that
he would not let the plea drop. Indeed, it had for some
time absorbed his whole mind. He had bought a second-
hand copy of " Blackstone's Commentaries," and he pored
over its musty pages till he bad got whole chapters off by
heart. Blackstone's chapter "Of Dispossession, or Ouster,
of Chattels Real, " was to him more than the Lord's Prayer,
the Creed, and the Ten Commandments all together.
He could think of no thine else, dream of nothing else,
talk of nothing else. Every penny he bad went to his
lawyer after he had satisfied the inexorable calls of
nature.
Giving up housekeeping, he went to lodge and board
with a middle-aged widow, who had an only daughter
about four-and-twenty, to whom a rich uncle had left
a few hundred pounds. Mother and daughter both felt
interested in their lodger's case, the nature and state of
which they were soon familiarised with, as it was his
only staple topic ef conversation whenever he was in the
house. So one pound after another was freely lent him,
till the sum advanced came to something considerable,
far beyond William's ability ever to repay, unless he
succeeded in getting possession of his property. It
scarcely needs to be said that he gave them a solemn
promise — a promise, too, as sincere as it was solemn —
that as soon as the case had been decided in his favour,
as he never doubted that it would be, they should have a
liberal share of his wealth poured into their laps. By
and by the young woman and the young man began co
feel a softer mutual affection than mere sympathy on the
one side and gratitude on the other could possibly have
inspired. In plain terms, they fell deeply in love. The
mother, looking confidently to her lodger being a rich
gentleman before long, was quite willing that it should
be a match. And so the couple were wedded. But not
long after the indissoluble knot had been tied, the
fact transpired that the rascally Driffield attorney had
been deceiving his client all the while, pocketing for his
own benefit the money he had received for carrying on
the suit, which had been entirely neglected.
William Swan now resolved that he must go to London
to look after his law affairs himself. He at once laid the
case before another lawyer, who gave it as his opinion
that an action for ejectment, for trying the title to the
Yorkshire property, should immediately be raised, and
likewise an action of trespass, with a view to recover the
whole or at least part of the rents which had accrued
during the years that had elapsed since Alderman Swan's
demise. More money was of course needed, and had to
be forthcoming. William Swan had spent all that be
had, and also all that his wife had brought him ; and yet
he was, like the woman in the gospel, who had suffered
many things of many physicians, nothing bettered, but
rather very much the reverse. Had he never had any ex-
pectations, pretences, or claims to prosecute, he might
have been an honest, industrious, contented man. As it
June!
1890. }
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
275
was, though indeed still honest, he had, as the saying is,
"broken his working arm," and was about as far from
being contented with his lot as it is possible to conceive-
in fact, a disappointed, ruined, almost heart-broken man.
His wife's mother had died in the interim, but he had
still his wife to console him. She was an excellent woman,
and never said a word, nor gave a look, to lead her hus-
band to think she repented of her choice of so unlucky a
man for her life-partner. But William continued to
haunt the purlieus of the courts till he was worn almost
to a shadow, though he might as well have tried to lift
Westminster Hall as to get what he believed to be justice,
his purse being quite empty, and the friends he had as
poor as himself.
To conclude, he found himself one day inside the Fleet
prison, where, with his usual ill-luck, he caught the jail
fever. His poor wife, constant to the last, being per-
mitted to visit him and bring him some little cheap
delicacies, caught the infection, and died within a few
days. William, on the contrary, recovered, though the
fever left him so weak that he could scarcely crawl. A
gaol-delivery shortly afterwards set him free, with several
others ; but he was no longer fit for this world. He
managed to get into humble lodgings in a narrow lane
or alley near Chiswell Street, and there, quite worn out,
he breathed his last. His mortal remains, we believe,
fill a pauper's grave.
Slang, cauacfe JBurt0r.
FULL, and at the same time a perfect, set
of the ten volumes of the Newcastle Maga-
zine, published monthly between 1820 and
1831, is not easy to obtain. Stray volumes are to be
found on the bookstalls, but generally lacking title
pages, indexes, portraits, engravings, or some other
part of the contents, and mostly in a dirty and
dilapidated condition. Yet, as an illustration of the
literary accommplishments of a bygone generation in
Northumberland, the magazine is most interesting. Mr.
W. A. Mitchell, the Jupiter Tonans of the Tyne Mercury,
better known in his later years as " Tim Tunbelly " and
"Peter Putright," was the proprietor and editor, and
among the contributors were I)r. Charles Hutton,
Henry Atkinson, and Wesley S. B. Woolhouse,
mathematicians ; Nicholas Wood, Robert Hawthorn,
and Benjamin Thompson, engineers ; John Sykes
and John Fenwick, antiquaries ; John Mackay
Wilson, Robert Story, James Telfer, Robert Gil-
christ, and Robert White, poets and story-tellers, not
to mention Thomas Wilson, whose famous descriptive
poem, "The Pitman's Pay," first saw the light in its
columns. It was the Monthly Chronicle of its day, with
the addition of mathematical problems, poetical contri-
butions, moral essays, reviews of local literature, and
other features that now find expression in the newspapers.
In the volume for 1828 is a curious biography, written by
John Sykes, the chronologer, of a Newcastle character
named " Doctor " Long. There is a note of him in the
" Local Records " of the same writer, and another in
"Richardson's Table Book"; but the one from tho
magazine contains more detail than the others, and ia
written in a style that would have pleased the editor of
" English Eccentrics, " or the compiler of the "Wonder-
ful Museum. " Here is the note : —
Luke Long had l>een, in the early part of his life, a
surgeon's mate in different ships on the coast of Africa,
but, "escaping the dangers of the seas," he settled in New-
castle, first in the High Bridge, and afterwards in Union
Street, where he died, Jan. 4th, 1803, aged 77. After he
became stationary in Newcastle, he practised as an
apothecary ; hence the degree of "Doctor " was conferred
upon him. From the various improvements which had
taken place in the science of medicine (the doctor strictly
adhering to the old school), his business gradually
dwindled into insignificance ; this compelled him to stock
his shop with ribbons, tapes, blacking, balls, brushes, &c-.,
in addition to Daffy's elixir, Anderson's pills, worm-cakes,
&c., &c. The singular medley he thus associated together
would form a very curious catalogue, where, as in the
village barber's shop, —
Pomatum pots, rollers, and musty perfumes,
Remnants of stumps, a broken case of lancets.
Leeches, and genuine corn-salve, made a show.
The doctor was very loquacious, and had something to
tell of almost every person and subject. He had a par-
ticular fluency in relating stories, and, being a jovial
member of the festive board, he was frequently invited to
public dinners, where his flashes of wit often "set the
table in a roar." On such occasions he sung with great
glee songs written by himself. This eccentric character
was fond of a joke, but an anecdote is told wherein he
was fairly outwitted in his own way. A few years before
his death, wishing to have a new wig, the maker was
sent for, who immediately set about the measurement of
the caput. "Good Mr. Tonson," said the doctor, "i
would have you to add a few inches to your gage, and br
sure that you go over the premises with care ; for you
must know, sir, that I have a long head. " "Ay, doctor,"
replied the barber, "and a thick one too." The quickness
of the fellow's wit, it is said, quite charmed the doctor.
In person he was a short thick man, and assuming a
very pompous and dignified demeanour gave him a very
professional appearance. He was usually dressed in
black with a cocked hat, white wig, and a gold-hea'led
cane, the talisman of the old school. The upstarts of the
profession, as he used to call the modern practitioners,
had monopolised nearly the whole of the doctor's
business, yet he retained considerable notoriety for his
infallible worm-cakes, being the famous worm annihila-
tor of that day, as Doctor Thompson is oi this.
Richardson states that Dr. Long's "flashes of wit"
were never spoiled with too much polishing, nor were hiR
metrical compositions overloaded with erudition. Every-
thing new was almost sure to meet with his reprehension,
and the disappointments and failures of others, which he
pretended to have foreseen, with the severity of hU
And if a man did wish to hear a tale,
Secrets of families, or affairs of State,
Here lived an oily tongue would tell it him.
KICHABD WKLKORD.
276
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/June
I 1890.
Cfte asurttttrff mil* at
— In futurity's dark womb,
Laid up for Shields is Sodom's doom ;
For all that store of bitumen
Was not placed under it in vain.
— Hookey Walker's Farewell to Shields,
|ROM Shields up to Newcastle the banks of
the Tyne are studded with artificial moun-
tains. These unsightly heaps, composed of
ballast, saltpan ash, and glasshouse refuse,
began to be formed about two hundred and fifty years
ago, when the coal trade first grew to be of importance.
The Corporation of Newcastle, as Conservators of the
river, claimed to have a monopoly in the disposal of all
ballast brought into the river, charging for its delivery
on to the town shores eightpence per ton to non-freemen,
and fourpence to freemen. The understanding was that
all the ballast should be carried up to Newcastle ; and
in case a ship went no further than Shields harbour,
which happened with most, the ballast had to be taken
out of her by keelmen, and carried up the river some
eight or nine miles to the Corporation ballast shores in
or near the town. According to an ordinance of the Free
Hostmen, confirmed by the Corporation, shippers who
cast their ballast at Shields were not allowed to load
coals in the river till they had paid a certain fine for
contempt, and also paid a regular due of eightpence per
ton. It is on record that some were arrested, fined, and
imprisoned, for casting ballast "upon a sufficient shore
at Shields, without any harm to the river." It was
ordered by the Hostmen that any one who should dare
to sell coals to any such master of a ship as did not
cast his ballast upon the town shore, should forfeit
£20 per ton— an enormous fine in those days, when money
was of much more relative value than it is now.
The Ropery Banks, at the east end of Sandgate, were,
according to Bourne, the first ballast shore erected out
of the town of Newcastle itself. This site, as well as the
East Ballast Hill, a little further down the river, near
the Glass House Bridge over the Ouseburn, and between
that stream and St. Anthony's (named St. Tantlins in
bo;h Kitchen's and Bowen's maps), was purchased by
the Corporation of the Lords of Byker. The ballast
hills, almost from the day of their first formation, were
used as a burying ground by the Presbyterians and
other Dissenters in the town and neighbourhood, and
liy the poor of all denominations, down to the not very
remote date when intramural burials were prohibited by
statute. A portion of the ground was enclosed for the
purpose in 1786, the cost being defrayed by public sub-
scription. The Corporation permitted this to be done in
compliance with the prayer of a petition from the inhabit-
ants of the neighbourhood, setting forth that numbers
of swine were daily observed working and grubbing
among the graves there, near the petitioners' dwelling-
houses, to their great annoyance. The old Presbyterians,
who considered the very entrance into an Episcopal
Church an overt act of idolatry, and would by no means
suffer the funeral service to be read over their dead,
made use, from choice, of this ground ; and many others
also preferred it, on account of there being no burial fees,
and the Corporation charging only sixpence for each in-
terment. At one time, more bodies were deposited in
it than in all the churchyards in the town.
In process of time, the exigencies of trade compelled
the Corporation of Newcastle to grant licenses to different
persons to discharge and deposit ballast elsewhere than
on the town shores. But they resisted the extension
of this right as long as they could. Thus, when Sir
Robert Heath, Lord Chief-Justice of the Common Pleas,
built a ballast wharf or shore on his own land at Shields,
the Corporation interfered, contending that it would
spoil the river. But King Charles I.'s Privy Council
decided that the work should proceed, one of the reasons
being that the river was dangerous on account of the
shoals, and, therefore, ships should not be compelled to
go further up than was necessary to take in their cargo,
and another, that the shore was needed on account of the
salt-works, which, for his Majesty's service, were begun
and intended to be prosecuted. At a court held at
Greenwich on the 16th of June, 1631, it was therefore
ordered that the said shore should be finished, and backed
with ballast, to make it fit for these salt-works, and that
the seamen should have liberty freely to cast their ballast
there without interruption, if they found it convenient,
none being compelled to it or hindered from it.
About the same date Jarrow Slake, 300 acres by
estimation, was begun to be encircled by a wall, to
make it a ballast shore, " for the good of ships and
the river," it being proved that the ballast could be
cast thereon without any prejudice, "lying there safe
and sad, BO that neither the wind could blow it off, nor
the rain nor waves wash it into the river."
By and by, additional licenses were granted, the most
profitable use to which the owners of the foreshore on
the lower parts of the river could then put their land
being to erect wharves to the extent of the frontage,
and become ballast-deliverers. In this way, a long
range of ballast hills arose, in course of time, facing
the river, from Jarrow Quay Corner westwards ; and
similarly large mounds diversified the scene on both
sides of the estuary at Hebburn, Walker, and Bill
Point. Another long series was gradually heaped up,
close behind the Low Street of South Shields, running
south-west a distance of fully three-quarters of a niile-
Here the boys of the town amused themselves to their
hearts' content.
The late Mr. Thomas Salmon gives the following
spirited account of the faction fights fought upon these
hills in the days of his boyhood :—" The Fishers in the
low part of the town fought against the Fanners of the
June\
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
277
high part, the sons of the upper classes being mingled
with the other classes in the contests, the missiles used
being, not smooth atones from the brook, such as those
with which David slew Goliath, but stones of all sorts
and sizes, gathered from the hills or battle-grounds of the
respective belligerents. The two youthful armies were
usually separated from each other by a chasm in the hill,
used as a road by the carts employed in the conveyance
of ballast from ships discharging at Fairles's Crane to
the place of deposit ; and when the charges were made
the combatants rushed down from their encampment
on the hill, across the ravine, and up the other hill to the
opposite encampment, with shouts and threats ; the hats
taken on such occasions being ruthlessly sacrificed and
destroyed as warlike spoils. The cutting through of this
memorable battle-field by the Stanhope and Tyne Rail-
way of necessity caused a discontinuance of those civil
wars. "
In Fryer's map of the Tyne, dated 1773, eighteen or
twenty hills, ostensibly of ballast, are laid down as
extending from the Mill Dam, near the centre of South
Shields, to Jarrow Slake, at the back of East and West
Holborn. Upon these hills at that time there was not,
it would seem, a single house, nor was there any made
road across them — at least none is marked.
But the older of the South Shields hills were formed,
not of ballast, but of salt-pan rubbish, consisting to a
large extent of coal dust, small coal, and cinders. The
town was formerly famous for its extensive salt works,
upwards of 200 large iron pans having been constantly
employed in the manufacture of that article. There were
one or two salt wells in the neighbourhood, and probably
it was the existence of these wells that first gave rise
to the idea of manufacturing salt there ; but the chief
source of supply was sea water from the river. The
trade was carried on by several of the most wealthy
families in the town and neighbourhood. About the
beginning of last century, Shields aalt was the most
celebrated salt in the kingdom ; and at the time when
the duty upon it was £86 per ton, a great quantity
used to be smuggled into Scotland, where some of the
smugglers made little fortunes and bought landed
estates. The smoke by day from the numerous salt-
pans, and the fire by night from the adjacent heaps
of burning rubbish, were a sight such as strangers
could not but admire, and never forget. It is told of
one of the curates of St. Hilda's, who had wooed and
won his bride at Norham, that when he brought her
home to Tyneside after the happy wedding, mounted
behind him on a pillion, the young lady, as soon as
they came within sight of Shields, burst into tears,
and exclaimed, " Oh, man ! ha' ye broucht me a' this
gyet, frae the bonnie banks o' the Tweed to Sodom and
Goniorrha — for I'm shure yon's them ! "
The burning hills of Shields form the subject of a
picture which is in the possession, we believe, of the
Dean and Chapter of Durham, so long the lords of
the manor of Westoe.
It is almost needless to say that persistent mound-
building, continued for centuries, has quite transformed
the natural features of the landscape at and near the
mouth of the Tyne. South Shields particularly is no
longer anything like what Nature made it. Even con-
siderably less than a hundred years since, it was still a
sort of quiet rural place. The high and low ends of the
town were originally connected by a bridge thrown across
a wide stream, which covered what is now called the Mill
Dam. This splendid natural dock was the remains of an
old sanded-up arm of the river that had once disembogued
itself into the sea about half-way between the end of the
Herd Sand and the Trow Rocks. The remains of a large
vessel were found at a considerable depth, some years
ago, in this old channel, embedded in sea sand mixed
with shells. Some have conjectured, from the widch of
the valley and other indications, that this may in former
times have been the main channel, or at least a large
navigable mouth, so that the eminence at the Lawe, upon
which the old Roman fort stood, was originally an island,
first connected with the mainland by a long embankment,
or causeway, in continuation of the Military Way, or
Reken Dyke, literally the Giants' Dyke.
Eighty or ninety years ago, the Mill Dam, when filled
with water from the river at high tide, was a very pretty
object, its sides being covered with bright green salt
grass, with gardens sloping down to it. It figures in old
maps as a large ham-shaped basin, with the shank to the
west, spanned by a bridge, and extending fully as far east
as Waterloo Vale. But in the years 1816-18, shortly after
the general peace, and during the currency panic, the
trade of the town being in a deplorable state, anil a
number of workmen, especially shipwrights, being thrown
idle, the men were employed in filling up the Mill Dam
with ballast from a large heap which occupied the site of
the present road past the glass-works — then Cookson's.
afterwards Swinburne's, now Palmer's — and extended as
far east as the end of West Street or Joe Lee's Lane on
the one hand, and westward to the Mill Dam Bridge on
the other. Part of the ground thus "filched from the
river" — to use a phrase long current on the Tyne — was
taken to enlarge St. Hilda's churchyard, the elevation of
which, at the south end, was raised several feet.
To the west of the Beer Brewers' and Pigeons' Wells,
which were situated a little to the north of the old South
Shields waterworks, and south-west from the Mill Dam,
stood a very high ballast heap called the Vitriol Hill,
from a large vitriol manufactory which stood upon it.
When the ordnance survey was made, many years ago.
the top of this heap was used as a signal station, being
the most elevated spot in the neighbourhood. It was cut
down to clear the ground for the North-Eastern Railway
station, and the stuff taken to form embankments along
the line. This hill extended from where Coronation
278
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{June
1890.
Street was formed, at the time when George the Fourth
came to the throne, to Claypath Lane, which led round
its south base from Westoe Lane to Temple Town.
The ballast heap east of Laygate Lane and couth of
Trinity Church is of comparatively recent formation, as
are likewise some of the other mounds along the line of
the St. Hilda's waggon-way. But all the way up behind
Holborn, back from the main street, to the head of the
town, there was formerly nought but great heaps of pan
rubbish, crowding one upon another, and only interrupted
by Laygate Lane, a rough country road, or rather rut,
for the passage of lime and farm carts to and from the
town.
The enormous heap called Carpenters' Hill, between
Nile Street and Hill Street, took fire in February, 1872,
and continued burning for several years afterwards.
Some said the fire was consequent upon the erection of a
foundry at the north end of the hill, and it is certain that
it broke out in that quarter; others attributed the
casualty to the breaking of a gas-pipe. The fact is,
however, that some such accident was almost sure
to occur, sooner or later, owing to the inflammable
nature of a large proportion of the constituents of the
heap. When one house after another was destroyed by
the fire, and the whole neighbourhood was plainly in
imminent danger, the Corporation was implored to do
something to stop the destructive process ; but the
Improvement Committee could not see its way how to
interfere without infringing upon the rights of property
and taking the responsibility from the parties directly
concerned. The owners of the houses could not agree
among themselves what to do, or, indeed, to do anything,
and an Act of Parliament, or, at least, a law suit, would
have been needed to compel them. Trenches were dug
with the view of saving neighbouring houses, but neither
long enough nor deep enough to do any good. Several
tenants and owners ridiculed all idea of risk, founding
their confidence on a few yards' lineal distance ; and one
or two even refused to let their more prudent neighbours
dig trenches to isolate their bouses. By and by, however,
the fire, creeping stealthily and steadily on, reached these
unbelievers' domiciles, and one fine morning they found
themselves enveloped in foul smoke, like the after-damp
or choke-damp in a coal pit, from which, to avoid being
suffocated, they had to make their escape as fast as they
could. Thirty families were thus forcibly unhoused, and
their former habitations were reduced to blackened heaps.
Volumes of smoke issued from the west side of the hill,
and as far back as the top, even the sewers and ventilators
acting as channel pipes to convey it to all parts. The
underground fire was not suppressed till 1882, when the
whole of the property on Carpenters' Hill had been
destroyed.
A contemporary writer thus described the appearance
of the burning hills of Shields in 1874 : — ''Among the
first objects that strike a stranger on approaching the
entrance to the Tyne at night, especially after heavy
rains, are the singular fires seen burning with more or
less intensity, in the face of the curiously-thaped artificial
cliffs formed by the huge deposits of ballast and other
rubbish upon the Bents and at the Lawe. The fire is
accompanied by a loud crackling noise and a fusty,
sulphurous smell, which causes a peculiar sensation in
those who visit the place for the first time. But the sight
of incandescent pit-heap rubbish— as at Ryhope Colliery,
for instance— is familiar to all dwellers in coal countries.
It is precisely the same phenomenon, however, on a small
scale, which volcanoes present, a deal of the alkaline and
earthly stuff of which these heaps are formed being
naturally decomposed with an evolution of intense heat
whenever they come into contact with moisture."
This was not the first time that South Shields has been
subjected to a similar casualty. The hill to the west of
Cone Street took fire about ninety years ago, and quietly
burned itself out. It took its name of the Red Hill or
Red Hole, from this circumstance, owing to the bright
colour of the burnt ashes.
SC
j]ONG years ago, at a time too remote to be
specified in any local record, there lived in
Bedlingtonsbire, a part of Northumberland
belonging to the County Palatine of Dur-
ham, a worthy couple, to whom the blind goddess of
Fortune had given great store of wealth — it is not said in
what manner acquired, whether by inheritance from their
"forbears" or by their own industry and frugality.
This couple had an only child — a daughter — to whom,
when they should pay the debt of Nature, all their riches
would come. She was fair beyond her compeers, "with
ruby lips and auburn hair." She was, moreover, deeply
in love with "a famous youth," who, though he had no
fortune but his own worth, was prized by all who knew
him "for generous acts and constant truth." and who
warmly reciprocated her love.
When the girl's parents learned the state of the case,
they did all in their power to induce her to break off the
attachment, as cruel fathers and mothers are convention-
ally understood by young people always to do when there
is money on the one side and none on the other. They
did not reflect that many a hardy youth begins the world
with nothing but his head and hands, and ends with
being a millionaire ; while others, of softer mettle, whose
fathers have left them estates, die in the workhouse.
James Robson's good qualities were not unknown to them.
They knew him to be sober, steady, well-mannered, and
amiable, as well as handsome — everything, in short, that
a young fellow oueht to be. But then one thing was lack-
ing, and for that nothing in the world could make up : he
Junel
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
279
waa the son of a poor widow, whose husband had been a
hind, and he was himself only a common ploughman, living
in a cot house.
So, finding that the young woman's heart waa set upon
her penniless sweetheart, and that it was impossible to
hinder them from having almost daily or nightly stolen
interviews, the old couple, " hoping it would be for her
good," resolved to try what absence from the beloved ob-
ject could effect, and made up their minds to send her
away to an uncle's at Stokesley, in the North Riding of
Yorkshire, then practically as far from Bedlington as the
Land's End is now. The old ballad which is said to have
related the sequel, but of which only a fragment is left (if,
indeed, there was ever any more of it than the introduc-
tion, which John Bell gave to the world in his "Rhymes
of Northern Bards "), tells how, at parting, there was
many a sigh and tear
Of love and truth through life sincere ;
Nor death should part, for from the grave
Short time should the survivor save.
The lady had not been gone a week when the young man
fell deadly sick.
He sickened sore, and heart-broke died,
Which pleased her parents' greedy pride.
They determined that she should now be wed to another,
Forgetful what she'd sworn or said.
On the night after the poor lad's funeral, the old man
told his wife he would give his mare a double feed, so that
she might be able to stand a little extra fatigue the next
day. "And do thou," said he, "get all ready for a
journey. Lay out thy hood and thy safeguard (meaning
by the latter an outer petticoat, worn by women in those
days to save their clothes in riding.) I will get saddle
and pillion all right, and do thou prepare some bread and
cheese for a lunch. We shall start for Stokesley before
daybreak, and ere sundown thou shall see thy bonny
daughter, if all goes well. There is no fear but we shall
soon make her a happy bride, now that that fellow is
dead and gone."
But the purse-proud farmer was reckoning without his
host. For when that dead midnight hour arrived,
"when restless ghosts their wrongs deplore," the de-
ceased ploughman rode up to the door of the girl's
uncle at Stokesley, upon her father's favourite mare, and
knocked for admitance.
O, who is there ? the maiden cries ;
O, it is I, the ghost replies.
And then he added, "Come out quick, love. Here is
your mother's hood and safeguard, and this is your father's
good grey mare. I have been sent for you as the most
trusty messenger that could be got. You are to ride home
with me forthwith. Fear no evil. No harm shall betide
you."
The uncle, who had been wakened out of his first sleep
by the noise at the door, hearing what the messenger from
Bedlington said and, trusting that it was all right, and for
his dear niece's good that she should take her departure
thus suddenly in the middle of the night, helped her to
mount behind the man, whom he made to swear, however,
that he would take her straight away to " her father dear,"
without insult or injury, doubt or damage.
No sooner had she got fairly seated on the pillion, with
her right arm round her companion's waist to steady her-
self, than off they started.
They travelled faster than the wind ;
And in two hours, or little more,
They came unto her father's door.
This was hurricane speed ; for Stokesley is distant from
Bedlington, as the crow flies, about fifty miles, and a good
deal more by the road. Making this great haste, the
rider began to complain soon that his head did ache ;
whereupon the lady pulled out her handkerchief, and
bound it round his brow. As she did so, she exclaimed,
"My dear, you are as cold as lead." Then, the moon
breaking out from under a dark cloud, she saw with
surprise that her dear companion cast no shadow, though
both herself and mare did. Arrived at her father's door,
James set her gently down, and said
Your mare has travelled sore ;
So go you in, and, as I'm able,
I'll feed and tend her in your stable.
When she knocked, or "tirled at the pin," as the old
manner was, her father cried, " Who is there ?" ''It is
I," replied the lovely maid. "I have come home in haste
behind young James, as you ordered me." This made the
hair stand upright on the old man's head, as well it
might, he knowing that James was dead. But, letting in
his daughter, he hurried into the stable, where he could
sen "no living shape of mankind." He only found his
mare all in a sweat, which put him in a grievous fret, for
he cared infinitely more, apparently, for his cattle than
for any supernatural phenomenon.
The Flower of Bedlingtonshire, on learning the real
state of the case, went from one fainting fit into another,
and when she came partially to her senses remained quite
inconsolable. The colour left her cheek, her rosy lips
grew livid, her eye had an unnatural wildness, her whole
frame shook and quivered, and it was plain that she was
in a high fever. She was immediately put to bed, and
the doctor sent for, but he, worthy man, could do her no
good. Her symptoms and the cause of them were such as
no medicine could deal with. She lay as quiet as a lamb,
and made no complaint of any sort, but sank hopelessly
from the very first. She knew she was fast dying. She
expressed no regret at leaving this world, cut off, as she
was, in the bloom and heyday of youth, by an unhappy
fate, which had robbed her life of all its charm and hope,
and would have left her desolate had she lived. When
her mother spoke to her, she was silent ; when her father
approached her bedside, she turned away ; and yet it was
not unforgiveness, but pity — pity for him more than for
herself. The only wish she expressed was to be buried in
the same grave and laid in the same coffin with her lover.
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MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/June
\1890l
And this her last will and testament was respected, so
that it was done accordingly.
On opening the coffin, the hapless maid's handkerchief
was found tied round his head, just as she had told her
parents on her return home !
This story, which may have had some foundation in
fact, finds a parallel in Burger's celebrated ballad of
"Leonore," which takes the highest rank in its class of
lyrical compositions, and has been repeatedly translated
into English.
Tramp, tramp ! across the land they rode ;
Splash, splash ! across the sea.
Hurrah ! the dead can ride apace !
iJo'st fear to ride with me?
iUrftnrtf
, Artist.
j]R. RICHARD HALFKNIGHT, landscape
painter, was born in High Street, Sunderland,
on July llth, 1855. Educated first at Sunder-
land, and then at a private establishment kept by the
father of Miss Winifred Robinson, the violinist, on the
outskirts of Boston, Lincolnshire, young Halfknight com-
pleted his studies at Clare College, Scorton, Yorkshire.
On leaving school, he entered the office of Messrs.
Jos. Potts and Son, architects, where he soon gained a
reputation for the lovely colours he could mix for the
decoration of plans, sections, elevations, &c. ; but this
occupation proving uncongenial, he left it, and entered
his father's business as a painter and decorator. During
the evenings he worked hard at the local school of art,
under the direction of Mr. W. C. Way. All his
holidays and spare moments were devoted to copying
pictures from the small but choice collection of his
father. Mr. Halfknight was also indebted to many of
the connoisseurs residing on Wearside for the loan of
works by artists from whom he thought he might
obtain hints of a technical nature. About this period,
a marine painter, named Callow, visited Sunderland,
and. after being introduced by a mutual acquaintance,
the two became very friendly. Mr. Callow strongly
advised Mr. Halfknight to adopt painting as a profes-
sion. A legacy from a relative decided the business.
At the age of twenty-one he started for London, full of
ambition, and with a belief in his own abilities. Now
began a struggle such as he says he devoutly hopes no
other " brother of the brush >: will ever have to undergo.
In the summer of 1884 Mr. Halfknight exhibited his
first picture in the Royal Academy. This was a water-
colour drawing, which at the time most people considered
colossal in size for a work in that medium. " Dredging
on the Thames " was the title, and 50in. by 30in.
the size without frame. This year marked an epoch
in Mr. Halfknight's career, as he joined Mr. Yeend
King in a studio at St. John's Wood, a suburb famed
for its temples devoted to art. Mr. King had just
returned from a three years' sojourn in Paris, bringing
with him .a wonderful stock of technical knowledge.
Both artists being desirous of excelling as colourists,
they set to work, and before long invented a palette
which has since been largely imitated. Next year
Mr. Halfknight exhibited two large pictures at the
Royal Academy — a water-colour drawing, entitled "When
Autumn Turns the Silver Thames to Gold," which was
hung on the line in the place of honour; and an oil
painting, representing "Streatley: Late Afternoon,"
which was hung as a pendant to Mr. Vicat Cole's "Iffley
Mill." Mr. Halfknight's picture was purchased by the
Art Union of London, an institution which also honoured
him by purchasing one of his works at the Suffolk
Street Galleries during the same year.
The year 1886 was a most successful one, though fraught
with much vexation of spirit. One of his best pictures,
" Still Waters, " was then painted. Recognizing in this
a subject suitable for publishing, Mr. Halfknight had it
photographed, and spent the greater part of a month in
calling upon publishers, who, with the usual timidity of
the class, refused to take it up, their principal reason being
that Mr. Halfknight's work was unknown in their trade.
Eventually he was obliged to part with his copyright to
Messrs. Brooks and Sons for a small sum, but it gave
him the opening for- which he was striving. Scarcely a
month after it was issued three hundred copies were sold,
and the firm gave him a commission for a companion
picture — this time at his own price. Up to the present,
some ten thousand etchings of this picture have been dis-
June!
I./
1890. J
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
281
posed of, and it is still selling. The same firm has pub-
lished seven of Mr. Halfkuight's pictures. The great
French house of GoupiL, now Boussod, Valadon and Co.,
with whom the artist had been iu treaty for "Still
Waters, "now came forward and purchased two pictures,
which they afterwards published as a pair in their
process of photogravure. This venture proved remark-
ably successful, and copies were sold in such numbers that
the plates were completely worn out in two years.
In 1885, Mr. Arthur Lucas published " The Daylight
Dies," an etching by Mr. E. W. Evans, from Mr. Half-
knight's picture in possession of the Sunderland Corpora-
tion. This- also proved a successful venture.
Our portrait is reproduced from a photograph by Mr.
Robinson, 14-, Frederick Street, Sunderland.
attDr
ALLODEN HALL, a large red brick mansion,
the seat of Sir Edward Grey, Baronet, M.P.
for the Berwick-on-Tweed Division of North-
umberland, is situate about seven or eight miles north of
Alnwick. A fine avenue, a mile in length, leads to the
house, near which are many noble trees. Two silver firs
measure respectively eleven feet nine inches and ten feet
nine inches in circumference at a height of two feet from
the ground. It was at Falloden that the second Earl
Grey, whose name is rendered famous for its connection
with the passing of the Reform Bill, was born on
March 13, 1764.
FAMILY LONGEVITY.
In the churchyard of the Parish Church of St. Law-
ranee, Appleby, Westmoreland, is a headstone bearing a
remarkable record of longevity. The inscription is as
follows : —
In Memory of
JOHN HALL or HOFF Row,
who departed this life June 19th, 1716,
aged 109 years ;
also of JOHN HALL, his son, who died
Sept 18, 1744, aged 86 years ;
also of JOHN HALL of Hoff Row,
the grandson, who died March 27, 1821,
aged 101 years.
From the data given on this stone we may deduce the
following facts : — The grandfather was born in 1607, was
56 years old when his son. No. 2 J. H., was born, and
that he and his son were alive together for 53 years. The
son, No. 2 J. H., was born 1663, was 57 years old when
his son, No. 3 J. H., was born in 1720, the two being
alive together 29 years.
Owing to the lateness in life of Nos. 1 and 2 at which
their respective sons were born, the grandfather, notwith-
standing his 109 years, did not live long enough by four
years to see his grandson. To the same conjunction of
circumstances is due the fact that the three lives covered
the extraordinary space of time of 2U years, and what
this means is, I think, best realised by considering: that it
comprised the reign of James I., from its 4th year, the
reign of Charles I., the Commonwealth, the reigns of
Charles II., James II., William and Mary, Queen
282
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f June
1.1890
Anne, the 6rst three Georges, and the 1st year of George
IV.
It is also to be noted that the united ages of the three
John Halls amounted to 296 years, wanting only four
years to give an average of a century each, the actual
average being 98 years 8 months.
For successive longevity in three generations, and for
great expanse of time over which the three lives were
spread, this must surely be a unique case.
G. WATSON, Penrith.
JOURNALISTIC ENTERPRISE AT KENDAL.
In 1837, as in 1890, there existed great competition
among the London daily papers for the possession of
"early intelligence," and the managers of the Morning
Herald hit upon a clever scheme to forestall other papers
in the printing of a political manifesto, delivered by Sir
Robert Peel at Glasgow, on Friday, January 13th, 1837.
Arrangements having previously been made with the
editor of the Kendal Mercury, the Morning Herald re-
porters arrived by post-chaise at Kendal on the Saturday
evening, the Glasgow speech having been delivered the
night before. The compositors immediately set to work,
and early on Sunday morning six columns were ready
for the press. In the nick of time, another post-chaise
arrived with 2,000 copies of th Herald, with a
blank page for the six columns already set up in
Kendal. This page was printed as fast as possible, and
the papers were despatched on Sunday to all parts of
Scotland and the North of England. At two o'clock en
the same day a copy of the Herald was presented to Sir
Robert Peel, as he passed through Kendal from Scotland,
to his great astonishment ; for if the paper had been
printed in London it must have travelled 700 miles in
35 hours, omitting time required for transcribing, set-
ting up type, &c., &c., and all this without the aid of
railways or telegraphs. It was some time before the
secret of this journalistic smartness leaked out.
G. W. NUGENT-HOPPER, Houghton-le-Spring.
"OLD WILL RITSON."
The following anecdote is related of "Old Will Rit-
son, " whose portrait appears on page 189 of the present
volume of the Monthly Chronicle:— While acting in his
capacity of guide, "Old Will" had occasion to con-
duct a party of tourists to the summit of Scawfell
Pike. The pleasure party contained a well-known
bishop, whose busy, sedentary life gave him little
opportunity of indulging in regular exercise. The
top of the Pike was nearly reached, when the
bishop, who was in anything but good training, sank
on a boulder, and declared he could not climb any
further. " Old Will," who was proud of having a bishop
for his companion, and was loth to lose sight of his lord-
ship, by way of exhorting him to further efforts, said, in
all innocence, " Come, my lord, don't give up ! Maybe
you'll never have a chance of being so near heaven
again ! " No one enjoyed the joke more than the worthy
bishop, and " Old Will " would often tell the story with
great glee.
G. W. NUGENT-HOPPER, Houghton-le-Spring.
THE OLD MILL, JESMOND DENE.
The picturesque Old Mill in Jesmond Dene, New-
castle, is supposed to have been built some time in the
thirteenth century. It was, no doubt, constructed for a
flour mill, where farmers in the neighbourhood took their
corn to be ground into flour, and then sold the flour to
shopkeepers — not like the farmers of the present day,
who sell the corn to the miller, who in turn sells it to
the merchant. For three or four generations the mill
was occupied by a family named Freeman, who used it
as a flour mill. It was then taken by a person named
Pigg, who used it for grinding spoiled grain into pollards,
a kind of feeding for pigs. It was next leased to a per-
son named Charlton, who turned it into a flint-mill.
The flint was carted there and ground, and then put in
barrels and conveyed to the Pottery down the Ouseburn.
The present caretaker at the Banqueting Hall, Jesmond
Dene, worked the mill for Mr. Charlton. He helped
to put the present water-wheel in about twenty-five
years ago. The mill formerly belonged to Dr. Head-
lam. It was purchased from him by Sir William, now
Lord Armstrong, who also bought the lease from Mr.
Charlton. It has never worked since it became his pro-
perty, but has been painted and photographed by innu-
merable artists and photographers.
O. M., Jesmond Dene.
THE REMAINS OF THE FORSTERS AT BAM-
BOROUGH.
A contributor to a Newcastle newspaper has summa-
rised the particulars of Archdeacon Thorpe's examination
of the coffins of the Forster family. On the 24th of
September, 1847, the archdeacon's curiosity led him
into the crypt beneath Bamborourgh Chancel. On
a rude stone platform were five coffins. The first was
perfect, and contained the body of Mr. Bacon Forster, of
Adderstone, who died in 1765. The second contained the
body of Ferdinando Forster, who died in 1701. The
coffin had fallen to pieces, but there were traces of a whole
figure. The leg and thigh bones were entire, and, in
place of the skull, on which the coffin lid had fallen, was
a mass of dust like white lime. This was the Forster
that was said to have been murdered at New-
castle by Fenwick of Rock. In the third coffin was
the body of John or William Forster, who died in
1700. The coffin was in much the same state as the
preceding, with the difference that the skull was perfect
The fourth coffin contained the body of General Forster,
the leader of the Northumberland rebels. The fifth and
last coffin contained the body of Dorothy Forster, who
June!
1890. |
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
283
was buried in 1739. The coffin had fallen to pieces, and
the remains were not consumed. The ribbon which had
confined the jaw of the corpse was lying near it. It was
this Dorothy who was said to have delivered her brother
General Forster from prison.
STYFORD, Newcastle.
THOMAS TOPHAM IN GATESHEAD.
The following notice, distributed in April, 1739, records
the appearance of a celebrated character in Gateshead :—
For the benefit of Thomas Topham, the strong man
from Islington, whose performances have been looked
upon by the Royal Society and several persons of distinc-
tion to be the most surprising, as well as curious, of any-
thing ever performed in England ; on which account, as
other entertainments are more frequently met with than
what he proposes, he humbly hopes ladies and gentlemen,
&c., will honour him with their presence at the Nag's
Head, in Gateshead, on Monday, the 23d of this instant,
at four o'clock, where he intends to perform several feats
of strength, viz. : — He bends an iron poker three inches in
circumference, over his arm, and one of two inches and a
quarter round his neck ; he breaks a rope that will bear
two thousand weight, and with his fingers rolls up a pewter
dish of seven pounds hard metal ; he lays the back part of
his head on one chair and his heels on another, and suffer-
ing four men to stand on his body, he moves them up and
down at pleasure ; he lifts a table six feet in length by his
teeth, with a half-hundredweight hanging at the further
end of it ; and lastly, to oblige the public, he will lift a
butt full of water. Each person to pay one shilling,
K. D. M., Rochdale.
NEWCASTLE IN DANGER.
The following extract trom the "Life of Alderman
Barnes" shows how Newcastle-on-Tyne had a marvellous
escape from destruction about the year 1684 : —
One of his brother-in-law's (Alderman Hutchinson's)
apprentices, stepping up into the back lofts to fetch some-
what he wanted, in his heedlessness and haste stops his
candle into a barrel of gunpouder whose head was struck
off, to serve instead of a candlestick. But the man, reflect-
ing upon what he had done, was struck with affright men t ;
his heart failed him, nor durst he stay any longer, but,
running downstairs, leaves the candle burning in the gun-
pouder cask, and, with horror, trembling, and despair,
tells the family what indiscretion he had committed.
They were all immediately at their witt's-end, and well
they might, for the lofts were three stories high, very
large, and stowed full with whatever is combustable, as
brandy, oil, pitch, tar, rosin, flax, allum, hopps, and many
barrells of gunpouder. Had the candle fallen to one side,
or had the least spark fallen from the snuff into the cask,
the whole town had been shaken, and the low part
of it immediately blown up and in a blaze ; but one of
the labourers, a stout fellow, run forthwith into the loft,
and, joyning both his hands together, drew the candle
softly up between his middlemost fingers, so that if any
snuff had droppt, it must have fallen into the hollow of
the man's hand, and by this means was Newcastle saved
from being laid in ashes.
J. W. FAWCETT, The Grange, Satley.
THOMAS MORTON, BISHOP OF DURHAM.
From the "Topography of York," we learn that the
above-named prelate was born in the Pavement, York, in
1564. His father, Richard Morton (allied to Cardinal
Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury), was a mercer, and
is said to have been the first of his trade that lived here
— his successors in it being his apprentices. Morton
entered St. John's College, Cambridge, of which he
became a Fellow. Subsequently he became chaplain to
Lord Evers, and was sent as ambassador to the King of
Denmark and some German princes by King James I.,
after which he was preferred to the deaneries of
Gloucester and Winchester first, then to the sees of
Chester, Coventry, and Lichfield, and lastly to Durham.
He was deprived of the latter bishopric by the Parliament
in 1640, and died in 1659, aged 95. The writer of the
prelate's life says that he was schoolfellow at York with
Guy Fawkes, the Gunpowder Plot conspirator.
NIGEL, York.
THE INVASION OF NEWCASTLE.
A group of workmen were discussing the possibilities
and probabilities of a foreign invasion, anci one of them,
laying special stress upon the fact that Britain was so
largely the workshop of the whole world, remarked, in sad
accents : "Wey, wey, cheps, it'll be an aaful thing te see
worsels killed, and wor toons block-heeded wiv ships o'
wor aan myekin" an' building ! And, mebbies, Sor
William hissel might be put te the sword wi'yeu of his
aan guns !"
THE RESURRECTION DAY.
The graveyard at Hetton-le-Hole having been too long
in use, the bones of the departed are often dug up in
making new graves. On a recent occasion, two miners
who had been attending a funeral adjourned to a public-
house to have some refreshment, wheu one of them, who
was of a reflective turn of mind, said to his " marrow " :
" Man, Geordy, aa wes just thinking that at the Resur-
rection Day it will tyek 'em three weeks at least to get
thorsels put reet, they seem se mixed up !"
A MONOPOLY.
"What's a monopoly, Geordy," said a Broomside
workman, as he conned over a newspaper in which was
recorded the assertion that the syndicate which had pur-
chased the Durham Carpet Manufactory wished to ha\e
a monopoly. "Wey, man, aa cannet say for sartin what
it is," was the answer ; "but aa believe it's like that
publican in Dorham thor that hes the notish stuck up
in his bar tellin' the customers that he dissent alloo
sweering in his hoose, caas he keeps a man in the back
yard te de that for the customers. If that's not a
monopoly, aa divvent knaa what is. But, man, that chep
in the back yard will hev a het time on't if he hes te de
aa'll the sweering for ivvorybody whe gans te the
hoose ! "
THE WEDDING BINO.
Pitman (returning to photographer with proof of group,
himself and wife) : " I say, Mistor, luik at that photo-
284
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/June
\ 1890.
graph : ye can't see the wife's wedding ring." Photo-
grapher : "Oh, that's not of much consequence." Pit-
man: "Isn't it, begox? Folks'll think we are living a
debaached life ! "
JUNIOR OR SENIOR.
A member of a local co-operative store having handed
in his checks, was asked his name by the clerk. "James
Thompson, "was the reply. " Junior or senior ?" "Wey,
aa divvent knaa ; but thoo can put us doon Ctesar if thoo
likes ; aa's ne way partic'lor ! "
WHAT COLOUR WAS IT?
A Byker woman was instructing her son as to the pur-
chase of a new suit of clothes. "Divvent get a varry
dark suit, nor a varry leet yen ; but get yen that's nythor
yen nor t'uthor — a sort of mizzly-mazzly mixtor like
peppor-an'-salt !"
LORD STOVVELL AND LOUD LOVELL.
Mr. John Lovell, the editor of the Liverpool Mercury,
who died lately, was at one time manager of the Press
Association. During a visit to Newcastle, Mr. Lovell
was introduced to a gentleman of the name of Stowell —
the Rev. William Stowell, then connected with the New-
castle press. "Mr. Lovell— Mr. Stowell." "Ah, "said
Mr. Lovell, "any relation to Lord Stowell?" "No,"
said Mr. Stowell : "any relation to Lord Lovell?"
THE NORTHUMBERLAND DIALECT.
Dr. Bruce, at a recent meeting of the Society of
Antiquaries, told the following story :— When the old
Percy Volunteers were summoned to the metropolis to
put down the Lord George Gordon riots, two gentlemen
who were passing were s- truck by the massive appear-
ance of the men, and one went up to a volunteer and
asked who they were. "The Northumborlind Tenintorry
Voluntyors." " What did you say ?" asked the gentleman.
"The Nor-thum-bor-lind Tenintorry Voluntyors," was
again the response. The gentleman retired, utterly
unable to understand the man's language, and remarked
to his companion, " I think they are Germans. "
LEGAL VERBIAGE.
Robin Goodfellow tells the following anecdote in the
Newcastle Weekly Chronicle :— There lived in Newcastle
a few years ago a witty lawyer of the name of Philip
Stanton. Mr. Stanton had for one of his clients a
well-known Quaker bachelor of that time. The client
complained of the useless verbiage employed in legal
documents. The lawyer, however, explained that pre-
cise and elaborate expressions were necessary in all
legal instruments. "For instance," he said, "if an
earthquake were to occur in Newcastle, the ordinary
newspaper report would probably read as follows : —
'Mr. Batchelor and his housekeeper were thrown
out of bed.' But a lawyer, drawing up a legal account of
the occurrence, would say: — "Mr. Batchelor and his
housekeeper were thrown out of their respective beds.'"
It is not recorded that the client had anything more to
say on the subject.
At the Union Workhouse, Hexharn, on the 10th of
April, there died a man named William Jordan, who had
attained the patriarchal age of 101 years. The deceased
belonged to Corbridge. On the 25th of the same month,
the death of another centenarian, named James Taylor,
at the age of 101 years, was reported at a meeting of the
Middlesbrough Sanitary Committee.
On the llth of April, Mr. William Burnett, a well-
known North Shields character, died at his residence,
Milburn Place, in that town. The deceased, who was
blind from his birth, was for some time a member of the
Tynemouth Council.
On the 12th of April, Superintendent Robert Thorpe,
head of the detective department of Middlesbrough police
force, dropped down dead from heart disease, while in-
vestigating a case of robbery.
The remains of Mr. John Wiloox, shoemaker, were in-
terred in the cemetery at Alnwick on the 15th of April.
The deceased, who died on the 12th, at t he advanced age
of 87 years, was the oldest freeman of Alnwick.
On the 12th of April, also, died the Rev. John James
Sidley, Vicar of Branxton, Cornhill-on-Tweed. The rev.
gentleman received his appointment to Branxton in
November, 1888, previous to which he was Vicar of Cambo,
Curate of Christ Church, Gateshead, and of the Cathe-
dral, Newcastle. The cause of death was influenza.
Mr. Robert Reed, of the Lodge, Felling, late manager
of Fulling Colliery, died at Croft on the 14th of April.
The deceased was a member of the Board of Guardians
and of the Felling Local Board. He was 74 years of age.
On the same day, at the age of 75, died Mr. Matthew
Henderson, for thirty-five years superintendent of All
Saints' Cemetery, Newcastle.
Mr. Alderman William Galloway, of Bensham Tower,
Saltwell Lane, Gateshead, died there on the 19th of
April. He was in his 71st year. For some time he
carried on the business of nail manufacturer in New-
castle, subsequently transferring it to Gateshead, with
which town he became more closely identified. Enter-
ing the Council about 1869, he was elevated to the posi-
tion of Mayor in 1875, and in 1877 he was raised to the
alderman ic bench.
On the same day, at the age of 72, died Mr. Mason
Watson, at his residence in Summerhill Street, New-
castle. The deceased was a native of North Shields.
Migrating to Newcastle when quite a youth, he became
an assistant to Sir John Fife. After the death of that
gentleman, he commenced business as a chemist, but,
relinquishing that trade in 1868, he became an estate and
property agent.
Mr. John Sadler Challoner, founder of the stockbroking
firm which bears his name in Dean Street, Newcastle,
also died on the 19th of April. Mr. Challoner, who had
reached the advanced age of 79 years, had likewise been
for some years a member of the Board of Guardians. The
deceased was a son of Mr. John Challoner, who formerly
held an important position under the old Newcastle and
Carlisle Railway Company.
Mr. Robert Frazer, who had acted as postmaster at
Consett for ten or twelve years, died on the 19th of April,
at the age of 62.
On the 21st of April, Mr. William Peel, an old Radical
Jnnel
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
285
reformer and temperance advocate, died at Gateshead.
He was a member of the Primitive Methodist Church,
and was at one time a preacher in that body. He was a
member of the Council of the Northern Reform Union,
and an effective speaker at its meetings. The deceased
was in the 74th year of bis age.
Mr. W. Telford, for many years a member of the New
castle police force, and afterwards one of the city lodging
house inspectors, died on the 23rd of April, in the 61st
year of his age.
Mr. William John Pawson, of Shawdon, who was High
Sheriff of Northumberland in 1861, and was in the 73rd
year of his age, died on the 23rd of April.
On the 25th of April, the death was announced as
having taken place, at his son's residence, Wardley Hall,
of Mr. John Swallow, who stood with George Stephenson,
the inventor of the locomotive, on one of his early pro-
ductions at its first trial at West Moor. Mr. Swallow
was 78 years of age.
Mr. John M. Gray, of the Redhouse Farm, Jarrow,
a member of the South Shields Board of Guardians, died
on April 28, aged 36.
" Elfin," in the Newcastle Daily Chronicle of the 1st of
May, announced the death of Mr. Thomas Thompson, of
Sewing Shields, Northumberland, the champion player on
the Northumberland small-pipes.
On the 30th of April, Mrs. F. J. W. Collingwood, of
Glanton Pyke, Northumberland, died at Springfield,
Sydenham.
Mr. Henry Ridgeway, who for sixty years had carried
on the business of cutler and ironmonger in Sunderland,
died on the 1st of May, at the age of 88.
Mr. H. A. Dale, for many years chief book-keeper for
the Tyne Commission, died on the 2nd of May.
Dr. George Douglass, formerly district medical officer
for East Gateshead, died at Gateshead on the 3rd May.
The deceased, who was also a magistrate for the borough,
was about 57 years of age.
On the same day, in the Gateshead Workhouse, died
George Stephensou, a local character, better kuown by
the nickname of " The Hatter."
Mr. Hugh Dryden, a well-known and much-esteemed
farmer, belonging to Ling Close Farm, near Haswell, also
died on the 3rd of May, at the ripe old age of 87 years.
On the 5th of May, Mr. Charles Thubron, of the firm
of Messrs. R. Thubron and Co., timber merchants, New-
castle, died at Matlock, where he had gone for the
benefit of his health. He was 55 years of age.
On the same day, died the Rev. John Parker, long pastor
of Smyrna Presbyterian Church, Borough Road, Sunder-
land, and the oldest minister of religion in that town.
Mr. Parker, who was a native of Greenlaw, Berwickshire,
first went to Sunderland as minister at the Presbyterian
Church, in Spring Garden Lane, 57 yeai-s ago, and he
was one of the first temperance reformers in the town.
The deceased gentleman was 82 years of age.
Mr. William Crofton, one of the old standards of
Chester-le-Street, and a freeman of the city of Durham,
likewise died on the 5th of May. The deceased was over
80 years of age.
Mrs. Sarah Fellows, who was the oldest inhabitant of
Greenside, where she had resided almost all her life, died
in that village on the 5th of May, at the age of 85 years.
Mr. Thomas Phipps, an old railway contractor, and a
native of Barrasford, North Tyne, died on the bth of May.
Among the works executed by Mr. Phipps was the
Border Counties Railway, now known as the Waverley
route.
On the same day died Mrs. Pocklington Senhouse,
Netherall, Cumberland, at the advanced age of 85. The
deceased lady was the representative of a family which
has held a leading position in Cumberland for nearly four
hundred years.
Mr. William R. Fawcett, solicitor, of Stockton, died
very suddenly shortly after addressing a public meeting
at Skelton, near Saltburn, on the bth of May. The
deceased gentleman was 49 years of age.
Mrs. Corvan, widow of Ned Corvan, the well-known
Tyneside comedian, vocalist, and poet, died at the house
of her brother-in-law, Mr. Michael Purvis, pilot, South
Shields, on the 7th of May.
On the 8th of May, Mr. John Marwood, chairman of
the Redcar Local Board, died at the age of about sixty
years.
In the Railway Herald of the 10th of May was an-
nounced the death, as having taken place on April 19, of
Mr. John Hedley, late locomotive superintendent at
Beattock Station, on the Caledonian Railway. The
deceased, who was 82^ years old, passed his early years
at Killingworth, and was a schoolfellow of the late
Robert Stephenson, the eminent engineer.
Mr. Matthew Armstrong, a native of Alston, and long
connected with the establishment of Messrs. R. and W.
Hawthorn, at Forth Banks, Newcastle, died at the age of
77, on the 10th of May.
On the same day, died, at the age of 79 years, Mr.
Matthew Sheraton, who was for many years one of the
leading drapers in Sunderland.
Kcc0rtr at
©cramiucjs.
APRIL.
11.— -A joint committee of Durham coalowners and
miners was appointed to consider the best means of im-
proving the relations between the two bodies.
— The North-Eastern Basic Slag Mills at Middles-
brough were destroyed by fire.
—Lord Wolmer, M.P., addressed a political meeting
at Darlington, under the auspices of the Durham and
North Riding Liberal Unionist Association. On a sub-
sequent evening he spoke at Durham.
12. — The dead body of a wherryman named John Corby,
about 35 years of age, was found in the river Tyne at
Newcastle, a heavy chain being tightly wound round the
corpse.
— A handsome memorial to the memory of the late Mr.
William Ferguson Locke, an active and advanced politi-
cian, who died on the 7th of September, 1889, aged 48 '
years, was publicly unveiled in Bedlington Cemetery,
by Mr. Thomas Burt, M.P. The following lines, by
Dr. James Trotter, were sculptured beneath the inscrip-
tion : —
Here lies a man whose badge of fame
Was fairly won in freedom's name.
Whose gen'rous heart and mind sincere
Were tempered by his judgment clear ;
For whom fair virtue sketched a plan,
And fashioned him an honest man.
286
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{June
1890.
Now truth her fearless champion mourns.
And virtue's altar dimly burns :
While friendship wanders through the gloom
To plant a wreath upon his tomb,
And grave on freedom's sacred rock
The honoured name of William Locke.
— Mechanics' Institutes, presented to the workmen of
the respective collieries by the Cowpen Coal Company,
were inaugurated at Cowpen Colliery and the Isabella Pit.
— A miners' hall was opened at New Seaham.
— There were great rejoicings and festivities at Newton
Hall, on the occasion of the coming of age of Miss Maud
Isabel Joicey, eldest daughter of the late Colonel Joicey,
M.P. for Durham.
—A new cemetery for Byker and Heaton, Newcastle,
was opened on the Benton Road.
13.— For the first time in the history of Durham, a
church parade of friendly society members took place in
that city.
—A juvenile evangelist, termed "The Boy Preacher, "
from Cumberland, commenced a series of services in the
Nelson Street Primitive Methodist Chapel, Newcastle.
A similar phenomenon appeared in Newcastle on the 1st
of October, 1835.
U.— The Sunderland bricklayers agreed to accept an
advance of a farthing an hour in their wages.
— "Sampson," another strong man, appeared at the
Gaiety Theatre of Varieties. Nelson Street, Newcastle.
(See ante, page 240.)
— A young woman, named Margaret Duncan, was ac-
cidentally shot at Newbottle, by the discharge of an air-
gun carried by a young man called John J. Raine. She
died on the 16th.
15.— It was stated that the will of the late Mr. John
Fleming, solicitor, Newcastle, had been proved, the per-
sonalty amounting to £185,224- 15s., while the real estate
was estimated as worth £100,000.
—Mr. Gainsford Bruce, Q.C., M.P., presided at the
ninth annual meeting of the Newcastle branch of the
Lord's Day Observance Society.
— The Kev. A. S. Wardroper, on leaving All Saints'
Church, Newcastle, was presented with an oak casket and
a purse containing 200 sovereigns.
16. — An Old Boys' Club, for athletic and social pur-
poses, was formed in connection with the Royal Grammar
School, Newcastle.
The spring show of the Incorporated Botanical and
Horticultural Society of Durham, Northumberland, and
Newcastle, was opened in the Town Hall, Newcastle.
The total proceeds for the two days amounted to £140, or
about £16 less than last year.
— It was agreed to renew the sliding scale wages' ar-
rangement in connection with the Cleveland blast-furnace-
men.
17.— At the Bow Street Police Court, London, Mr.
James Davis was fined £50 and costs for having published
a libel on the Earl of Durham in the Sat newspaper.
— In the Court of Queen's Bench, before Mr. Justice
Denman and a special jury. Miss Amelia Hairs brought
an action aeainst Sir George Elliot, Bart., M.P., for breach
of promise of marriage. On the following day the jury
disagreed, and were discharged without a verdict.
—The s.8. Euclid, of Sunderland, foundered at sea off
Seaham, after having been in collision with the s.?. Altyre,
of Aberdeen, the captain and three of the crew of the
Euclid being drowned.
18.— The Rev. J. Rees having resigned the living of
St. Jude's Church, Newcastle, the appointment was ac-
cepted by the Rev. Charles Digby Seymour, curate of
Christ Church, Shieldfield, and son of Mr. W. Digby
Seymour, County Court Judge, Newcastle.
— An International Photographic Exhibition, promoted
by and under the management of the Northern Counties
Photographic Association, was opened in the Art Gal-
lery, Newcastle, by the Mayor, Mr. T. Bell, in the pre-
sence of a very large company.
— A man was badly hurt at a fire which broke out in
Sir Raylton Dixon and Co.'s No. 2 shipyard at Mid-
dlesbrough.
—The degree of LL.D. was conferred by Edinburgh
University on Mr. James Hardy, hon. secretary of the
Berwickshire Naturalists' Field Club, for his life-long
devotion and his most important services to natural
science and archseology.
19. — The servants and constables employed by the
North-Eastern Railway Company received an advance of
a shilling per week in their wages.
20.— Dr. Fergus Ferguson, of Glasgow, preached in
Bath Lane Church, Newcastle, his sermons having
special reference to the late Rev. Dr. Rutherford.
21. — It was announced that Mr. John Charlton, of
Cullercoats, had received a command from the Queen to
paint a picture of the procession from Buckingham
Palace to Westminster Abbey on the occasion of her
Majesty's jubilee in 1887.
— A conference of members of the religious bodies of
Newcastle, Gateshead, and the district was held in the
hall of the Young Men's Christian Association, New-
castle, for the purpose of promoting united religious
action with regard to drunkenness, gambling, and other
prevalent social evils. The Rev. Canon Lloyd, vicar of
Newcastle, presided, and a committee was appointed.
— The Rev. Canon Pennefather was appointed vice-
chairman of the Newcastle School Board, in room of the
late Dr. Rutherford.
22.— The Mayor of Morpeth (Mr. F. E. Schofield) was
presented, at a meeting of the Town Council, with a new
gold chain, to be worn by him on official occasions, to be
handed by him to his successor, and so on from M ayor
to Mayor in perpetuity.
23.— This being St. George's Day, the soldiers attached
to the depot of the Northumberland Fusiliers at New-
castle wore cockades of roses on their hats.
24. — It was announced that the will of Mr. Alder-
man Henry Milvain. of Newcastle, had been proved at
the Probate Court. The gross value of his personal estate
was set down at £36,479 17s. 2d., and the net value
£22,617 3s. 8d.
—Mr. O'Leary. president of the Royal Academy of
Music, London, and Mr. John Francis Barnett, who
represented the Royal College of Music, visited New-
castle for the purpose of examining candidates for scholar-
ships and certificates.
25. — Mr. James Coltman, a member of the Newcastle
Board of Guardians, received a letter from Mr. Charles
D. Andrews, Leominster, executor of the will of Mr.
Lewis Thompson, who bequeathed £15,000 for the relief
of the rates in the parish of Byker, intimating that the
money would be invested, and that the interest would be
duly forwarded in accordance with the conditions of the
will. (See voL for 1889, pp. 286, 322, and 478.)
—The boundaries of the borough of Morpeth were
perambulated by the Mayor and Corporation.
Juno\
1890.;
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
287
— At a meeting of the Sunderland and Newcastle Com-
mittee of the Primitive Methodists, in Newcastle, it was
stated that Mrs. Shaw, of Gateshead, who died some time
ago, had bequeathed £926 4s. 7d. to the Primitive
Methodist body.
— The Rev. J. G. Binney, Congregational minister,
Gateshead, was presented with a bicycle by the members
of his church.
26. — Master Willie Scott, a little pianist, 11 years old
gave bin first public performance at the Art Gallery,
Newcastle.
—Mr. George Bell, jun., was elected a member of the
Newcastle School Board, in room of the late Dr. Ruther-
ford.
— Memorial stones were laid of a new Wesleyan Chapel
and manse at Amble.
28. — The Rev. John Thompson, M.A., of Westmore-
land Road Presbyterian Church, Newcastle, was elected
Moderator of the Synod of the Presbyterian Church of
England, whose sittings commenced at Liverpool.
—Mr. Samuel Plimsoll, the sailors' friend, visited Sun-
derland.
—A town's meeting, called by the Mayor, in response
to a numerously-signed requisition, was held in the Town
Hall, Newcastle, to take into consideration the advisa-
bility of having musical performances in the parks and
recreation grounds on Sundays. The Mayor (Mr. T. Bell)
presided. A resolution was submitted on behalf of the re-
quisionists asking for the withdrawal of the decision of the
City Council prohibiting music in the parks or recreation
grounds on Sundays, to which an amendment in favour
of the Council's resolution remaining in force was moved.
The Mayor declared the amendment to be carried by a
small majority.
29. — An ironworker named Richard Brown, about 40
years of age, residing in Hewitt's Court, Nun's Lane,
Gateshead, leaped from the High Level Bridge into the
river Tyne, and was afterwards rescued in safety.
— The operative joiners of Newcastle and Gateshead
resolved to accept an advance of 2s. Id. per week in their
wages.
30. — It was announced that a new turret clock, with
striking machinery, had been erected by Earl Grey on his
residence at Howick Hall.
— A destructive fire broke out at Messrs. Brown's
timber yard, Stockton Street, West Hartlepool.
— The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh passed through
Newcastle, en route for Edinburgh, where they opened an
International Exhibition on the following day.
— The large public lamps at the Cattle Market and the
Central Station, Newcastle, were lighted by electricity,
for the first time.
— The ceremony of confirming the election of the Rev.
Brooke FOBS Westcott, D.D., as Bishop of Durham, was
performed in the York Minster, before the Right Rev. the
Lord Bishop of Beverley, acting as Commissioner for the
Archbishop of York. The consecration of the new
Bishop took place on the following day in Westminster
Abbey.
MAY.
1. — Eighty thousand pounds of tea were taken out of
bond in Newcastle, the largely-increased demand being
attributable to the reduction of duty of 2d. per Ib. coming
into force through Mr. Goschen's Budget.
— The ancient ceremony of riding the bounds of Berwick
was performed by the Mayor, Sheriff, and members of
the Town Council.
— A tbree days' auction of the furniture and appoint-
ments of the late Mr. John Fleming, solicitor, was
brought to a close at Gresham House, Newcastle. The
books included copies of Bewick's "Fables " and Brand's
"History and Antiquities of Newcastle," the former of
which was sold for £5 5s.. and the latter for £4 4s.
2.— Pecuniary difficulties, which threatened to inter-
pose, having been overcome, the syndicate of Cambridge
University resolved to accept the gift of the Newall Tele-
scope ; and it was resolved to appoint as observer Mr. H.
F. Newall, of Trinity College, son of the donor, who had
generously offered his services in that capacity gra-
tuitously for five years, in addition to promising £300 for
the initial expense. (See volume for 1889, p. 283.)
— The Duke of Northumberland was elected president
of the Royal Institution.
3. — Messrs. A. Tindall and Co., agricultural auctioneers,
opened a new mart at Bellingham, Northumberland.
— Miss Helen Gladstone, daughter of the Right Hon.
W. E. Gladstone, M.P., opened a new High School for
Girls in Jesmoud, Newcastle. (See page 257.)
— \V. H. Shipley, of South Shields, made a balloon
ascent from Jesmond Football Field, Newcastle, and,
after attaining a height of 1,700 feet, alighted safely by
means of a parachute on the Town Moor, near the Cow-
gate.
4. — The Rev. J. W. Bowman, B.A., commenced his
work as minister of West Clayton Street Congregational
Church, Newcastle.
5. — At the Elswick Shipyard of Sir W. G. Armstrong,
Mitchell, and Co., there was launched an armed cruiser,
named the Necochea, built for the Argentine Government.
6. — A conference on the subject of allotment culture
and small fruit firms was held in the theatre of the
Literary and Philosophical Institution, Newcastle, where
an address was given by Mr. R. K. Goodrich, of Brook
Glen, Methwold, Norfolk, founder of the Fruit Farm
Colony.
— Probate of the will of the late Mr. Alderman John Oliver
Scott, of Newcastle, was issued from the Probate Court
at Newcastle, the total value of the personalty beiug
£47,958 14s. lid.
— The Presbyterian congregation of St. George's
Church, Sunderland, took possession of their new
building in Belvedere Road. The opening service was
conducted by the Rev. J. Oswald Dykes, D.D.
—At Tynemouth Congregational Church, Miss Annie
Marshall, daughter of Mr. F. C. Marshall, managing
director of Messrs. Hawthorn, Leslie, and Co.'s works.
Newcastle, was married to Mr. William Henry White,
Naval Constructor to the Admiralty, and formerly con-
nected with the Elswick shipyard of Sir W. G. Armstrong
and Co.
7.— To celebrate the jubilee of Forestry in the Shields
district, a banquet was held in the Free Library
Hall, South Shields, when upwards of 200 gentlemen sat
down at the tables. The chair was occupied by Brother
W. R. Smith.
—At a special meeting of the Newcastle Council, it was
unanimously decided to confer the freedom of the city on
Mr. H. M. Stanley, the eminent African explorer.
7. — While foundations were being prepared at Nicholson
House stables, near Christ Church, Sunderland, the work-
men came across a human skeleton, which was lying face
288
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/June
1890.
upwards. What appeared to be the remains of an urn
of ancient date, with a halfpenny dated 1627, were found
at the same place.
8. — A meeting was held, under the presidency of the
Mayor of Newcastle, for the purpose of considering the
advisability of transferring the assets and liabilities of
the Hartley Colliery Relief Fund to the Northumberland
and Durham Miners' Permanent Relief Fund, but the
matter was adjourned to another meeting.
— It was announced that the will of Dr. J. H. Ruther-
ford, of Newcastle, had just been proved, the amount of
the personal estate being given as £1,4-99 12s. 4d.
10. — What is known as the twelve o'clock Saturday
came into operation in the engineering and kindred trades
on the Tyne, Wear, and Tees.
10. — The coming-of-age of the Co-operative Printing
Society was celebrated by a dinner and miscellaneous
entertainment in the dining-room of the Co-operative
Wholesale Society, Newcastle, the chair being occupied
by Mr. John Sbotton, chairman of the Newcastle branch.
— A social re-union of Welshmen took place in the
Whitbum Street Wesleyan School, Monkwearmoutb.
(5menil ©ccumnccs.
APRIL.
12. — The Marquis Tseng, the distinguished Chinese
statesman, died at Pekin.
17. — Mr. Goschen presented his Budget statement to
the House of Commons. The chief propositions contained
in it were the reduction of the duty on tea by 2d. per lb.,
and on the beer duty by 3d. per bnrrel. Duties on gold
and silver plate were to be abolished, while the duty on
currants, inhabited houses, health insurance policies, and
apprentices' indentures, was to be reduced. The duty on
spirits was to be increased 6d. per gallon. The surplus,
estimated to amount to three millions and a half, was
to be utilized in the building of barracks, in equipments
for volunteers, and in the reduction to 2^d. of the Indian
and Colonial postage. Another feature of the Budget
scheme was the transfer to the County Councils of the
revenue from the increased spirit duties, for the purpose
of compensating publicans for such licenses as it may be
thought proper to extinguish.
— James Davis was fined £50 and costs for having
libelled Lord Durham in a publication called The Bat.
— Mr. John Barnett, the well known musical composer,
died at Cheltenham. He was 88 years of age. Amongst
his compositions were the "Mountain Sylph," the first
English opera, and a large number of popular songs, such
as " The Light Guitar," "Rise, Gentle Moon," &c.
— Serious conflicts took place between the military and
some workmen on strike in Moravia.
18. — An action for breach of promise of marriage was
brought against Sir George Elliot by Miss, Emiline
Hairs, a professional singer. After two days' hearing,
the jury disagreed.
20. — A French force of 350 men was defeated and
driven back by the Daliomians at Porto Novo, West
Coast of Africa. The French loss was thirty soldiers
and twenty native auxiliaries wounded.
23. — Riots occurred at Biala, in Galicia. The soldiers
were resisted, and compelled to use their firearms, several
rioters being killed and wounded.
26. — Giovanni Succi, an Italian, completed a voluntary
fast of forty days at the Westminster Aquarium, London.
— Mr. H. M. Stanley, the African explorer, arrived
at Dover, and was afterwards received with extraordinary
honours in London and other parts of the kingdom. The
Geographical Society gave a grand reception on May 5 in
the Royal Albert Hall, which was crowded by a brilliant
audience.
29. — The French war vessel Kerguelen began the bom-
bardment of Whydah, West Coast of Africa, which was
continued the following day.
30. — Mr. Edwin Waugh, the Lancashire poet, died at
New Brighton in his
73rd year. His verses,
which were chiefly in
the Lancashire dialect,
won for him a high
reputation all over the
English-speaking world.
The best-known of his
songs is the one entitled,
"Come Whoam to thi
Childer and Me."
MAY.
1. — Great demonstra
tions, organised by the
Socialists, were held in
the chief cities of the
Continent.
— An international ex-
ME. EDWIJJ WAUGH. hibition of industries,
electrical engineering,
and general inventions was opened at Edinburgh.
4. — An enormous demonstration of the members of the
London Trades Council, the Social Democratic Federa-
tion, and other bodies, all of whom were in favour of the
working day being limited to eight hours by Act of
Parliament, was held in Hyde Park, London. Large
crowds watched the procession, the total number of
spectators and demonstrators being computed at nearly
a million. Resolutions in favour of the objects of the
meeting were passed unanimously.
5.— The death was announced of the celebrated French
painter, M. Robert Fleury.
6.— The Longue Private Lunatic Asylum, Montreal,
Canada, was destroyed by fire. According to the lowest
estimates, fully one hundred of the inmates were burnt to
death.
7.— The Chenango County Poorhouse and Lunatic
Asylum, New York, U.S., was burnt, thirteen persons
being killed
9.— A Parliamentary election took place for East
Bristol, the result being :— Sir Joseph Dodge Weston
(Gladstonian Liberal), 4,775 ; Mr. James Inskip (Con-
servative), 1,900 ; and Mr. J. Havelock Wilson (Labour
Candidate), 602.
10. — A Jubilee gift from the British army to the Queen
was presented at Buckingham Palace by a deputation of
leading officers of the army.
Printed by WALTEE Scon, Felling-on-Tyne.
Chronicle
OF
NORTH-COUNTRY*LORE*AND*LEGEND
VOL. IV.— No. 41.
JULY, 1890.
PRICE 6
iUlatttr, tftt &tttt(iuffri>t inr Qttrftant attty
j|OHN LELAND was a native of London,
born early in the sixteenth century. From
St. Paul's School he went to Cambridge,
and thence to Oxford, where, amidst other
studies, he acquired a knowledge of the Saxon and Welsh
languages. After residing for a time in Paris he was
ordained a priest. In 1533 he was made Royal Antiquary
to King Henry VIII., and received a commission under
the broad seal of England by virtue of which "he had
free liberty and power to enter and search the libraries of
all the cathedrals, abbeys, priories, colleges, &c., as like-
wise all other places wherein records, writings, and what-
ever else was lodged that related to antiquity." His
travels occupied several years, "in which time he went
over most part of England and Wales, and was so in-
quisitive in his remarks, that being not content with what
the libraries of the respective houses to which he applied
himself afforded, nor with what was recorded in the
windows and other monuments belonging to cathedrals,
monasteries, &c., he wandered from place to place where
he thought there were any footsteps of Roman, Saxon, or
Danish buildings, and took particular notice of all the
tumuli, coin?, inscriptions, &c., which he happened to
light upon."
In the course of his journeys, Leland passed through
the counties of Durham and Northumberland. It is not
always possible to trace the route he took, for his
"Itinerary," in which he records his travels, has come
down to our time in a fragmentary and disjointed state.
The three and half centuries, however, which have
elapsed since Leland traversed ' ' the North Countrie, "
have produced many and great changes, not only in the
condition of the people and the status of the great county
families, not only in the condition of monuments of
antiquity, churches, monasteries, houses, but also in the
very face of the country itself. It is for this reason
that Leland's notes and observations are peculiarly
valuable. He was an acute observer and a truthful
scribe.
Leland appears to have entered the county of Durham
at Sockburn, coming thither from Northallerton, and
passing over the Tees at Sockburn ferry. Sir George
Conyers was then lord of Sockburn, and Leland became
his guest. Our antiquary describes Sockburn as "the
eldest house of the Conyers'," a demesne "of a mile com-
pass of exceeding pleasant ground," which "is almost
made an isle as Tees river windeth about it." In Sock-
burn church he saw "the tomb of Sir John Conyers,"
who died in 1395. He then enumerates the "notable
bridges on Tees," first amongst which he mentions
" Yareham | now Yarm] bridge of stone, . . . made
as I heard [and heard truly] by Bishop Skirlaw.1'
From Sockburn, the traveller proceeded to Neasham,
and thence "by pure good corn" to Darlington, "the
best market town in the bishopric, saving Durham."
There, "at the high altar in the collegiate parish church,"
he saw "an exceeding long and fair altar stone of varied
marble, that is, black marble with white spots," clearly
being a slab of the local Tees marble. " The Bishop of
Durham," he tells us, "hath a pretty palace in this
town."
To Auckland Leland next bent his steps — "eight good
miles by reasonable good corn and pasture." " A mile at
this side Auckland Castle I came over a bridge of one
great arch on Gauntless, a pretty river." Auckland, in
his opinion, was a town "of no estimation," although
19
290
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
there was "a pretty market of corn." After describing
the Castle, he mentions its "fair park," "having fallow
deer, wild bulle, and kine."
Leaving Auckland, Leland travelled by Wolsingham,
Frosterley, Stanhope, Eastgate, and Westgate to St.
John's Chapel, He tells us that "the Bishop of Dur-
ham hath a pretty square peel on the north
side of Wear river, called the Westgate, and thereby is
a park rudely enclosed with stone, of a 12 or 14- miles in
compass, in which park there be, as I heard, some little
farmholds." " Though the upper part of Weardale be not
very fertile of corn, yet is there very fine grass in the dale
[it]selt where the river passeth There resort many
red deer, stragglers, to the mountains of Weardale. Wear-
dale, lying as a piece of the west marches of the bishopric
towards Westmoreland, is well wooded ; and so be the
quarters about Auckland."
From Weardale Leland seems to have returned to Bin-
Chester, " now a poor village," and saw, as he rode past
on the south side, "a little foss, and indications of old
buildings." He mentions, too, that " irf the ploughed fields
hard by this village hath [been] and be found many
Roman coins, and many other tokens of antiquity."
The Royal Antiquary next proceeded to Brancepeth,
where he visited the castle, "strongly set and builded,"
of which, he tells us, " the pleasure," meaning thereby
the pleasant part, was to be found in the second or inner
court. In the church he saw "divers tombs of the
Nevilles," These tombs furnish him with texts for brief
dissertations on the genealogy of that family.
"From Brancepeth to Durham. " Much of the traveller's
description ot the city Is too interesting to be omitted.
"The town [itjself of Durham standeth on a rocky hill,
and standeth as men come from the south country on the
ripe of Wear : the which water so with its natural course
in a bottom windeth about, that from Elvet, a great stone
bridge of 14- arches, it creepeth about the town to Fram-
wellgate Bridge of. three arches, also on Wear, that
betwixt these two bridges, or a little lower at St.
Nicholas's, the town, except the length of an arrow shot,
is brought into an island. . . . The Close itself
of the Minster, on the highest part of the hill,
is well walled, and hath diverse fair gates.
The church itself and the cloister be very strong
and fair, and at the very east end of the church is a cross
aisle, besides the middle cross aisle of the minster
church. The castle standeth stately on the north-
east side of the minster, and Wear runneth under
it. The keep standeth aloft, and is stately builded of
eight-square fashion, and four heights of lodgings. . . .
The building of Durham town is metely strong, but it is
neither high nor of costly work. There appear some
pieces of walls of the town joining to a gateof the Palace
wall, but the town itself within the peninsula is but a
small thing in respect of compass of the stately Close. In
the sanctuary or holy churchyard of Durham, be very
many ancient tombs. It standeth on the south side of the
minster ; and at the head of one of them is a cross of a
seven foot long, that hath an inscription ot diverse rowea
in it, but the scripture cannot be read. Some say that
this cross was brought out of the holy churchyard of Lindis-
farne isle."
From Durham Leland journeyed northwards to Chester-
le-Street, "partly by a little corn ground, but most by
mountainous pasture, and some moors and furze." Be-
fore he reached Chester he " scant " Lumley Castle
"upon a hill, having pretty wood about it." Chester
itself he describes as consisting of " chiefly one street of
very mean building in length," and he mentions that
" there is besides a small street or two about the church."
In the church he saw " a tomb with the image of a bishop,
in token that St. Cuthbert once was buried in his feretory
there."
From Chester the antiquary proceeded to Gateshead.
" by mountainous ground, with pasture, heath, moor, and
furze." He records that "a little a this side Gateshead
is a great coal pit." probably meaning the one worked
from very early times at Gamer (now erroneously called
Cramer) Dykes,
At this point the " Itinerary " breaks off into other
matters ; but, after passing over several pages, we find the
writer once more at Durham. He now turns his face
southward. "From Durham over Elvet Bridge to Sun-
derland Bridges [Sunderland Bridge, near Croxdale. that
is]. . . . and by hilly, moorish, and heathy ground " he
came to St. Andrew's, Auckland, where " the Dean of
Auckland hath a great house, especially the barns and
other houses of husbandry." Thence he went forward to
Raby Castle, "part by arable, but more by pastures and
moorish hilly ground, barren of wood." "Raby," he
tells us, " is the largest castle of lodgings in all the north
country, and is of a strong building, but not set either on
hill or very strong ground." Admitted to the castle, of
which he gives a rather minute description, he saw in the
hall "an incredible great beam of a hart." "There
belong," he declares, "three parks to Haby, whereof two
be plenished with deer." Near Raby is Langley Chase,
which "hath fallow deer," and is three miles in length.
" In the moor laud at Middleton," inTeesdale, " the king
hath a forest of red deer." He mentions Staindrop, "a
small market town," describes its church, and enumerates
its monuments.
Leaving Staindrop, Leland took the road " by metely
good corn and pasture" to Barnard Castle. "This," he
says, " is a metely pretty town, having a good market,
and metely well builded. . . . The Castle of Barnard
standeth stately upon Tees." In the outer area he found
nothing very notable "but the fair chapel, where be two
chantries. In the middle of the body of this chapel is a
fair marble tomb, with an image, and an inscription
about it in French. There is another in the south wall of
the body of the chapel, of freestone, with an image of the
July!
189J
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
291
same. Some say that they were of the Baliols." The
monuments have totally disappeared, and scarcely a trace
of the chapel can now be found. Leland proceeds to say,
"there belong two parkes to this castle." "There is
metely good wood on each side of Tees about Barnard's
Castle " he informs us. " Hard under the cliff by Eggle-
stone is found on each side of Tees very fair marble, wont
to be taken up both by marblers of Barnard Castle and
of Egglestone, and partly to have been wrought by them,
and partly sold unwrought to others."
"From Barnard Castle, over the right fair bridge on
Tees of three arches I entered straight into Richmond-
shire," and so left the county of Durham behind.
I/eland's notes on Northumberland, although perhaps as
extensive as those on the county of Durham, are of diffe-
rent character. He seems to have actually travelled little
beyond the Tyne. Indeed, there is scarcely any evidence
that he came into any part of Northumberland except
Newcastle. For the rest of the county he appears to
have been content to accept such information a? he could
gather by hearsay.
The topographer's account of Newcastle commences
rather abruptly with a notice of the great Roger Thorn-
ton, which is too interesting to be abridged. "Roger
Thornton, the great rich merchant of Newcastle in
Edward the Fourth's days [Thornton, by the way, died
thirty-one years before the accession of Edward IV.], by
whom the Lumley's lands were greatly augmented, as by
the marriage of his daughter and heir [she was his grand-
daughter], built St. Catherine's chapel, the Town Hall,
and a place for poor alms-men, by Sand Hill Gate, a
little lower than Newcastle Bridge, upon the very ripe of
Tyne, within the town of Newcastle. This Roger Thorn-
ton was the richest merchant that ever was dwelling in
Newcastle." In another place he tells us that Thornton
"died wonderfull rich : some say by prizes of silver ore,
taken on the sea."
Leland immediately proceeds to notice other hospitals.
" One John Ward, a rich merchant of Newcastle, made a
Maison Dieu for twelve poor men and twelve poor women,
by the Augustine Friars in Newcastle. One Christopher
Brigham, a merchant of Newcastle, made of late a little
hospital by the Grey Friars in Newcastle." Of these
foundations, the first situated in Manor Chare, and the
second in the east part of High Friar Lane, not a trace
now remains.
Our antiquary next proceeds to give an amusing, but
purely mythical, account of the town's walls. "The
walls of Newcastle were begun, as I have heard, in King
Edward the First's day, as I heard by this occasion :
A great rich man of Newcastle was taken prisoner by the
Scots out of the town itself, as is reported. Whereupon
he was ransomed for a great sum : and returning home
again he began to build a wall on the ripe of Tyne river
from Sandhill to Pandon Gate, and beyond into the town,
against the Augustine Friars. The residue of the mer-
chants of the town, seeing this towardness of one man,
set to their helping hands, and continued until the whole
town was strongly walled about, and t'his work was
finished in Edward the Third's days, as I have heard.
The strength and magnificence of the walling of this
town far passeth all the walls of the cities of England,
and of most of the towns of Europe."
In a later volume of his Itinerary, Leland resumes his
notes of Newcastle. "St. Nicholas'," he tells us, "the
chief parish church of Newcastle, standeth on the very
Pict Wall," meaning the Roman Wall. He has an
explicit account to give, if not always a reliable one, of
the foundation of each religious house in the town. The
Grey Friars, according to him, was founded bv the
Carliols, "originally merchants of the same town, and
after men of land.'' The Black Friars owed its founda-
tion to Sir Peter and Sir Nicholas Scott, "father and son,
knights both," the beginning of whose family's fortune
" was by merchandise," — " but the site of the house was
given by three sisters." Tiie establishment of the White
Friars he ascribes to Roger Thornton. The Augustine
Friars, he informs us. was founded by Lord Ross. " In
this house be three or four fair towers, " part of one of
which may still be found behind the -Jesus Hospital. The
Cross or Trinitarian Friars of Wall Knoll he holds to have
been established by Lawrence Acton.
Once again Leland reverts to Newcastle. His notes in
this case are m-jre disjointed than before, and the manu-
script from which they have been printed is in some places
illegible. The reader must expect, therefore, rapid tran-
sitions from one subject to another. The remarks within
brackets are mine, and in one or two places local know-
ledge has enabled me to supply the words which Leland's
editor could not decipher.
"Tyne Bridge hath ten arches, and a strong ward and
tower on it. [There is] a gate at the Bridge end. Then,
turning on the right hand to the Quay, [there is] a chapel
of the town [St. Thomas's Chapel] with a Maisun Dieu.
Then certain houses with a water gate, and a square Hall
Place | the ancient Guild Hall] for the town, and a chapel
there as I remember. Then a main strong wall on the haven
side to Sand Gate, [and sol to Tynemouth way [that is, to
the old road, by Sandgate Street, to Shields and Tyne-
mouth. From this point Leland seems to have followed
the course of the wall round the town, and to have noted
the number of towers between the gates.] Then three
towers [on the wall] to Pandon Gate. There, hard by,
doth Pandon Dean water drive a mill, and passeth through
[the town wall]. On this water, there by, is a little arched
bridge. And about this quarter [on Wall Knoll] stood
the house of the friars of the order of the Holy Trinity.
From Pandon Gate to Pilgrim Gate [there are] fifteen
towers. Thence to New Gate | there are] eight. The
Observant Friars house stood by Pandon Gate. It was
a very fair thing. And lower in the same street, but on
the contrary side a little, with a lane, was the house of the
292
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
Augustine Friars. From New Gate to West Gate, a
mighty strong thing of four wards, and an iron gate,
[there are] thirteen towers. The fair place of Black
Friars stood betwixt New Gate and West Gate. The
Nun's Dean, having two bridges [that is, High Bridge
and Low Bridge], resorteth towards Pilgrim Gate,
and so downwards to Tyne. The water of both
the deans cometh from the coal pits at Cowhill
or Cowmoor, half a mile out of Newcastle. There
is a park walled and a lodge without the Black
Friars and the town wall [this would be the garden and
orchard of the Black Friars]. From West Gate to Tyne
side [there are] 16 [towers], part almost round, part
square. There I saw the hospital Saint [Mary the
Virgin], and then the White Friars, whose garth came
almost to Tyneside. There be three heads or conduits for
fresh water to the town."
The more interesting of Leland's notes on other places
in Northumberland shall be strung together. Space for
comment is already exhausted.
" Corbridge at this time is full meanly builded. The
names of diverse streets that hath been there yet hath
names, as old people there testify, and great tokens of old
foundations be yet found there, and also Roman coins.
The stone bridge that now is at Corbridge over Tyne is
large, but it is set somewhat lower upon Tyne than the
old bridge was. There be evident tokens yet seen where
the old bridge was, and thereabout cometh down a pretty
brook on the same side that that town is on, and hard by
it, and goeth into Tyne. I think verily that this brook is
called Corve, though the name be not well known there,
and that the town beareth the name of it. By this brook
as among the ruins of the old town is a place called Cole-
chester, where hath been a fortress or castle. The people
there say that there dwelled in it one Goton, whom they
fable to have been a giant.
" There appear ruins of arches of a stone bridge over
Tyne river, at [Bywell] castle, [belonging to the Earl of
Westmoreland.
" Prior Castell of Durham, the last save one, builded the
tower in Fame Island for defence, out of the ground.
There was a chapel and a poor house afore.
" There was a house of canons at Ovingham-upon-Tyne,
against Prudhoe on the other iide of Tyne, [occupied by] a
master and three canons [as a] cell to Hexham.
" Morpeth, a market town, is twelve long miles from
Newcastle. Wansbeck, a pretty river, runneth through
the side of the town. On the hither side of the river is
the principal church of the town. On the same side is the
fair castle, standing upon a hill, [belonging, with the
town, to the Lord Dacres of Gilsland. The town is long
and metely well builded with low houses— the streets
paved. It is [a] far fairer town than Alnwick. A quarter
of a mile out of the town on the hither side of the Wans-
beck was Newminster Abbey, of White Monks, pleasant
with water and very fair woods about it.
" There be ruins of a castle [belonging to the Lord
Brough at Mitford, on the south side of the Wansbeck,
four miles above Morpeth. It was beaten down by the
King. For one Sir Gilbert Middleton robbed a cardinal,
coming out of Scotland, and fled to his castle of Mitford.
" Tweed riseth in Tweeddale in Scotland, and so cometh
through the forest of Ettrick in Scotland, and so through
Tynedale in Scotland, the people whereof rob sore and
continually in Glendale and Bamboroughshire. At Car-
ham is a little tower of defence against the Scots.
"In Northumberland, aslhearsay, be no forests, except
Cheviot Hills, where is much brushwood, and some oak,
ground overgrown with ling, and some with moss. There
is great plenty of red deer and roebucks. But the great
wood of Cheviot is spoiled now, and crooked old trees
and shrubs remain." J. R. BOYLE, F.S.A.
tfl
j]BOUT the year 1448, when both North and
South Britain were in a state approaching
anarchy, — in England through the Wars of
the Roses, and in Scotland through the
turbulence of the Douglases and other great nobles, which
the Royal power was quite insufficient to repress, — some
lawless persons on the English or Scottish side (contem-
porary historians are not very clear which) wantonly
broke the truce which had subsisted for some time
between the two kingdoms. The thieves who inhabited
the Debateable Land were never very particular in which
country they made stouthrift, even in the best of times ;
and the Scottish chroniclers will have it that it was either
some of them or some of their not much more reputable
neighbours living nearer Carlisle, who first made a
foray into Annandale in time of peace. The English
chroniclers, on the other hand, lay the blame on the
Douglases, whose design it was, they say, to embarrass
young King James the Second and achieve their owa
family aggrandisements by dragging the country into a
war with England. However this may have been, the
English authorities were the first to move on what may
be called a national scale. Remonstrances made at Edin-
burgh having led to no redress, the two Wardens of the
Marches, the Earls of Northumberland and Salisbury,
made up their minds to invade Scotland.
Two considerable armies accordingly crossed the
Borders at as nearly as possible the same time. One was
led by Henry Percy, Northumberland's eldest son, who
was governor of the town and castle of Berwick, with the
East Marches of Scotland. He made his way from Ber-
wick along the coast, by Ayton, Cockburnspath, and the
Peaths, to Duubar, which town he burnt, and then he
returned the same way, wasting the Merse country,
wrecking the few defensible places near his road, and
July
1890,
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
293
carrying off everything portable. Salisbury, on the West
Marches, penetrated as far as Dumfries, which he in like
manner plundered and burnt, and then marched home,
satisfied with the mischief be had done.
In revenge for this double inroad, and, moreover, with
the view of provoking a formal declaration of war by the
English Government, Sir James Douglas, Lord Balveny,
a brother of Earl Douglas's, raised his followers with
what speed he could, made a raid through Cumberland
and Northumberland, and burnt and plundered the town
of Alnwick, after desolating the open country.
The Earl of Northumberland and Lord Percy, with Sir
Robert Harrington and Sir John Pennington, now
assembled a force of six thousand men, and crossed the
Solway and Annan waters into Dumfriesshire, where they
pitched their camp on the right bank of the little river
Sark, which here forms the line of division between Eng-
land and Scotland. From Sarkfoot, where they lay, they
sent out detachments to scour and ravage the country far
and wide ; but, hearing that the Scots were advancing to
attack them, they recalled these parties by sound of
trumpet, and made themselves ready for battle.
The Scottish chiefs, as soon as they heard of this
formidable inroad, had lost no time in gathering together
their forces. Another brother of Earl Douglas's, George,
Earl of Ormond, took the command, and he was accom-
panied by Sir John Wallace, of Craigie, the sheriff of
Ayr, the lairds of Johnston and Maxwell, and the Master
of Somerville, They numbered only four thousand men
in all, but had the great advantage of fighting on their
own ground for their hearths and homes, and of taking
the enemy, not indeed at unawares, but in a most
disadvantageous position, where the treacherous Solway
Moss hemmed them in on one side, and the still more
treacherous Solway Firth on the other, so that mere
relative numbers counted for little.
Among the English officers was a knight named
Magnus, who had served several campaigns in France
with great distinction, and had risen very high in King
Henry's favour. From the colour of his hair he was nick-
named Red Mayne. Magnus was of great strength and
extremely tierce, and had a particular dislike to the Scots.
It was said he had obtained from the King of England a
grant of all the lands he could conquer in Scotland, and
he claimed as the post of honour under Northumberland
the command of the right wing, while Sir John Penning-
ton took the left, and the earl himself led the centre.
The Earl of Ormond set Wallace of Craigie over against
Magnus, and Maxwell and Johnston, with their re-
spective clans, over against Pennington, himself taking
the centre. Then, addressing a few words of encourage-
ment to his men, he led them against^ the enemy. The
English, who were very superior in point of archery, let
fly a shower of arrows at them as they approached, which
galled them sore. Wallace, who commanded the left
wing, then ciied out, so that all could hear him,
"Gallants, will you let yourselves be shot down thus?
Come on ! Follow me ! Let us in among them full
drive ! We shall soon let them see how men can fight ! "
So saying, he rushed forward, and was followed by all his
men, every bit as eager to be led into the struggle as he
was to lead them. With their long spears or pikes,
weapons which every Scottish knight, squire, trooper, or
man-at-arms knew well how to wield, they instantly
broke the first rank of the English. The Maxwells and
Johnstons, sword in hand, fell on the other wing, and
made tremenduous slaughter. Magnus, when he saw his
people giving way, mindful only of his great reputation,
and regardless of the imminent deadly risk he ran, made
a fierce onset against Wallace, with the view either of
retrieving the forlorn hope or of meeting death in the face
like a brave man. He was soon surrounded and cut down,
together with all who had dared to follow him. As soon
as the fact of his death became known, a panic seized the
English. Their ranks were irrecoverably broken. Only
the more determined and desperate made headway for
awhile against their foes. An orderly retreat might
perhaps still have been made, but their best and bravest
leader had fallen. Fifteen hundred Englishmen lay dead
on the field, and a number more, badly wounded, were
helpless. There was nothing for the rest but to turn their
backs and flee.
Above a thousand prisoners fell into the hands of the
victors, who pursued the fugitives until they reached the
Esk. Lord Percy, Harrington, and Pennington were
among those captured, and were confined for some time,
until ransom could be procured, along with other English
officers, in Lochmaben Castle, originally the seat of
Robert Bruce, Lord of Annandale, but then in possession
of the Douglases. This was the strongest fort on the
Western March, and was preserved as a Border fence till
the Union of the Crowns.
The Earl of Northumberland escaped with great diffi-
culty, fate having reserved him for the still more bloody
field of Towton, where he was one of the forty thousand
slain. Lord Percy might have escaped also, but he
preferred waiting to help his father to mount a fresh
horse, and, while he was so engaged, was taken prisoner.
The booty was unprecedentedly valuable, for the
English had been confident of success in their expedition,
and looked forward rather to a triumphal march through
the invaded district than to anything like serious resist-
tance. And Magnus, who went as a conqueror, and
meant to be a colonist, had a deal of "impedimenta"
with him.
The route was across the desolate tract at the head of
the Solway Firth. The ebbs and flows of that estuary
are proverbial for rapidity, as every reader of "Red-
gauntlet " knows. Not only strangers to the district, but
even the most experienced persons, are liable to be over-
taken by the tide, at least in thick, foggy weather. On
this occasion, before the fugitives had proceeded far, they
294
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
r July
I 1890
heard the awful sound of the waters rushing towards
them with impetuosity ; and those who had good horses
urged them to the top of their speed, but in many cases
to no avail. The occurrence of a spring tide with the
wind in the south-west, or a dense fog from the sea, would
be sufficient at any time in crossing these sands to bring
on the best appointed army the world ever saw the fate
of Pharaoh and his Egyptian host. That fate now befel
five hundred of the Earl of Northumberland's hapless
followers, who, when night fell, found themselves in the
great watery waste through which the Esk and the Eden
make their way to the sea.
It is said that only twenty-six of the Scots were killed
outright in the battle; but Buchanan states that they lost
six hundred in all, including, we presume, the wounded,
and such as died of their wounds.
The brave Sir John Wallace, who was a lineal descen-
dant of " the peerless Knight of Ellerslie," and to whose
conduct and bravery the victory was in a great measure
ascribed, having been severely wounded in the fray, was
carried home on a litter, and died about three months
afterwards.
Douglas went to the Scottish court, where he was
honourably received, but at the same time got a hint
from King James that it would be as well if from
henceforth he and his kith and kin would nat give
encouragement or harbourage to Border thieves, but
rather set themselves to root them out.
The news of the battle of Sark caused a great sensation
in London ; but, though severe reprisals were loudly
demanded, nothing was done ; for the whole realm was
in such disorder that sufficient force could not be spared.
Civil broils hindered the raising of a new' levy ; and the
English Government had no option but to send down
legates to Edinburgh to treat for peace. The negotiations
fell through, so far as regarded a definite treaty, but the
truce between the two kingdoms was renewed for three
years. And BO fhe hostilities went no further at that
time.
Setrtrart
flEDBURGH, Roxburghshire, the chief town of
the Scottish Border, has given its name to the
peculiar weapon figured below — the Jeddart
axe. It was sometimes called a "Jeddart staff," all
weapons attached to long handles, or poles, being classed
as "staves."
Thirty steeds, both fleet and wight,
Stood saddled in stable day and night,
Barbed with frontlet of steel, I trow,
And with Jedwood axe at saddle-bow.
" The Lay of the. Last Minstrel," Canto 1, v.
Sir Walter Scott, in his note to the last line, has the
following:— " 'Of a truth,' says Froissart, 'the Scottish
cannot boast great skill with the bow, but rather bear
axes, with which, in time of need, they give heavy
strokes.' The Jed wood axe was a sort of partisan, used
by horsemen, as appears from
f ( the arms of Jedburgh, which
/ >•/! v— ^— v bear a cavalier mounted, and
armed with this weapon. It is
also called a Jed wood or Jeddart
staff."
Among other scraps I find the
following anent the arms just
referred to: — "The inhabitants
of Jedburgh were a warlike
people. Their slogan 'Jeddart's
here ! ' was seldom long silent.
At a meeting of the Town
Council, March 13, 1680, it was
resolved that in place of the
unicorn 'the toun of Jedburgh
should henceforth have for their armes ane man on horse-
back, with steel cap and jack, and a Jedburgh staff in his
hand.'"
The accompanying sketch of the axe, copied from
Skelton's "Ancient Armour," pi. Ixxiii., 6, is explained
by the following note: — "A Jedburg axe or Jeddart
staff of the period of Henry VIII., found in a river in
Scotland. Such weapons were implied by the simple
word 'staves,' which included all kinds of arms whose
handles were long poles." C. H. STEPHENSON.
, gnrtrntan at
j]NE of the best known Newcastle men of the
past generation was Alderman Ralph Dodds
— probably better known as Raaphy Dodds —
who died at his residence in Bentinck Ter-
race on the 20th October, 1874-, at the advanced age of
82 years. During his long and useful public life he had
filled almost every honorary office— Councillor, Alder-
man, Sheriff, Mayor (twice), Magistrate, and Tyne Com-
missioner.
Ralph was born at Alnwick in 1782. His parents
being too poor to give him any 'education, he gained
a little from the parish schoolmaster by doing menial
services in return. When still very young, he used to
drive a donkey, laden with sacks of coal, from the
pits into Alnwick. He was afterwards employed by a
plasterer in that town, and, though not serving a regular
apprenticeship, he soon became proficient in the trade.
As he grew older, he saw that a large town presented a
better chance for advancement in life than a little
country place, and, accordingly, he left Alnwick for
Newcastle, where his first employer was "Tommy
Jul
Sfe}
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
295
Nicholson," the plasterer. About this time Ravensworth
Castle was being built, and the plaster work was done by
young Dodds's employer. Ralph was engaged on the job,
and he, being a fine-looking young man, attracted the
notice of Miss Bell, niece of Lord Ravensworth's steward.
This young lady he soon afterwards married, and, as she
possessed a small fortune of her own, the young plasterer
felt himself justified in commencing business on his own
account. From this time he may be said to have started
on his long career of success as a tradesman.
Among the earliest of Mr. Dodds's patrons was the
late Sir M. W. Ridley, who, on making considerable ad-
ditions to his mansion at Blagdon, employed Mr. Dodds
to do the plaster work. Mr. Dodds's business rapidly
increased, especially amongst the county gentry. Thus
he was employed by Mr. Brandling, of Gosforth Park ;
Mr. Cookson, of Meldon ; Mr. Cadogan, of Brinkburn ;
and Mr. Collingwood, of Lilburn Tower. Mr. John
Dobson, the eminent architect, always engaged Mr.
Dodds to assist him in bis great undertakings. When the
corner-stone of Beaufront Castle, near Corbrklge, was
laid by the late Mr. Cuthbert, about fifty years ago,
Billy Purvis, who had his booth at Hexham at the time,
walked over, with the principal members of his company,
to witness the ceremony. Billy essayed to address the
company, and, of course, succeeded in causing great mer-
riment. There was a considerable number of workmen
employed on the castle, and all were presented by Mr.
Cuthbert with free tickets for Billy's show — a treat which
Mr. Dobson repeated the following week.
Mr. Dodds was first elected a town councillor in 1840,
sheriff in 1850, an alderman in 1852, and mayor in 1853.
When he entered upon the mayoralty, the town was just
recovering from the epidemic of cholera, which for
months had committed such awful havoc amongst the in-
habitants. Three commissioners were appointed by the
Crown to inquire into the causes of the visitation, and
the town was represented by the Mayor and Town Clerk
(Mr. John Clayton). Near the end of Mr. Dodds's
mayoralty occurred the terrible explosion at Gateshead,
which proved so disastrous to both boroughs. At the
meeting called for the relief of the sufferers, the Mayor
stated that he had sent out invitations for a ball, but this
he intended to postpone, and appropriate the money to
the explosion fund. A sum of £600 was subscribed in a
day or two ; her Majesty contributed another £100 ; and
when the fund closed it had reached the large sum of
£10,977.
Mr. Dodds was chairman of the Town Improvement
Committee for eighteen years, and exhibited remarkable
tact, perseverance, and energy in that position. In 1865
he was again chosen Mayor, and many notable events
occurred durine his term of office. Amongst others.
Barge Day was celebrated ; Lord Ravensworth laid the
foundation stone of the Grammar School ; and the
Mayor, in conjunction with Alderman Hedley, officiated
at a similar ceremony at Coxlodge Asylum. Very few
public men have taken more interest in the welfare of
Newcastle, and in preserving in it all that was worthy
of preservation. After the great fire at the Central
Exchange, the dome at the Market Street corner was
much damaged, and its removal was proposed. Mr.
Dodds, however, resolved that this should not be, and, as
usual, carried his point ; and it was thus mainly through
his exertions that this fine building was restored in its
integrity. His efforts to obtain funds for the repair of St.
Nicholas' steeple will still be remembered, and when the
renovation of the old edifice was set about he was unani-
mously elected chairman of the Restoration Committee.
There was never a more active and painstaking magis-
trate on the bench than Ralph Dodds, although even in
court his rather rough humour and fondness for joking
accompanied him. Many are the stories told of him as a
magistrate ; but he always tried, if possible, to avoid pun-
ishment for a trivial offence or to let a poor silly drunkard
go without a tine. "Gan hyem, man," he would say,
" get a beefsteak ; and it'll de ye mair good than the
clarty drink ! " On one occasion he asked a trembling
penitent, "Where de ye come frae?" "Waaker, sor,"
was the reply. "Then waak back agyen te Waaker ! "
A rather affected magistrate was on the bench with Mr.
Dodds one morning, when an impudent juvenile was
charged with potty theft. "You must," said the magis-
trate, "go to gaol for three days, and receive six strokes
with the birch rod." "Whaat's that, sor?" said the
little culprit, pretending not to hear. " Ha ! I said you
must go " repeating it all over again. " Aa divvent
knaa what ye say, sor," responded the urchin. Here Mr.
Dodds got impatient. "Policeman," said he, " take him
outside, crack his lug, and set him off." Some young
swells on another occasion were charged with drunken-
ness and disorderly conduct. Mr. Dodds was on the
bench, and put the usual question — "Well, what hae ye
te say for yorselves?" "Only a lark, Mr. Dodds,"
pleaded the now penitent offenders. "Oh ! ay, ay," was
the response, " but we hae cages for larks here. " One of
his own workmen was brought up before him on the usual
charge of "drunk and disorderly," and the man was
quite pleased to see Ralphy on the bench, feeling sure
of acquittal. He was mistaken, however, as a fine of
five shillings and costs was imposed. The poor fellow was
penniless, and was taken down to the cells. The business
of the court over, the alderman went b?Iow, and, ordering
out his penitent workman, paid the fine and costs. Turn-
ing to the policeman, "Nco," said he, " kick him oot."
Ralphy was often chaffed by those who dared to take
that liberty about his adventure with a pig. One day a
man drove a pig into the Central Station, and, tying him
to a post, left him there. Piggy, of course, sang his usual
solo at the top of his voice, and attracted a small crowd,
amongst them being Mr. Dodds. That gentlman, think-
ing to punish the owner for causing this disturbance, took
296
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/July
\1890.
out his pocket-knife, cut the string, and set the captive
free, whereupon the pig wandered away to survey the
town at its own gweet will. Next day the man was
brought before the worthy magistrate charged with steal-
ing the very pig that had, with Mr. Dodds's assistance,
so willingly left the railway station the day before !
Another characteristic anecdote must be told. When
Mr. Dodds was presiding over a meeting of the Town Im-
are the firit recorded instances of the bird nesting in
either of the two Northern Counties.
Though the hawfinch is rather handsomely plumaged,
its thick, conical beak and rather stumpy tail give it a
provement Committee, a member was making a rather
lengthy speech, and, to strengthen his arguments, was
quoting from a recent decision of Baron Martin's. He
seemed to have a high opinion of that learned judge, and
made frequent reference to his legal opinions. *'Nivvor
mind aall that," said Ralphy; "this," tapping Mr. Ralph
Park Philipson, the Town Clerk, on the shoulder, "this
is wor Baron Martin !"
Eire *atoffiwfc, tire SBullfituft,
atttr tit* <B0Urffnffc.
jl HE hawfinch (Coccolhraustes vulgaris j is only
a casual winter visitant to the Northern
Counties. It is a bird of very retiring
habits, and it may frequent a district for
years without being noticed, except by some argus-eyed
ornithologist, who knows when and where to look for it.
The bird has a variety of names — as the grosbeak,
common grosbeak, black-throated grosbeak, and haw
grosbeak.
Mr. Thomas Thompson discovered a nest of the haw-
finch on May 29, 1884. at Winlation. Another nest was
found in the same month and year at Riding Mill. These
somewhat ungainly appearance, and at no time is it very
active in its habits, which are shy and retiring. The
male, which slightly resembles the bullfinch in build, is
over seven inches in length. Around the base of the
beak and the throat is a black patch, as in the common
cock sparrow. The neck behind is crossed by a bold
band 'of ash-coloured feathers, pale brown at the sides.
The back plumage is a rich chestnut brown, more ruddily
tinged towards the root of the short tail above, while
the breast is a pale fawn-colour. The wings, which are
broad, have a spread of nearly one foot. The greater
wing coverts are greyish white, and those next the body
yellowish brown ; lesser wing coverts blackish brown,
some of them tipped with white. The primaries are a
rich bluish black, handsomely "shot "and marked with
darker and lighter shadings.
Morris describes the song of the hawfinch as low and
pleasant, but the bird does not seem to be able to pitch
its note much higher than a twitter. The nest, composed
entirely of lichens and fine roots, is frequently placed in a
hawthorn or holly tree.
The bullfinch (Pyrrhula vulgaris) is, according to
Mr. John Hancock, " a constant resident in both
counties (Northumberland and Durham), but not very
abundant anywhere." "White, pied, and pale rose-
coloured varieties," he says, " occasionally occur. Speci-
mens of the two former are in the collection of the late Dr.
Charlton, Newcastle, and a fine specimen of the latter is
in the Newcastle Museum. When kept in confinement
the colour of the bullfinch is liable to be affected by its
food : if fed on hempseed, it very soon becomes entirely
black." This bird is perhaps more plentiful in the two
counties than the goldfinch, and its nest ia occasionally
found in the wooded districts of the Tyne and Wear. In
June\
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
297
the Midland and Southern Counties, it is found nesting in
orchards with the goldfinch.
In addition to its most common name, the bullfinch is
known as nope, pope, alp, hoop, &c. Its scientific name,
Pyrrhvla, denotes that it is a bird of ruddy plumage. The
flight of the bird is quick and undulated, and capable of
being protracted on occasion. It does not fly far when
disturbed. The common note of the bird is short, plain-
tive, and sweet; but with training it can be taught to
whistle various tunes with considerable accuracy. Large
numbers of German bullfinches are annually imported
into this country, and "piping bullfinches" — that is,
birds which can whistle a tune or two — fetch high prices.
Dr. Brehm says the bullfinch hops over the ground in a
somewhat ungainly manner, but is most adroit in its move-
ments upon trees. Sometimes it will rest upon a branch
with its body in a horizontal position and its feet
stretched out, and at others it will hang head downwards
from the twigs. Its long and fleecy feathers are but
rarely laid closely down to its sides, thus causing it to
seem much larger than it really is. The birds pair
about the end of April, and nidification commences
about the beginning of May— later in northern localities.
The nest is composed externally of small twigs, and lined
with fine roots. It is generally placed in a tree, such as a
fir, or in the middle of a high bush — often a hawthorn — at
a height of four or six feet from the ground. It often
builds in shrubberies, sometimes in apple orchards, but
seldom in- gardens. The birds are supposed to pair for
life ; and the members of the same family keep together
until the ensuing spring.
The male birds — which, however, vary considerably in
size — are from six to six and a half inches long ; bill very
short, thick, and shining black ; iris dark brown ; head and
crown deep glossy blue black ; neck on the back and nape
bluish grey; chin black ; throat and breast a beautiful
red ; back delicate bluish grey ; on the lower part pure
white; underneath, the wings are bluish grey; greater
wing coverts black, their ends white, forming a con-
spicuous bar across the wing ; lesser win? coverts delicate
bluish grey ; primaries brownish black ; secondaries
brownish black, the outer webs glossed with a bluish
tinge; some of them are occasionally .found tinged with
red ; tertiaries brownish black, tinged also with blue.
The tail, which is glossy blue black, consists of twelve
feathers ; underneath it is greyish black ; upper tail coverts
glossy blue black ; under tail coverts white. The female is
about an inch shorter than the male.
The goldfinch (Fringilla carduelis, Linnaeus — Carduclis
clcgans, Yarrell) is the most beautifully plumaged and
most musical of the finches, and hence it is a favourite
cage bird, being most relentlessly trapped by the bird
catchers. In beauty and diversity of plumage it almost
rivals the kingfisher. Owing to the enclosure of commons
and waste lands all over the country, the goldfinch is by
no means so plentiful as it formerly was, as thistles, on
the seed of which it mostly feeds, have in many places
given place to cereal and root crops. Mr. Hancock, in
his Catalogue, observes that the goldfinch " must be con-
sidered as a casual visitant in our district (Northumber-
land and Durham), being met with only occasionally in
autumn and winter."
The bird has quite a variety of common names. It
is known as tli'e goldie, goldspink, King Harry, thistle-
finch, redcap, proud tail, golden finch, &c. The Scottish
naturalist, Macgillivray, though his work is somewhat
out of date, calls it the red-fronted thistle-finch ; and in
France it is termed chardonnet, from chardon a thistle.
The ordinary note of the bird is most sweet and varied.
It commences to sing about the end of March and con-
tinues without much interruption till July. The nest
is composed externally of grass, moss, lichens, small
twiga and roots, or any other handy substance. It is
warmly lined inside with wool, hair, feathers, or the
down of willows or other shrubs.
The male is five inches in length. Forehead crimson,
and over the eyes ; head, on the crown and back, black,
on the sides white ; neck, on the back, black, forming
298
MON1HLY CHRONICLE.
/July
\1890
a semicircle towards the front; nape, buff brown; chin,
crimson ; throat, white, extending backwards to the
back, and succeeded by brownish white ; breast, pale
fulvous brown and whitish ; back, darker buff brown,
lighter buff brown lower down. The wings extend to
the width of nine inches ; greater wing coverts, yellow ;
lesser wing coverts, black ; primaries, black ; the inner
half yellow on the outer webs, except that of the first,
the tips white; the second quill feather is the longest,
but only slightly over the first, which is a little longer
than the third ; tertiaries, with a spot of white at the
tip; greater and lesser under wing coverts, white. The
tail, which is black and tipped with white, is slightly
forked, and rather short; the two outer feathers have
a large oval-shaped white spot on the inner web ; upper
tail coverts, greyish white. Legs and toes, pale dusky
brown. The female is rather smaller than the male, and
her plumage is of rather more subdued tints.
at
aittt
lv JUcljarb
MATHEMATICIAN. .
]N exception to the rule that "a prophet is not
without honour, save in his own country,
and in his own house," is afforded by the
career of Thomas Dobson, who, being a
native of Hexham, and educated at Queen Elizabeth's
Grammar School there, received in after life the highest
honour which his fellow-townsmen could bestow — the
Head-mastership of the institution wherein he had been
a pupil.
Thomas Dobson was born on the 13th October, 1814,
and being a precocious child, learning Latin when most
other children are still in the nursery, he was sent to the
Grammar School at an unusually early age. The Head-
master at that time was the Rev. Thomas Scurr, a
mathematician of repute, afterwards perpetual curate
of Allendale. Under his tuition and that of the
succeeding master, the Rev. James Urwin, the boy
acquired mathematical and classical knowledge with an
ease and freedom that clearly pointed to the vocation of a
teacher as his natural and proper calling. Adopting
this view, he engaged himself as English master at an
educational establishment near Calais. That object
gained, he became mathematical tutor in Mr. Thorogood's
academy at Totteridge, near London. From thence he
proceeded, in 1847, to St. John's College, Cambridge,
where he won several scholarships, was seventeenth
wrangler in 1849, and afterwards took his degree of M. A.
There he would probably have remained had not the
failure of a bank compelled him to seek remunerative
employment.
A vacancy occurred about this time in the High School
of Hobart Town, Tasmania. Mr. Dobson obtained the
appointment, and in 1850 set sail for the antipodes. The
outlook was promising till the discovery of gold in
Australia depopulated the colony. Pupils were with-
drawn from their studies to tend the flocks which
gold-seeking shepherds had deserted, and school keeping
became a thankless and a profitless business. Mr.
Dobson struggled for some time against adverse circum-
stances, and finally resigned his post Having taken a
twelve months' holiday, travelling through New Zealand,
he went to New South Wales, and in the beginning of
1855 shipped at Sydney for England.
The acquirements of the Hexham emigrant were not
unknown at the great Naval School of Greenwich
Hospital. Edward Riddle, the famous Northumbrian:
master of that institution, had but recently resigned his
command into the hands of his son John Riddle when
Mr. Dobson returned from Australia, and both father
and son were keeping themselves in touch with all the
best mathematical talent of their time. To that
celebrated resort of North-Countrymen Mr. Dobson
naturally directed his steps, and entering into a public
competition won an assistant mastership in the school,
upon the duties of which he shortly afterwards entered.
There he remained till he was appointed Head-master of
the school frigate Conway, stationed in the Mersey.
While discharging his duties in the Mersey, the event
occurred which is recorded in the opening lines of this
article. The chief post in the Grammar School of his
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
299
boyhood became vacant, and the governors elected him
to fill it. For thirteen years he presided over the
destinies of Hexham Grammar School, and assisted in
many ways beside to promote the intellectual activities
of his birthplace. In 1876 he received the appointment
of Head-master of the Marine School at South Shields,
founded by the benevolent Dr. Winterbottom, and in
that capacity laboured till his sudden death from a
paralytic seizure on the 8th of October, 1885.
Mr. Dobson was a contributor to the " Ladies' Diary "
from his youth, and was on terms of intimacy with the
leading mathematicians of his time— Sir George Airy,
Woolhouse, Fenwick, Todhunter, and others. His
researches into meteorology were thorough, and he was
a pioneer in cyclonology, a subject which was but ill
understood when he commenced to investigate it. While
at Hexham he gained a prize of £20, given by the
Marquis of Tweeddale, President of the Scottish Meteoro-
logical Society, for an essay on "Weather Prognostics"
and their explanation; and at various meetings of the
British Association and other learned bodies he read
useful papers on these special subjects. The question of
Magnetism in Iron Ships was also one to which he
devoted much time and thought, and he invented a
machine to illustrate the deviation of the compass in
such vessels. His teaching gifts were special and his
success in using them remarkable. Both at Hexham and
at Shields he prepared youths for the universities, some
of whom took high degrees, and many of the lads who
passed through, his hands as pupils in his various schools
are now filling important positions on land and at sea.
Outside of his scholastic work, Mr. Dobson was an
active and intelligent worker. Possessing a clear and
energetic mind, with a rare capacity for patient labour,
he was able to supplement the graver duties of his
profession with some of those lighter accomplishments
that give to the study of science needful change and
recreation. One of these accomplishments was the col-
lection and compilation of local history. Being a genuine
Tynesider, he contributed to the local press interesting
articles upon historical e»ents in his native valley, some
, of which, gathered together in 1870, were published for
the benefit of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
Another of his recreations was angling, with which
contemplative occupation he combined sketching and
botanising.
The following is a list of the more important contri-
butions which Mr. Dobson made to scientific literature : —
On the Theory of Co-ordinates.— 1845.
On the Law of Storms, &c.— Royal Society, Tasmania,
1853.
Australasian Cyclonology— 8vo, Hobart Town, 1853.
On the Relation between Coal Mine Explosions and
Cyclones.— Brit. Assoc. Repts., 1855.
On the Phenomena and Theory of Revolving Storms.
(Four Lectures).— Newcastle Lit. and Phil. Society, 1855-
1856.
On the Causes of Great Inundations; The Balaclava
Tempest, &C. — Brit. Assoc. Repts., 1856.
On the Changes in the Direction and Length of the
Line of Cusps during a Solar Eclipse. — Royal Astr. Soc.
Trans., 1857.
On the Hurricanes of the South Pacific Ocean (Three
Parts).— Nautical Mag., 1859-60.
On the Relation between Atmospheric Perturbations
and Explosions of Fire-damp in Coal Mines.— Liverpool
Lit. and Phil. Soc., 1860.
On some Results of the "Royal Charter" Storm. —
Liverpool Lit. and Phil. Soc., 1860.
Contributions to Nautical Science. — Liverpool Lit. and
Phil. Soc., 1861.
On Explosions in British Coal Mines during 1859.—
Brit. Assoc. Repts., 1861.
On a New Method of Investigating the Symmetrical
Properties of Plane Triangles. — Brit. Assoc. Repts., 1861.
Contributions to Local History (Early Hist. Hexham ;
Lives of John Martin, William Hewson, Win. Tynedale,
and the Midfords ; Treasure Trove ; Hexham Riot ;
Hexham Monastery, &c.)— Herald Office, Hexham, 1870.
On the Mechanics of Engineering. (Twelve lectures.) —
Newcastle Lit. and Phil. Soc., 1870-71.
Description of Apparatus (Deviascope) for illustrating
the Deviation of the Compass in Iron Ships. — Nautical
Mag., 1880.
Description of a Machine to show the Heeling Error
of the Compass. Nautical Mag., 1883.
Note on the Correction of Soundings.— Nautical Mag.,
1883.
£I)e Jleo. cHillwm pobb, |H.A.,
AN ENEKfiETIO CLERGYMAN.
William Dodd was the third son of the Rev. John
Dodd, atone time Vicar of Wigton, and subsequently—
from 1826 to 1840— Vicar of Newcastle. Born in Aspatria
in 1804, he was educated at St. Bees School, and in due
course entered Christ Church College, Cambridge, where
he distinguished himself by diligent and faithful study.
In the Mathematical Tripos he attained the position of
twenty-fifth wrangler, and studied Hebrew and cognate
languages with such success that he gained a first-class
university scholarship, and won the Hebrew prize for an
essay open to the competition of all who had taken the
ordinary B.A. degree. Ordained priest by the Bishop of
Durham on the 4th of October, 1829, he became curate
of Whickham, until, in May, 1834, he was presented by
his father to the living of St. Andrew's, Newcastle, vacant
by the death of the Rev. Henry Deer Griffith.
When Mr. Griffith died, an earnest effort was made by
the leading parishioners of St. Andrew's to secure the
living for his curate, the Rev. James Manisty. Vicar
Dodd's refusal to comply with this request, and his
appointment of his own son to the living, gave great
offence— so great indeed that when the new minister
entered the pulpit for the first time, the majority of the
congreeation rose and left the church. In a short time,
however, Mr. Dodd's tact and evident sincerity dis-
armed opposition. The congregation discovered that
their clergyman was a man of no ordinary ability, and
gradually he gained their confidence. He became the
recognised leader in the town of the Oxford movement-
better known, perhaps, as Puseyism, or Tractarianism.
Among the objects which the Puseyites set themselves to
accomplish were the'introduction of frequent, short, and
hearty services, regular and systematic visitation of
300
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
parishioners, the building of new churches in overgrown
parishes, and the institution of mission rooms in out-
lying districts. Animated by these impulses, Mr. Dodd
opened St. Andrew's for evening service, started a mission
in Brandling: Village, and projected the erection of a new
church in his wide-spreading parish. It was uphill
work, for few persons in Newcastle sympathised with his
Ecclesiastical proclivities ; but at length, in 1843, he had
the satisfaction of seeing the Church of St. Peter in
Oxford Street rise from its foundations, and become,
under the care of his curate, the Rev. C. A. Raines, the
resort of increasing congregations.
In 1849, Mr. Dodd, whose health had been severely
strained by his labours, accepted the quiet country living
of Chillingham, where he enjoyed a period of comparative
repose in the pure air of the Cheviots, away from the
clamour and worry of Tyneside. He did not, however,
thoroughly regain the health he had sacrificed in New-
castle. On the 8th of May, 1866, while on a visit to Nice,
he ceased from his labours, and in the beautiful cemetery
upon the hill overlooking the town he was buried,
Mr. Dodd published several sermons, and an interest-
ing book on the schools and education given in Majorca
and Minorca — islands that he visited in search of health.
He was the recipient of two handsome testimonials from
his friends in Newcastle — a salver, in March, 1840, and a
candelabrum in September, 1849. At Chillingham, on
the high ground opposite the village, facing the road from
Chatton to Alnwick, a public drinking fountain of pretty
architectural design, topped by a brass cross, has been
erected to his memory. At St. Andrew's, Newcastle,
the great east window, filled with stained glass by Mr.
Dodd's friends and admirers, through whose varied tints
the morning sun diffuses mellow light over the sanctuary
at which for fifteen years he officiated, forms an appro-
priate souvenir of his name and his labours, his faith and
his works.
JJirmorcr Ponktn,
LAWYER AND POLITICAL REFORMER.
He is the most prudent man who takes the world as he
finds it ; who relishes its comforts, reconciles its crosses,
and expects happiness only in superior regions. — Dr.
Cotton.
Forty years ago the profession of the law in Newcastle
numbered among its members several men who were at
the head of nearly every movement which had for its
object the study of local antiquities, the advancement of
useful knowledge, and the extension of political freedom.
Not to mention lesser men, there were John Adamson,
numismatist, conchologist, and Portuguese scholar ; John
Trotter Brockett, collector, book-hunter, and glosso-
grapher ; John Fenwick, local biographer, genealogist,
and Sunday school teacher ; John Clayton, classical
scholar, antiquary, and explorer of Roman remains ;
Ralph Park Philipson, Whig politician and municipal
administrator ; Armorer Donkin, the friend of Brougham
and the Hunts, and an earnest political reformer. The
achievement of honourable fame in various departments
of research and investigation outside of their profession
seems to have been characteristic of Newcastle lawyers
in the last generation — a feature peculiar to themselves,
for it assuredly has not occurred in any other calling
amongst us ; and peculiar to their time, for one fails to
observe it existing in the same proportion among their
successors.
Armorer Donkin was the son of a timber merchant ;
a freeman of Newcastle, carrying on business, and living,
at North Shields. 1'rom the tombstone of the family in
the Priory churchyard, and the parish registers (kindly
inspected by Mr. Horatio A. Adamson, town-clerk of
Tynemouth, to whom, for this and many favours, the
writer expresses his indebtedness), it appears that
Armorer Donkin, senior, was twice married. His first
wife Elizabeth died in 1772, and Armorer, junior, was
the fruit of the second union. He was baptised at the
parish church of Tynemouth on the 27th January, 1779,
"son of Mr. Armorer and Mrs. Rachel Donkin of the
Low Lights, Raff-Merchant." When he arrived at
the proper age, he was articled to Mr. William Harrison,
of Dockwray Square, North Shields, attorney-at-law and
vestry-clerk, and having served his time, he proceeded
to London, where he became a clerk with Mr. Meggison,
an eminent attorney in Hatton Garden. His abilities
being of a superior order, Mr. Meggison, it is said, was
desirous of retaining his services, but he had determined
within himself that as soon as he had acquired sufficient
experience in the metropolis he would return to his
native county. Hia father died ia 1798, aged 76, and
his mother in 1801, aged 56, and shortly after his
mother's decease he came back to the North, and com-
menced professional life on his own account in Newcastle.
Business at first was not too plentiful, and having
abundant leisure he entered upon a course of self-
improvement in literature and science which in after
years proved of great value to him. As one means to
that end be joined the Literary and Philosophical
Society, where the Rev. Wm. Turner was preparing to
start upon that long course of lecturing which lasted
without a break for thirty years. Into the educational
work of that institution he entered with ardour, and
was elected, in 1809, one of the junior secretaries — an
office which he held till increasing business in his
profession obliged him, five years later, to resign. At
the Lit. and Phil, he formed numerous friendships and
made acquaintance with members of the principal
families in the town. Among the more intimate of the
friends thus acquired was Mr. William Armstrong, corn
merchant, a warm supporter of the institution, and a
man of scholarly acquirements. Mr. Armstrong had
come to Newcastle a comparative stranger from Cumber-
land, and was making his way to fortune ; Mr. Donkin,
with the aid of a partner, Mr. G. W. Stable, was
Jut
r
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
301
working in the same direction. Their tastes were
similar ; their political views harmonised ; their aims
were practically identical, and they became as brothers.
When Mr. Armstrong's son, William George, arrived at
the proper age to be trained for the battle of life, he was
articled to Messrs. Donkin and Stable to learn the
profession of an attorney. How this young man served
out his time, became a partner in the firm, and left
it to become an engineer ; how he rose to be a great
inventer, a benefactor to his native town, and, finally,
to be ennobled by the title of Lord Armstrong, are
matters of common knowledge.
Although when he started up^n his professional career
in the town Mr. Donkin was so much a stranger that,
to use his own expression, he "hardly knew one person
to speak to on Newcastle streets," his talents for business
and unwearied application to their development soon
won public confidence. In 1824, we find him acting with
his friend Mr. Armstrong as a member of a committee
appointed to inquire whether a railway or a canal was
the most desirable means of effecting communication
between Newcastle and Carlisle ; in 1826 assisting to
found the Newcastle and Gatesbead Law Society, of
which four years afterwards he became the President ; in
1829 accepting the post of director of the Newcastle New
Gas Company ; and, later on, drawing up the prospectus
of the Brandling Junction Railway.
Upon his return to the North, Mr. Donkin had taken
up his freedom of the town and of the Hostmen'a
Company, and about the time that Municipal Reform
became imminent, he was elected a member of the
Common Council. Entering the Corporation as a
supporter of the Reform movement, he was one of the
twelve old members who were returned by the extended
electorate, in 1836, to the new Town Council. At the
first meeting of the reformed body he had the honour of
being appointed an alderman.
As in municipal affairs, so in politics, Mr. Donkin was
one of the party of progress. He was not, however, like
Doubleday, Fife, or Attwood, an advanced reformer.
His votes at Parliamentary elections show that he did
not support men with Radical tendencies, for he voted
against both Attwood and Aytoun, when they contested
Newcastle. He was, in fact, like his friend Mr. Arm-
strong, a Liberal of the Whig school, with sympathies
that undoubtedly broadened as time went on, but were
never extended far in advance of his party.
Shortly before the elections of 1826 Mr. Donkin
acquired a small property at Jesmond, by right of which, .
between the by-election in February and the great
struggle of July, he obtained a county vote. Upon
that property, which, as opportunity occurred, was ex-
tended into a spacious domain, he erected the mansion
known to the present generation as Jesmond Park. In
this suburban retreat he spent much of his time,
occupying himself in the intervals of business with
literary recreations, the formation of a library, and the
reception of his friends. Being a bachelor, he was able
to exercise a generous hospitality without derangement
of his domestic affairs, and the entertainments which he
gave to members of his social circle every Saturday were
appreciated far and wide. Few strangers of eminence
came to Newcastle without partaking of the hospitalities
of Jesmond Park. Among his chosen friends were Baily
the sculptor, Ramsay the painter, and that delightful
essayist, Leigh Hunt. It is said that he contributed
occasionally to Hunt's London Journal ; it is certain
that he contributed liberally to the editor's somewhat
slender resources. In one of his Journal articles
Hunt refers to invitations that it was not possible for
him to accept, instancing a pressing call from Mr. Donkin
(whose identity he veils under the initials "A. D."), and
describing him as "one of the men we love best in the
world. " To him the versatile journalist dedicated a play,
the "Legend of Florence" (published in 1840, and acted
with soms success at Covent Garden), stating that to his
practical wisdom and generosity he was indebted for
health and leisure to indulge in its composition. In the
"Correspondence of Leigh Hunt," edited by his son,
Thornton Hunt, the owner of Jesraond Park is noted as
one of the friends who were "most generous in the
manner, as well as the amount, of their sacrifices " ; and
a letter of his to the departed author is quoted in which
appears " a formal debtor and creditor account, setting
off against a sum of money advanced at a pinch, the
same sum— By value received in full, per pleasure in
reading Leigh Hunt's London Journal." All this,
and much more, we read in a charminf? little book—
302
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
|JuUr
1890.
"Characteristics of Leigh Hunt" — from the facile pen
of " Launcelot Cross, " the nom de plume of our townsman
Frank Carr.
Alderman Donkin retired from the active pursuit of
his profession in 1847, and died on the 14th of October,
1851. A writer in the Newcastle Chronicle pays the
following tribute to his memory : —
For thirty years he stood at the very head of his
profession, conducting a large and varied practice; and
his clients were not confined to this town and neighbour-
hood alone, but many of the principal families in the
neighbouring counties confided their properties and their
interests to his skill and protection. In personal appear-
ance he was stout, and in his latter years somewhat
corpulent. His head and face, though not handsome,
were cast in a noble and massive mould ; and a look of
peculiar intelligence, mingled with good humour, and
great self-possession, generally lighted up his countenance.
A hearty joyousness, and desire to communicate the
pleasure he felt, were the prevailing features of his
address. The beautifully chiselled bust of him by Baily,
the Royal Academician, and the admirable portrait,
painted by his old friend Ramsay, will long preserve
amongst those who knew him the remembrance of what
he once was ; but neither marble nor canvas can delineate
that kindness of heart and inimitable sauvity of manner
for which he was singularly remarkable.
In the shaded enclosure known as the "East Mound"
of Jesmond Cemetery, side by side, and identical in
form, rise two granite monuments. Beneath one of them
repose the remains of Alderman Donkin ; beneath the
other, placed there barely six years later, lie those of his
friend and associate, Alderman Armstrong, father of
Lord Armstrong.
puatw,
CONVEYANCER AND ANTIQUARY.
Local annalists are singularly reticent about the life
and labours of the eminent lawyer and accomplished
antiquary who bore the name of Matthew Duane. All
that can be gathered concerning his career from the
voluminous resources of local history may be briefly
summed up in a statement that he was a member of
the Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, a Fellow of the
Royal and Antiquarian Societies, a trustee of the British
Museum, and a most successful collector of rare coins
and medals ; that he married a Newcastle lady — Dorothy,
daughter of Thomas Dawson, and granddaughter of
Henry Peareth ; that he had his chambers in the old
home of the Peareths in Pilgrim Street (now the offices
of the Newcastle Board of Guardians) ; and that he was
buried in St. Nicholas' Church.
From other sources, however, we obtain an insight into
the character and pursuits of this celebrated man. We
learn that he was a polite scholar, a man of high
culture, of acknowledged taste in painting and music,
of European reputation as a medallist, and one of the
most eminent conveyancers of his time. His collection
of coins and medals was unequalled, being especially rich
and valuable in specimens from Syria, Macedonia, and
Phrenicia. To art and artists he was a most liberal
patron. A number of his rarest coins he caused to be
engraved by Bartolozzi, and he also paid for several
engravings of drawings by Giles Hussey, of whose work
he was an ardent admirer. One of his friends, Louis
Dutens, the eccentric rector of Klsdon, compiled an
elaborate catalogue of his treasures, and wrote a quarto
volume, which ran into a second edition, about his
Phoenician medals.
In his practice as a conveyancer, Mr. Duane occupied
a high position. He supplied the article "Common"
for one of the editions of Matthew Bacon's "Abridgment
of the Law," and edited "Reports of several cases argued
and adjudged in the Court of King's Bench at West-
minster, by John Fitzgibbon." Lord FJdon was indebted .
to him for the opportunity of studying conveyancing free
of charge when, poor and unknown, he was preparing for
the bar. Writing to his brother Henry at Newcastle,
in December, 1775, he states that his prospects of success
had been greatly improved by Mr. Duane's generosity.
Later in life his lordship expressed himself in equally
complimentary terms respecting his old friend and
tutor : — "I was for six months in the office of Mr. Duane,
the conveyancer. He was a Roman Catholic — a most
worthy and excellent man. The knowledge I acquired
of conveyancing in his office was of infinite service to me
during a long life in the Court of Chancery."
Lord Eldon was only one of many persons who owed
acknowledgment to Mr. Duane for valuable services
rendered during critical periods of their lives. James
Macpherson, the historian, states that when he was busy
with one of his books ("Original Papers, containing the
Secret History of Great Britain from 1688 to 1714")
the great conveyancer discovered and purchased for him
July I
189.). /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
303
ten quarto volumes of papers relating to the House of
Brunswick, which were of inestimable value. Thomas
Bedingfeld, one of the minor local poets, owed to Mr.
Duane an introduction to London practice as a con-
veyancer and chamber counsel when his religious
principles (Roman Catholic) deprived him of the privilege
of the English bar. No trouble was too great, no labour
too long when Mr. Duane had the opportunity of serving
a friend. Dr. Dncarel, writing on the 19th May, 1767,
to M. Grente de Grecourt, at Rouen, in reply to some
inquiries respecting judicial procedure in England,
names him as the one man in the country capable
and willing to impart the desired information. To Mr.
Duane, also, Samuel Pegge, A.M., publishing in 1766
an essay on the coins of Cunobelin, addressed a special
dissertation "On the Seat of the Coritani."
How much of his time Mr. Duane spent at his
chambers in Newcastle, and how much of it in London,
cannot be ascertained. He does not appear to have
taken much interest in the public life of Tyneside, but
that may be accounted for by the exacting nature of
his profession and the absorbing occupations of his
leisure. That he was partial to Newcastle seems
probable from the fact that he purchased landed estate
in the neighbourhood (262 acres at Wideopen, and 283
acres at Dinnington), and that he desired to be buried
in St. Nicholas' Church, among his neighbours and his
wife's kindred. To that great place of sepulture he
was borne in February, 1785, having died suddenly a
few days before in London, from a stroke of paralysis.
In the south aisle of the church, on an entablature
crowned by a female figure leaning upon a funeral urn,
visitors may read an affectionate tribute to his memory.
After his death, Mr. Duane's collection of coins and
medals, &c., were sold by auction. He had parted with
his cabinet of Syriac coins some time before to Dr.
Hunter, who bequeathed them to the University of
Glasgow. The fine series of plates engraved by
Bartolozzi were purchased by Richard Gough, the
historian and antiquary, who issued them to the public,
in 1804-, under the title of "Coins of the Seleucidse,
Kings of Syria ; from the Establishment of their Reign
under Seleucus Nicator, to the Determination of ib
under Antiochus Asiaticus : With Historical Memoirs of
each Reign. Illustrated with twenty-four Plates of Coins
from the Cabinet of the late Matthew Duane, F.R. and
A.S., engraved by Bartolozzi." The principal part of
his fortune, which was considerable, he settled upon his
nephew, Michael Bray, also of Lincoln's Inn, subject to
the jointure of his widow, who survived till the llth of
April, 1799.
j|N the same way as the stirring though mourn-
ful cadences of Chevy Chase ever recur to
the ear of North-Country folks with strange
and strong appeal, every particular con-
cerning the great stronghold of the ancient Ferciea on
the south bank of the Alne. must have a special charm
for us all ; and although a few jottings have been given
BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF ALNWICK CASTLE, BY F. R. WILSON.
304
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
concerning it from time to time in these pages, it is with
pleasure an opportunity is now taken to survey the stately
pile under more favourable circumstances.
A glance at the bird's-eye view of the Castle, for
which we are indebted to the courtesy of the Society
of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, will show that
it consists of a mighty Keep formed by an irregular
ring of towers, which adjoin each other and surround
an inner court-yard : which Keep is placed almost in
the centre of a wide and large enclosure encompassed
by a curtain-wall, strengthened at intervals with towers
and garrets. This vast area is divided into two portions
by buildings which connect the Keep with offices and
business departments beyond the eastern portion of
the curtain-wall, or behind it ; and there is, moreover,
beyond the ancient walls, southwards, a large space
occupied as a stable yard, with divisions containing a
riding school and other conveniences. The ancient
curtain-wall has two strong entrances. The first is ttie
noble Barbican ; the second is the Warder's Tower, or
garden gateway, sometimes, too, called the Lion Gate
House, by which access is given to and from the grounds
and gardens ; and there is, besides, a small sallyport
opening out of the Postern Tower on to the green slope
between the Castle and the river. Within the curtain-
wall there are, also, two strong gateways to pass before
the inner courtyard can be entered, the first being the
Middle Gate House in the line of buildings connecting
the Keep with the rooms and offices behind and along the
wall above-mentioned, and the second, defended by two
polygonal towers, at the entrance to this innermost space,
which was once further guarded by a moat and draw-
bridge. Bearing this contour in view, the strength of
the building as a fortress in the days of old will be
perceived. The stones of the fabric give incontrovertible
evidence that this was the original plan of the Castle
as built by Eustace Fitz-John, in what is called,
architecturally, the Norman period, and maintained and
strengthened by Henry de Percy on his acquisition of
the estate from Anthony Bek, in the third year of the
reign of Edward the Second.
On approaching the Castle, the visitor's attention will
be drawn to the stone figures of warriors on the Barbican
and towers. These are life-sized, and are represented as
hurling stones down on assailants, and in other ways
resisting an attack. Two of the figures on the Octagon
Tower are represented in the accompanying engravings.
They were probably intended to confuse besiegers as to
the number of the garrison ; and that they, doubtless,
had this effect was apparent during the progress of the
great works commenced in 1854, when it was, occasionally,
as in the dusk, for instance, difficult t6 distinguish them
from living figures at the same elevation.
The Barbican is of great interest. It is about fifty-five
feet in length and thirty-two in width. On its front,
over the archway, is a panel charged with the Percy
lion, below which is the Percy motto, "Esperance." It
is boldly thrown out beyond the walls, and consists of
an advanced court surrounded by battlemented walls
wide enough to be manned, with two turrets at the
western end and two towers at the inner or eastern
end. There are seven of the figures mentioned upon it.
(An eighth was blown down a short time ago.) In the
days of old, an enemy would be deterred by outworks
from approaching it so easily as we do now, and,
probably, by a moat as well. Should a besieger have
ALNWICK CASTLE : THE BARBICAN.
I89J
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
305
succeeded in crossing the drawbridge and entering the
court, he would have found himself between the port-
cullises in a trap, in which he could have been assailed
on all sides from above with ropes of lighted flax, hot
lead, stones, or such
other means of defence
as were in use. On pas-
sing through the Barbi-
can now it is impossible
not to be impressed
with its sombreness and
gloomy grandeur.
All the more charm-
ing, however, is the first
full sight of the noble
Keep on emerging from
it upon the enclosure or
outer bailey. The grey
and grand pile, not so
wind-worn and wind-
bleached as the masonry
of the surrounding cur-
tain-walls and towers,
has an aspect of
strength, repose, and
endurance that is alto-
gether majestic. Its setting of bright green grass, and
its surroundings of towers, garrets, embrasured parapets,
and indications of the contrivances in vogue in old times,
ouch as bolt-holes for shutters from merlon to merlon,
cross-bow slits, arrow slits, and the old stone steps to the
tops of the walls, are full of attraction for us. We can
only gaze upon the picturesque scene of departed
chivalry and military prowess with admiration. Of all
the towers on the walls,
perhaps the Constable's
Tower, with its three
entrances, one on each
stage, its cusped win-
dows, corbelled projec-
tion, the gabled turret
of its newel staircase,
leading to the roof, and
outer stone stair from
the ground to the middle
storey, in which are kept
the arms and accoutre-
ments of the Percy ten-
antry, is the most capti-
vating. And of all the
garrets the one raised
upon the portion of old
Norman walling, incor-
porated with the Plan-
tagenet masonry, is the
most interesting. In the
view, on page 308. which is, like all toe work of the
artist, Orlando Jewitt, very carefully drawn, will be
noticed the difference in the sizes of the stones used by
the Norman and Plantagenet masons.
ALNWICK CASTLE : THE WARDER S TOWER.
20
306
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
Passing: under the middle gateway the visitor sees
before him the inner portion of the area encompassed
by the Castle walls. Round a green grassy court passes
the great wall with its towers at invervala on the one
hand, and on the other stand two fine polygonal towers,
which guard the gateway through which lies the road
into the innermost court-yard, and which form part of
the ring of towers of which the Keep is composed. The
archway into the court-yard is a portion of the first olrl
Norman castle, very massy and hoary, and very rich
with Norman ornamentation on the inner face. In the
course of the way through it is a door giving access to
the underground dungeon in which prisoners were once
secured. The arms on a line of shields ornamenting
these polygonal towers show they were a part of the
extensive works carried out by Henry de Percy on his
acquisition of the Norman structure, for the purpose of
strengthening it. Their details are shown but dimly in
the moonlight view given.
Within the court is the ancient well, of which an
illustration, taken from a photograph by Mr. W. N.
Strangeways, is lent us by the Society of Antiquaries.
And it is here, too. the chief additons made by Algernon,
the fourth Duke of Northumberland, are most apparent.
Projecting upon piers and corbels is a corridor following
the curved line of the Keep, made for the purpose of
giving convenient access to the State apartments ; and
abutting into the court-yards also is a fine double stone-
groined porch, large enough to admit of carriages setting
down their occupants under cover, both of which are
portions of his well-planned improvements. The leading
feature, however, of this nobleman's additions ie the
portion of the Keep known as the Prudhoe Tower.
Old prints show us the old sky-line of the Castle was
low and level. The Prudhoe Tower was designed to
break this low level line in a masterly manner, and it
now rises in a central mass to an altitude of ninety-eight
feet, with an effect that is extremely fine from whatever
point of view it is seen. The sketch given, showing the
Castle from the river, affords a fair realization of its
"pride of height."
Before mentioning any details of the arrangements in
the interior of the Keep, attention may be drawn to the
view on page 310 of the saloon in the last century, which
is reduced from a drawing made by Charlotte Florentia,
Duchess of Northumberland, and for which we are also
indebted to the Society of Antiquaries. It will give
sufficient realization of the style of decoration removed
by Duke Algernon in the course of the changes he
effected in his ancestral home. It will be perceived that
the ceiling has somewhat the same effect as that of King
Henry the Seventh's Chapel in Westminster Abbey ;
but, instead of being constructed and carved in stone
like that masterpiece of Tudor splendour, it was made
of "light, frail plaster-work. When first completed,
judging from the correspondence of the day, it was
considered as elegant as similar work carried out at
Strawberry Hill by Horace Walpole. The fashion that
led to admiration for this kind of ornamentation,
however, passed away in due time ; and the great
inconvenience of having to pass through one room to
enter another calling imperatively for alterations, it
ALNWICK CASTLE : THE KEEP.
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
307
•was resolved, after much consideration and many con-
sultations with authorities of weight, to re-model the
interior, and substitute for these fragile adornments the
artistic magnificence of Italian art in the Cinque-Cento
period. There were, as many readers will remember,
conflicting opinions expressed in the art-world as to the
propriety of treating the Border fortress of the ancient
Percies in the same way as Italian princes decorated
their palaces, but in the end the duke carried out his
resolution on a kingly scale.
Starting with the determination that simplicity should
reign on the threshold, and richness gradually increase
till it culminated in the state apartments and the boudoir
of the Duchess, the walls of the entrance hall were made
of plain masonry ; those of an inner hall somewhat richer,
being panelled ; and those of the grand staircase still
more so, being lined with choice marbles and granite.
The ceilings were also equally gradually enriched.
Ascending the staircase, each step of which is twelve
feet long, and the landing stone twelve feet square (the
feat of conveying this stone from Rothbury will be lonjj
remembered), a vestibule about thirty feet square is
•entered, which is paved with Venetian mosaic work, and
decorated with a frieze painted by Herr Gotzenberg. with
incidents from the poem of Chevy Chase. One side of
it consists of an open arcade looking down upon the
sumptuous staircase. From this vestibule depart corri-
dors giving access to private apartments, and to the
chapel, and from it also an ante-room opens into the
suite of state apartments. In these magnificent chambers
all that art has to deal with — colour, form, and richness
and fitness of materials — is dealt with in a superb
manner. Whilst the mellowed hues employed are the
same throughout them all, library, saloon, drawing-room
and dining-room, variety is gained by predominating a
different one over the rest in each apartment except in
the matter of the carved work in the dining-room, which
is left in the natural tint of the woods employed, pine-
wood, cedar, and walnut. The chimney-pieces were
wrought by Signori Nucci, Strazza and Taccalozzi, iu
Rome ; the friezes painted by Signor Mantovani, who
journeyed from Rome for the purpose ; the ceilings
carved by Signor Bulletti, accredited by Cardinal Anton-
elli as the best carver in Italy, assisted by a staff of about
twenty-five carvers, under the superintendence of Mr.
John Brown ; the medallions of Duke Algernon and
Duchess Eleanor, sculptured by Signor Macdonald in
Rome ; and the whole scheme was arranged by the
lamented Signor Montiroli, and approved by the great
Italian antiquary, the Commendatore Canina — artists not
likely to be forgotten. And underlying all the artistic
sumptuousness of the choice woods, the Bolognese damask
hangings, the rich Indian carpets, the costly furniture,
the delicate combinations of gold and colours, all the
Cinque-Cento associations, and the Italian atmosphere
created by the presence of the works of some of the most
ALNWICK CASTLE : THE CONSTAliLF.'s TOWER.
308
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
famous of the old Italian masters (for Titian's work has aspect of
an honoured place in the drawing-room, and there is may be.
ALNWICK CASTLE : GARRET AND FBAQJIENT OF
NORMAN MASONRY.
•work from the hands of Giotto, Giorgione, Guido,
Sebastiano del Piombi, Bellini, Caracci, Correggio,
Poussin, Perugino, Raffaello,
and Claude Loraine, also,
in these apartments), are the
old belongings of the ancient
Percies, the solid stalwart
masonry of their vaulted
cellars, their traditions, and
the memory of their valour
and piety.
The chapel is about forty-
six feet long. Here the feel-
ing in favour of English
architecture for ecclesiasti-
cal purposes has prevailed.
It is lighted by 6ve narrow
lancet windows, and covered
with a high-pitched roof,
and altogether, on the ex-
terior, made to harmonize
with the rest of the work of
Mr. Salvin, the architect of
the structural portion of the
restorations, and with the
hall
the ancient portions of the fabric, as far as
In the interior the walls are lined with
Italian work in piitra dura. There is a gallery in
it on a level with the state apartments for the
occupation of the ducal family and guests ; and it
is seated on the ground floor for the use of the
household.
The kitchen must be mentioned. It is ribbed,
and groined in stone, and has a lofty " lantern "
after the mediaeval manner. Notwithstanding its
antique character, it is furnished with every
modern appliance, such as a hydraulic roasting
jack and hydraulic lifts. It is also provided with
every requisite in the way of larders, scullery,
pantry, butteries, an office for the cMfde cuisine,
marble slabs for coolness, hot tables for heat, vast
ovens, and streams of running water, for the proper
perfection of banquets. Below the kitchen and its
adjuncts is a vast vaulted receptacle for coals, as
well as boilers, gas-meters, and hydraulic engines.
It was characteristic of Duke Algernon to com-
mand that the first banquet prepared in these
kitchens should be for the regalement of the
600 workmen who had assisted in the great
works.
Altogether, there are about 400 apartments in
the Castle. In the stable courts (the stables,
with their bright order and cleanliness, are a sight
apart) are many chambers for coachmen, grooms,
and stable-men, and a large coach-house with an
open-timbered roof, which also serves as a guest-
upon occasions. There is, besides, a laundry
replete with every convenience. Over and above all
ALNWICK CASTLE : THE WELL.
Jill!
139C
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
309
-all that is required for a residence on so large a scale,
such as ale and wine cellars, ice-house, a confec-
tionery, servants' hall, steward's rooms, housekeeper's
room, still room, plate room, and all that is requisite for
the conduct of the business of the vast estate, such as
offices for the commissioner, accountants, clerks, bailiffs,
and clerk of works, there are various museums. These
occupy some of the towers in the length of circuin-
vallation. One is a fine Egyptian museum, containing
relics that were for the most part collected by
Duke Algernon in Egypt. Another, in the Sallyport
Tower, consists of a collection of British, Roman,
Anglo-Saxon, and mediaeval antiquities. The name
of the Record Tower indicates its contents. And a
geological collection was gathered together by the
late Duchess Charlotte Florentia in the Abbot's
Tower.
Taking a farewell look in the outer bailey at the
silver-grey masonry, the grassy spaces fringeing the
paved paths and roads, the embattled walls, the cavern-
ous gateways, the proud height of the Prudhoe Tower,
we see the curious blending of antiquity with modern
contrivances strikingly apparent in the contact of
the Percy pennoncelle with the revolving wind-gauge
that testifies to the velocity of the wind, and in con-
nection with an anemometer records its pressure for
reference in the luxurious library.
F. R. WILSON.
an
towfe Cattle.
JllTZ-GREENE HALLECK, an American poet
of considerable repute in his own country,
is the author of the following half-heroic,
half -humorous verses on Alnwick Castle, which were
written in October, 1822 : —
Home of the Percy's high-born race,
Home of their beautiful and brave,
Alike their birth and burial' place,
Their cradle, and their grave- !
Still sternly o'er the castle gate
Their house's Lion stands in state,
As in his proud departed hours ;
And warriors frown in stone on high,
And feudal banners " flout the sky "
Above his princely towers.
A gentle hill its side inclines,
Lovely in England's fadeless green,
To meet the quiet stream which winds
Through this romantic scene,
As silently and swuetly still,
As when, at evening, on that hill.
While summer's wind blew soft and low,
Seated by gallant Hotspur's side
His Katherine was a happy bride,
A thousand years ago.
Gaze on the Abbey's ruin'd pile ;
Does not the succouring ivy, keeping
Her watch around it, seem to smile,
As o'er a loved one sleeping ?
One solitary turret gray
Still tells, in melancholy glory.
ALNWICK CASTLE FROM THE RIVER ALN.
310
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
The legend of the Cheviot day,
The Percy's proudest Border story.
That day its roof was triumph's arch ;
Then rani?, from aisle to pictured dome,
The light step of the soldier's march,
The music of the trump and drum ;
And babe, and sire, the old, the young,
And the monk's hymn, and minstrel's song,
And woman's pure kiss, sweet and long,
Welcomed her warrior home.
Wild roses by the Abbey towers
Are gay in their young bud and bloom ;
They were born of a race of funeral flowers
That garlanded, in long gone hours.
A Templar's knightly tomb.
He died, the sword in his mailed hand,
On the holiest spot of the Blessed Land,
Where the Cross was damped with his dying breath ;
Where blood ran free as festal wine,
And the sainted air of Palestine
Was thick with the darts of death.
Wise with the lore of centuries,
What tales, if there be "tongues in trees,"
Those giant oaks could tel),
Of beings born and buried here,
Tales of the peasant and the peer,
Tales of the bridal and the bier,
The welcome and farewell,
Since on their boughs the startled bird
First, in her twilight slumbers, heard
The Norman's curfew bell.
I wandered through the lofty halls
Trod by the Percy of old fame,
And traced upon the chapel walls
Each high, historic name.
From him who once his standard set
Where now, o'er mosque and minaret,.
Glitter the Sultan's crescent moons ;
To him who, when a younger son,
Fought for King George at Lexington,
A Major of Dragoons.
That last half stanza — it has dashed
From my warm lip the sparkling cup 'r
The light that o'er my eyebeam flashed,
The power that bore my spirit up
Above this bank note world, is gone ;
And Alnwick's but a market town,
And this, alas ! its market day,
And beasts and Borderers throng the way ;
Oxen and bleating lambs in lots,
Northumbrian boers, and plaicled Scots,
Men in the coal and cattle line ;
From Teviot's bard and hero land,
From royal Berwick's beach of sand,
From Wooler, Morpeth, Hexham, and
Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
These are not the romantic times
So beautiful in Spenser's rhymes.
So dazzling to the dreaming boy.
Ours are the days of fact, not fable.
Of Knights, but not of the Round Table, '
Of Bailie Jarvie, not Rob Roy ;
•ilf&^^tt^ Wlil,,'//&^tV\, . ,"/VV : Vi
m
\\* yu/>' iln 7-'/'-.^a™ ; ' nil I
ALNWICK CASTLE : THE SALOON.
July I
1890./
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
311
'Tis what our President, Munro,
Has called " the era of good feeling. "
The Highlander, the bitterest foe
To modern laws, has felt their blow,
Consented to be taxed, and vote.
And put on pantaloons and coat,
And leave off cattle stealing.
Lord Stafford mines for coal and salt,
The Duke of Norfolk deals in malt.
The Douglas in red herrings ;
And noble name, and cultured land.
Palace, and park, and vassal band
Are powerless to the notes of hand
Of Rothschild or the Barings.
The age of bargaining, said Burke,
Has come ; to-day the turbaned Turk
(Sleep, Richard of the lion heart,
Sleep on, nor from your cerements start)
Is England's friend and fast ally :
The Moslem tramples on the Greek,
And on the Cross's altar stone,
And Christendom looks tamely on.
And hears the Christian maiden shriek,
And sees the Christian father die ;
And not a sabre blow is given,
For Greece and fame, for faith and heaven,
By Europe's craven chivalry.
You'll ask if yet the Percy lives
In the armed pomp of feudal state.
The present representatives
Of Hotspur and his "gentle Kate "
Are some half-dozen serving men
In the drab coat of William Penn ;
A chamber-maid, whose lip and eve,
And cheek, and brown hair, bright and curling,
Spoke nature's aristocracy ;
And one, half-groom, half-seneschal,
Who bowed me through court, bower, and hall,
From donjon keep to turret wall,
For ten-and-sixpence sterling.
j]LAGDON HALL, the seat of Sir Matthew
White Ridley, now member of Parliament
for the Blackpool Division of Lancashire,
stands on the west side of the great North Road, about
nine miles from Newcastle and five miles from Morpeth.
It was built by Matthew Ridley, a Newcastle merchant,
in the early part of the eighteenth century. In 1826 and
1830 additions were made and porticos added from designs
by Bonomi. The south portico has its intercolumination
closed with a screen of stained glass, beautifully enriched
with classical figures by Mr. John Gibson, of Newcastle.
The hall contains, together with many valuable pictures,
a large collection of marble and bronze statues by J. G.
Lough, purchased by the late Sir Matthew White
Ridley, who was a patron of the sculptor. The pleasure
grounds and gardens are tastefully laid out, and are
ornamented with a small lake. (See vol. i., p. 287.)
In the grounds is preserved the ancient Gale Cross, which
once stood at the foot of the Side in Newcastle (see
vol. Hi., p. 314), and the portcullis of the Newgate.
The lodge gates, surmounted with finely-sculptured white
bulls, have, as may be seen from our engraving, a stately
appearance. The manor of Blagdon, formerly Blakedene,
was held of the barony of Morpeth Dy John de Plessis
in the time of Henry III. In 1567 it belonged to the
Fenwicks, who, after disposing of Little Harle, had their
residence here until they sold it to the Whites. On the
marriage of Elizabeth, eldest daughter and at length
heiress of Matthew White, November 18, 1842, the
estate passed into the possession of the Ridleys, whose
ancient seat was Hardriding, near Haltwhistle. A
celebrated member of the family was Nicholas Ridley,
Bishop of London, who suffered martyrdom in the time
of Queen Mary.
jmtt
JllRKLEY HALL is situated on the river
Blyth, two-and-a-half miles north by west
from Ponteland. Over the door of a lodge
at the entrance to the park are the arms of the Ogles.
The two stone pillars of the gateway are crowned, the
one with an antelope's head, the other with a bull's head.
The mansion is a handsome square building, commanding
extensive and picturesque views.
From Mr. Tomlinson's "Guide to Northumberland"
we gather that K.irkley manor was held by the family of
Eure in the reign of Edward II., by annually presenting
a .barbed arrow at the manor court. The lands of Sir
John do Eure were seized by the Crown in the reign of
Edward III., because his father, John de Eure, had
aided the Scots in the preceding reign ; but they were
afterwards restored to the family. Sir Ralph de Eure
was Lord Warden of the East Marches in the reign of
Henry VIII., and his power and authority were such
that during the whole term of his government he was
able to maintain peace and order in a district often
exposed to the ravages of the Scots. It was this Sir
Ralph who burnt the town of Jedworth in 1544, and
who, re-entering Scotland with 4,000 men in 1545, was
slain at Halidon Hill. Sir Ralph is accused of great
barbarity in the course of his invasion— such barbarity, in
fact, that the memory of it inspired a woman known in
legend as Fair Maiden Lilliard to lead a victorious attack
on the English forces. (See Monthly Chronicle, 1888,
page 245.) Sir William de Eure, son of Sir Ralph,
was raised to the peerage in the same reign. Kirkley
became the seat of a branch of the noble family of Ogle
in the reign of James I. Here was born Sir Chaloner
Ogle, admiral and commander-in-chief of the fleet, who,
when in command of the Swallow man-of-war, captured
the squadron of Roberts, the famous pirate, on the coast
of Africa, 5th February, 1722.
An obelisk in Kirkley Park, erected by Dean Ogle in
1788 (anno centesimo), commemorates the landing of
312
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
^S-^M^ i.^*'^S- iC ^^.-f-^^^i^ jL
July)
1890.1
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
313
*
314
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
William III. in 1688. It stands out prominently at the
crown of a grassy knoll, overlooking the mansion and
the surrounding country. The inscription upon it is as
follows :—
Vindicate Libertatis Publicse
Anno Centesimo
Salutis MDCLXXXVIII.
Newton Ogle
. p
at
I1IRKLEY HALL was the scene of a
mysterious robbery in the early years of
the present century. Particulars of the
affair are given in an eighteenpenny pam-
phlet, printed by J. Mitchell, at the Tyne Mercury
Office, Newcastle, which bears the following title : —
"Trial of James Charlton, at the Northumberland
Assizes, held on the 29th of August, 1810, before Sir
Robert Graham, Knight, one of the Barons ot His
Majesty's Court of Exchequer, at the prosecution of
Michael Aynsley, the elder, on the charge of robbing
Kirkley Hall, on the 3rd of April, 1809, and feloniously
stealing therefrom the sum of £1,157 13s. 6d., the
property of Nathanael Ogle, Esq."
Mr. Aynsley, the prosecutor, was land-steward to Mr.
Ogle. Having received that gentleman's half-yearly
rents on Easter Monday, the 3rd of April, 1809, he
deposited the money, amounting to the sum stated on the
title-page of the pamphlet, in a closet in the office of
Kirkley Hall. The money was amissing next morning,
having been stolen during the night; and from the
circumstances developed in the investigation of the case
it appeared evident that the robbery must have been
committed by some one well acquainted with the house
and with the place where Mr. Aynsley had deposited the
cash.
Suspicion soon fell upon James Cbarlton, who had for
more than four years lived at Kirkley Hall, in the
capacity of hind, during the time of the last proprietor,
Dr. Ogle, Dean of Winchester, and who had, therefore, a
good knowledge of the whole place, and particularly of
the steward's office, as he had been in the habit of getting
his accounts settled in that room.
Charlton, who up to this time had borne the character
of an honest, industrious man, worked occasionally at St.
Crispin's gentle craft, but was only an indifferent shoe-
maker, not having begun the trade till late in life. At
the period of the robbery he was a labourer "at his own
hand," doing odd jobs for the farmers round about,
contracting to harvest corn for so much per boll, and
cobbling shoes between whiles. He lived at a place
called Milburn, about two and a half rnilcs from
Kirkley Hall.
The office broken into was a place where a stranger
would have been completely at fault. For there were
^t^3^I.S^S33^S^iai
Ju
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
315
two closets or presses in it, exactly alike outside, one
of which contained a chest or safe for valuables, and
the other a bed, the image and counterpart of the safe
until it was turned down. In the first closet there was
a concealed well, where anything could be stowed away
out of sight, the well being covered with a tightly-fitting
shutter. There was, moreover, a writing desk with
locked drawers in the room, as likely a place to keep
money in as either of the closets. It was a fair inference
that the burglar, whoever he was, must have been some
person thoroughly familiar with these particulars. Now
Charlton had often seen the press open, and as often seen
Mr. Aynsley both put money into the well and take it
out. But others had witnessed the same thing, and .some
of these persons were likewise suspected. One of them
was a man named Clifford, living at Kirkley ; another a
horsebreaker of the same surname, residing at Morpeth.
Against neither of these, however, was more than a bare
hint of possible guilt or complicity ever brought.
Charlton had the misfortune to have been all his life
steeped to the lips in poverty. He was therefore more
likely to be tempted to steal, as Agur the son of Jakeh
was afraid he might be. By an untoward condemnatory
coincidence, too, he became flush of money, all of a
sudden, the day after the robbery. For, on the afternoon
of Easter Tuesday, 1809, when he went into a public-
house at Ponteland, kept by a man named Barny
Shotton, the people who were drinking there were sur-
prised to see him with money in both pockets — a thing
most unusual with him. One of the company, Robert
Wilson, keeper of the neighbouring turnpike-gate,
happened to have a bill against him from Mr. James
Si Hick, leather-cutter, Newcastle, for £6 14s. 4W. for
leather, which had stood a long time over, and which
Charlton had always pleaded* inability to pay, even in
instalments of ten shillings at a time. On that Easter
Tuesday, however, Charlton said he would treat Wilson
and the rest of the company to a crown bowl of punch.
But Wilson observed that thrashing must be better than
ahoemaking, and Charlton swore by his Maker that it
was. Then, putting his hand in his breeches pocket, he
pulled out some gold, and said "Seest thou !" After-
wards, tapping Wilson on the shoulder to follow him to
the other side of the room, he told him he was going to
settle Sillick's bill, and that not by instalments, but
altogether — which, on the Saturday, four days after-
wards, he did. Margery Harbottle, whose husband kept
a shop at Ponteland, and sold groceries, meal, and flour,
received 13s. 5d. from Charlton on the same day, in pay-
ment of goods got some time the winter before. Richard
Reed, miller, Ponteland, also had his bill, which had
been owing near twelve months, honourably settled. On
Saturday, the 8th of April, Charlton paid Sarah Kyle, of
Ponteland, £3, which he had owed her fourteen months.
On the same day, at Newcastle, he paid Edward
Challoner, butcher, Morpeth, £2 Is. 6d., which had been
due about three years, and which the man had despaired
of getting. Several other persons, in whose company
Charlton had been during the Easter week, stated that he
was then in possession of what seemed a good sum of
money, in bank notes, gold, and silver, the gold being a
guinea, a half-guinea, and several seven-shilling pieces.
In one place, where there happened to be some people
playing at cards, he wanted to bet a guinea on one man's
hand, for which he was told he was only making a fool of
himself, as he certainly could not afford to lose such a
sum : whereupon he said he had plenty of money, and
pulled a handful of gold out of one pocket, and a hand-
ful of silver out of another.
These facts becoming known, Charlton was appre-
hended on the 17th of May, at the instance of Mr.
Aynsley ; and the local magistrates, after hearing what
they deemed sufficient evidence, committed him for
trial at the forthcoming assizes.
Before proceeding further, it will be best to give some
particulars concerning the robbery.
Mr. Ogle, the proprietor, did not reside at Kirkley
Hall, his usual place of abode being somewhere about
Southampton. He only came to the North occasionally for
a short time in summer. The old mansion was therefore
left in charge of the servants. Mr. Aynsley, the
steward, then 75 years of age, lived at Newhani, three
miles off, and was a man of some property, having a
small estate of his own at Matfen, worth a little better
than a hundred a year. The money stolen was made up
as follows : — A bundle of five and ten pound notes, together
amounting to £1,020, a five guinea note, 126 one pound
notes, one guinea in gold, a half-guinea in gold, six seven-
shilling pieces in gold, and £1 14s. in silver. All this
was enclosed in a canvas bag, and deposited in the well
above mentioned, a placs where, as Mr. Aynsley re-
marked to the housekeeper, "the devil himself could not
tind it," though he afterwards denied that he had said
this.
In consequence of receiving an intimation that the
mansion-house had been broken into, Mr. Aynsley went
next morning thither. Arriving at Kirkley Hall before
eight in the morning, he went into the office to examine
the press, and found that the outer door had been forced
open, the drawers pulled out, and the books and papers
thrown upon the floor. Three panes of glass were broken
in one of the windows in the servants' hall. These win-
dows were two in number ; one of them had been fastened
overnight, the other not ; but the window which was
fastened was the one broken. It had been fastened with
a nail, which had been pulled out and was found lying
on the floor. The broken glass was mostly inside. The
sash had been thrown up with violence. There had also
been violence offered to the door leading out of the
servants' hall, by which alone access could be got to
the office.
As soon as the news reached Mr. Ogle, he sent down.
316
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/July
11890
a Bow Street officer, named Lavender, to inquire into
the particulars ; and immediately after that inquiry, the
results of which were not made public, he dismissed
Aynsley from his service. The steward was greatly
blamed for leaving the money in the office, and he
was told that his employer would certainly look to
him for it ; but he pleaded Mr. Ogle's own written
instructions in exoneration, as well as the fact that
cash had often been deposited there, when access could
not be had to another place, called "the stronghold," of
which Mr. Ogle had the key at the time ; so that, unless
he had carried the rents home with him, which he did
not consider safe, he had no alternative but to deposit the
cash where he did.
Whoever the guilty person was, his mind must have
been soon alarmed ; for, on the following Saturday
morning, one of the female domestics, named Dorothy
Hodgson, a steady woman who had been in Mr. Ogle's
service twelve years, having got up at six o'clock to go to
one Matthew Smith's, who lived in a plantation near
the hall, observed a parcel lying close beside a door in
the shrubbery, and brought it home, fancying it had
something to do with the robbery. And so it actually
had. Dorothy, sick with excitement, fainted away on
arriving in the house. The parcel was found to contain
bank notes amounting to £510. The place where it was
picked up was close to the public road, and a person on
horseback could easily have dropped it there, without
getting off his horse. Mr. Aynsley, it turned out, had
gone to Newcastle that morning by way of Kirkley,
though it was a mile or two out of his direct route, and
part of it a very bad road. Only the day before, more-
over, Dorothy had had some conversation with him about
the robbery, when he said to her, "Keep a sharp look-out,
Dolly; perhaps the money will come back." And the
next day (Sunday) after that on which the kitchen-maid
had picked up the parcel, Mr. Aynsley repeated these
words, or terms to the same effect, to the gardener,
emphasizing the word all — "all the money." When
afterwards questioned about this, he explained that
his reason for saying so was that it was too large a
sum for any person to conceal. However this may
have been, on Monday, the day following, another
paper parcel was found, again near the shrubbery door,
with £4-85 in it. But the remainder (£162) never cast
up. The bag which had contained the money was
returned to Mr. Aynsley empty, on Tuesday, the 4th
of August, by a woman of the name of Rachael Hall,
who found it on the west area of the house, not far
from the garden.
These are the main facts.
At the Assizes, in 1809, the bill presented against
Charlton was thrown out by the grand jury, and the fact
was immediately communicated to him by one of the
turnkeys, Ralph Sprunston, who told him through a
grating in the keep of the old Castle at Newcastle, then
used as a place of temporary detention during the Assize
week, and known as the Castle Garth Prison, that Mr.
Blake, the gaoler, would very soon come and take off
his irons. In Charlton's ignorance, he confounded the
rejection of the bill with an acquittal by a common jury ;
and in the confidence of his good fortune he confessed to a
fellow-prisoner, one William Taylerson, that be was the
thi«f. Becoming subsequently wiser, he would fain have
bribed his confidant by the sum of eigh teen-pence ! But
Taylorson repeated the conversation, and it came to the
ears of the gaoler, who took steps to secure the re-arrest
of Charlton ; and meanwhile a pardon was got for the
informant, who had been sentenced to death at the same
Assizes for burglary and horse-stealing, and who was thus
restored to competency as a witness.
The Assizes were at that time held only once in the year
(August) at Newcastle and in Northumberland ; and a
new bill could not be preferred until 1810. It was then
returned by the grand jury as true. The judges on this
occasion were Sir Allan Chambre and Sir Robert Graham,
and it was before the latter that Charlton was tried. Mr.
Topping, for the prosecution, addressed the jury, detail-
ing the facts as summarised above, and then called as
witnesses Michael Ayusley, Dorothy Hodgson, Jane
Pybus, Rachael Hall, Samuel Davidson, Robert Wilson,
Elizabeth Sillick, John Phillips, Margery Harbottle,
Matthew Mackie, Robert Reed, Sarah Kyle, Edward
Challoner, and William Taylerson. The examination
was conducted by Mr. Topping and Mr. Scarlett, after-
wards Lord Abinger, who had that year for the first time
assumed the position of a leader in the circuit, though,
while still a junior counsel, he had acquired the epithet
of "verdict-getter," owing to his tact in managing
juries. The counsel for the defence were Messrs.
Raine, Bullock, and Losh, who cross-examined the
witnesses with great ability. The solicitor for the
prosecution was Mr. P. Fenwick ; for the prisoner,
Mr. Matthew Forster.
Taylerson 's evidence was to the effect that, on the fore-
noon of the day on which the bill against Charlton was
thrown out, they, being together in the same cell, got into
casual conversation. Taylerson having mentioned that he
came from Stockton-upon-Tees, Charlton said his wife
came from the same place, and so they became ac-
quainted. He did not talk about his own case in the
morning, but after Sprunston had delivered his message
he said he was very happy he had not gone before my
lord, as he feared his own conscience would have con-
demned him. Taylerson replied, "Why need your con-
science condemn you, so long as you are clear ? " Charlton
replied that there were more than sixty witnesses againsc
him, but added, "If I had known as much as I know
now, I should not have given up a halfpenny of the
money." "Were you, then," said Taylerson, "guilty
of breaking the house ? " Charlton confessed he was,
stating the amount of money he had taken, explaining
Ju'y 1
189U. I
NOR1H-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
317
how he knew it was there, and summing up by saying
he knew the house as well as if he had been born and
bred in it. He entered it in the dead hour of the night,
carrying a dark pocket lantern. He tried many doors
and windows before he could get in, but at length his
wife entered by a broken pane in the window and
admitted him. He had not much difficulty in finding
the money, but had many books and papers to turn over
before he came to it. He said he had been examined
four times, and would not have been committed the
fifth time if his story had agreed with his brother's
relating to some money the latter was alleged to have
lent him. He added, however, that if he and his
brother had gone to the bar, their stories would now
have agreed, as they had had many conversations with
his attorney. That gentleman had often asked him to
confess, but he was determined not to do so. None of
the notes were backed, and he was not much afraid
of being detected ; there was one five-pound note only
of which he was afraid, which he had paid to a woman in
Newcastle for leather, and which was torn ; it had been
inquired about among all the farmers in the rounds, so
that it might be brought against him. and he was afraid
the woman would be brought forward to identify it.
He went on to say that he got up on the Saturday after
the robbery between 5 and 6 o'clock in the morning,
went to Kirkley Hall, and flung some of the money
on to the garden walk. He then proceeded on his journey
to Newcastle, and met the steward on the road ; but, to
avoid confronting him face to face, he got over the hedge
and hid himself till Aynsley had passed.
The prisoner being called on for his defence, he said he
was innocent, but left himself entirely in the hands of his
counsel. Mr. John Wilson, of Morpeth, a confidential
friend of Mr. Ogle's, proved that he had found fault with
Mr. Aynsley for putting the money in such an insecure
place. Then William Hannington, bricklayer, who had
been working at Milburn Hall during Easter, 1809,
swore that he saw Charlton on the night of Easter
Monday in his own house between 8 and 10 o'clock,
and next morning again, about 4- o'clock, coming out
of his room, with a skeel under his arm, going to get
water. He owned, when cross-examined, that he had
been at Ponteland at a dance that night, and that he
had had a good deal of drink. Robert Dickson, David
Taylor, William Howison, and Andrew Murray, masons,
who all lodged in the same house with Charlton, had
heard no noise during the night of the robbery, and
did not think any person could have gone out and come
in without their hearing him. They could hear noises
distinctly from the prisoner's room, but did not hear
any that night. If there had been any noise, a terrier
dog, which was in the house, would have been sure to
rouse them. Robert Dees, alehouse-keeper, who lived
at Newham Edge, a mile from Newhain, where Mr.
Aynsley resided, and about two miles from Kirkley,
deposed that on the Saturday after the robbery he had
some conversation with Aynsley on the subject. It began
on that gentleman's side, for, said the cautious Boniface,
"it would not have been decent, after the stories I had
heard, forme to have begun it." He remembered per-
fectly Mr. Aynsley saying that the greatest part (or all)
of the money would come back. Mr. Thomas Gillespy,
farmer, Haindykes, said Charlton had been his barnman,
got his victuals in the house, always behaved well, and
made a good deal of money.
William Charlton, the prisoner's brother, deposed that
he lent him ten pounds a fortnight or three weeks before
Easter, in small notes ; he also lent him ten pounds more,
in a five-pound note and five small notes, in Easter week.
This witness had previously told several different stories,
both as to the days on which the money was lent, and
the currency in which it was paid ; but he now tried to
explain the contradictions by saying : " I was never
before a magistrate before, and Mr. Clennell threatened
me so much that I did not know what I was saying or
doing, and might then give a different account, and even
swear to it." "Mr. Fenwick put the questions to me,
and said, if I did not sign the paper, they would send my
brother to prison immediately, and I was so frightened
that I signed it."
The prisoner had gone to his work as usual on the day
after the robbery. So swore Joseph Emmerson, whose
shop fronted the barn at Haindykes.
A man named William Oliver, who was in confinement
at the same time with Taylerson, remembered having
some talk with him in Morpeth Gaol about Charlton,
three weeks or thereabouts after the previous assizes.
Taylerson said Charlton had got discharged without a
bill being found, and "the odd money " had fetched him
through his troubles, but he (Taylerson) would gain
his own liberty by fetching him in again. Oliver made
answer to him, " Would you, for the value of your
liberty, hang another man?" "Yes," said he, "liberty
is sweet." "So," rejoined Oliver, "for your liberty you
would hang a man?" "Yes," repeated he, "I would
hang a man for my liberty."
At the close of the evidence, Sir Robert Graham, the
judge, summed up the evidence, commenting on it as
he proceeded. This occupied him at least three hours,
and he finished his charge to the jury about 1 o'clock
in the morning. The jury then retired, and, after a
consultation of five minutes, brought in a verdict of
"Guilty."
When the verdict was pronounced, Charlton gave a
convulsive sigh, and exclaimed, in a low tone, "Dear
me 1" But that was all. He had been perfectly com-
posed while the trial was going on, and he was equally
unmoved when called up some hours afterwards to receive
sentence.
His lordship remarked that, if the prisoner was guilty
of the crime, as the jury had found him to be, his case
318
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/July
\ 1890.
was attended with considerable aggravation, from the
nature of the strong circumstantial evidence which had
been adduced in his favour. The whole trial, indeed
presented such an immense variety of evidence, that it
required men of no ordinary talent to weigh the circum-
stances with due consideration, in order to obtain a com-
plete development of the case. After a full and fair
investigation, however, the jury had pronounced a verdict
of guilty, and it only then became his imperious duty
to pass that sentence which the law enjoined as the
penalty for such offences. He thought it necessary, how-
ever, to observe that a variety of circumstances, favour-
able to the prisoner, had transpired which the more he
considered led him to think there was still a mystery
about the whole case that he could neither unravel nor
understand. These favourable circumstances, said his
lordship, would necessarily have the effect of postponing
the execution of the sentence till the case should be
submitted to the consideration of his gracious Majesty.
Sentence of death was then passed in the usual form.
Four prisoners in all were cast for death at these
assizes. But, before ihe judges left Newcastle, they were
pleased to reprieve all who had been sentenced to be
hanged, except John Bowman, a horse-stealer, who was
left for execution, but who also was afterwards reprieved.
The sentence on James Charlton was commuted to
some penalty sh >rt of death ; but we find no record of the
particulars, and what became of him ultimately does
not seem to be known.
At the request of several respectable persons, who felt
for Charlton's distresses and those of his family, a sub-
scription was opened for the purpose of defraying the
expense of an application for his Majesty's pardon, and
also for the support of his family — a wife and four help-
less young children. Subscriptions were received by E.
Humble and Son, booksellers, Newcastle; but as to the
precise amount raised, or the way in which the money
was spent, it would perhaps be impossible at this distance
of time to discover.
And who it was that really robbed Kirkley Half is still
a mystery, and will most likely ever remain so.
STfrt £00a0ematt0tt at (Sttotainto
USTAVUS THE THIRD ascended the
throne of Sweden in 1772. The king, who
was then in his 25th year, solemnly swore
at his coronation that he would support the
government of the kingdom as then established ; that
he would maintain the rights and liberties of the States,
consisting of the four orders, nobles, clergy, citizens, and
peasants ; and that he would reign over his subjects with
gentleness and equity, according to the laws. But these
oaths he soon after determined to disregard. It is said
he secretly fomented the disunion between the nobles
and the inferior orders of the people, so that the business
in the Diet came to a deadlock. Having thus prepared the
ground, Gustavus effected, in a manner similar to that
afterwards adopted by Napoleon the Third, the complete
overthrow of the Constitution.
It was on the 19th of August, 1772, that the Swedish
coup d'etat was accomplished. Massing in and around
Stockholm a great array of officers and soldiers in whom
he could place reliance, Gustavus seized the absolute
power he coveted, and that without shedding so much as
a single drop of blood. All the members of the Senate
who were obnoxious to him were, however, made prison-
ers. A new Constitution was proclaimed, and an
assembly of the States invoked. The new Diet accord-
ingly met on the 21st of August, but the hall in which
the members assembled was surrounded by troops, while
loaded cannon were planted in the streets commanding it.
Seated on his throne and protected by his guards, Gusta-
vus, after addressing a speech to the Diet, ordered a
^secretary to read the new form of government offered for
its acceptance. This new form of government made the
king absolute master of all the powers of the State. The
members of the Diet, knowing that they were at the
mercy of an armed force, thought it prudent to comply at
once with what was required of them. The marshals,
acting for the nobles, and the speakers of the inferior
orders, acting for their respective constituents, accord-
ingly signed the Constitution in due form.
The system which was established in this arbitrary
fashion lasted for twenty years. Gustavus is alleged to
have exercised his despotic power with creditable modera-
tion. Under his " firm but wholesome rule," we are told,
Swedish industry, commerce, credit, and political in-
fluence revived. The abilities he displayed in the course
of a war which was waged in Finland against Russia in
the autumn of 1788, helped to consolidate his authority.
But great discontent was aroused against him four years
later when he announced that he had matured a plan
of coalition between Sweden, Russia, Prussia, and
Austria, against Revolutionary France. Discontent took
the form of conspiracy. Seeing no chance of relief
through the ordinary processes of agitation, since Gusta-
vus was absolute master of the State, the conspirators,
most of whom were members of the aristocracy, entered
into a scheme for removing the king himself.
Repeated warnings, it seems, had been sent to Gusta-
vus of the danger which threatened him. One of these
warnings reached his Majesty on the 16th of March,
1792, when he was about to attend a ball at the Opera
House. Disregarding the information he had received,
the king entered the ball-room, whereupon he was
instantly surrounded by a crowd of maskers in black
dresses, one of whom lodged the contents of a pistol in
his left hip. The king immediately removed his own
July \
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
319
mask, asked his master of the horse to take him back to
his apartment, and a fortnight later expired of his
wounds.
Terrible was the punishment that betel the assassin
and his accomplices. As soon as the fatal shot had been
fired in the Opera House, an officer of the guards ordered
all the doors and gates to be shut. Two pistols were
found in the hall, the one lately discharged and the other
loaded with points and heads of nails. There was also
found a large carving knife, sharpened on both edges,
and full of hacks, rendering a wound from it the more
dangerous. It was ascertained that these weapons had
belonged to Johann Jakob Ankarstroem, who had
formerly been a captain in the Swedish service, and who
was known to be violently opposed to the measures taken
by the king to curtail the power of the nobles. Ankar-
stroem was arrested, confessed his guilt, and, when
threatened with torture, implicated some of his accom-
plices, among them Count Horn, Count Ribbing, Baron
Ehrensward, Baron Bjelke, and Major Hartmanstroff.
It transpired at the trial that the principal conspirators
had drawn lots to determine which of them should
assassinate the king, and that the duty of discharging
this dreadful office had fallen to Count Ankarstroem.
Several of the conspirators were condemned to death,
accompanied by barbarous and degrading circumstances.
Aukarstroem himself was conducted to the Knight's Hall
Market, fastened by an iron collar upon a scaffold for two
hours, and afterwards tied to a stake and whipped with a
rod of five lashes. The punishment inflicted on the first
day was repeated on the two following days— first at
the Haymarket, and then at the Market of Adolphus
Frederic. A few days later his right hand was chopped
off by the executioner, who subsequently beheaded him,
and then divided his body into four quarters, which were
hung up at different parts of the city, there to remain
until they rotted away. Four of the other prisoners
were treated in much the same manner. It is stated,
however, that Ankarstroem, instead of being executed
in the way just described, was fixed alive to a gibbet
in tho Market Place, where he was compelled to remain
till he died of starvation.
But what has all this to do with North-Country lore
and legend ? Well, one of the officers of the Swedish
guards who was on duty at she Opera House when
Gustavus was assassinated, and who was afterwards
present with his regiment when Ankarstroem was
barbarously punished, became in later years a well-
known resident of Newcastle. Of this gentleman, of
Major Thaia (his father), and of Lord Dundonald, the
father of the celebrated Lord Cochrane, some reminis-
cences were supplied to the Weekly Chronicle in 1876 by
the late Mr. John Theodore Hoyle, then coroner for
Newcastle. Mr. Hoyle prefixed to these -reminiscences
the following statement : — " You may place implicit
reliance on the memorandum I have drawn up, for I had
every word of it from Major Thain (the father) himself."
We now subjoin Mr. Hoyle's narrative : —
About the year 1800, the Lord Dundonald of that day
paid great attention to, and was well acquainted with,
chemistry, and studied it with the view of its application
to arts and manufactures. About that time he resided at
Scptswood, near Newcastle-upou-Tyne, in a respectable
brick house there, facing the river, and not far from the
place where the well-known Kitty's Drift, which was
made lor the underground waggon-way from Kenton,
discharged itself on to the Tyne. He had a small manu-
factory near there, which was more for experimental
purposes than anything else.
A gentleman, who afterwards became well known on
the Tyne, connected with chemical works, resided for
some period with Lord Dundonald. This gentleman's
name was James Thain, and his father resided for some
time in Wales, and his will is proved there.
Mr. Thain's career was a remarkable one. In early
life he was an officer in the Swedish Guards, and was
on duty at the opera at Stockholm the night Gustavus
was shot by Count Ankarstroem, and was afterwards
present with a guard of his regiment when Ankarstroem,
after he had been tried and condemned to death, was
affixed alive to a gibbet in the Market Place at
Stockholm, and allowed to remain there till he died of
starvation.
We then find Mr. Thain at Scotswood, where, after
devoting himself for some time to learning chemistry,
he became an officer in the Northumberland Militia,
where he attained the rank of major, and for some
vears accompanied the regiment to various parts of
England and Ireland.
Mr. Thain had a son and daughter. The son became
an ensign in the same militia, and obtained his com-
mission in the Line by getting the requisite number of
Northumbrians to volunteer with him into the regulars.
He accompanied his regiment, and was present at the
storming of Berpen-op-Zoom, and he was also present at
Waterloo ; and at the end of the war he was quartered
with it at Sunderland and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where
he was much in society in the North of England, and was
highly esteemed. The sabre he wore at Waterloo is now
in possession of the writer's family.
In the summer of 1839 he went out to the East Indies
as aide-de-camp to General Elphinstone, who had been
his colonel when in the 33rd Regiment, and was killed, as
appears by all the narratives of the Afghan war, at the
retreat through the Cabul Pass, from which there were
only two survivors of all the Europeans who attempted to
make their escape by that means.
Major Thain, the father, was for many years the super-
intending manager of the Walker Alkali Works when
belonging to the Losh family. He passed the latter part
of his life in Newcastle, and translated "Frithiof " and
other poems from the Swedish, and died about 1837 or
1838 at his lodgings in Brunswick Place. He was buried
in St. Andrew's Churchyard. The writer was much with
him for ten or twelve years, and was greatly indebted to
him in the direction of his studies.
QFalimttev ILtfc
is needless to remind those who, twenty-
five years ago, witnessed scenes of shipwreck
and death at the mouth of the Tyne, of the
motives and feelings that induced a party of
compassionate gentlemen to band themselves together
just after the lamentable wreck of the steamship Stan-
ley, to obtain a knowledge of the use of the rocket
apparatus, and thus be enabled to render efficient assist-
320
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
ance to the coastguard in their praiseworthy, but often
powerless, efforts to save life. Of the original members —
one hundred and forty— only fifteen yet remain who are
able and willing to work and muster for duty in stormy
weather. It is gratifying to find, however, that, as from
various causes the original members have fallen away,
their places have been filled by young and active men,
and the work which the brigade seek to accomplish seems
likely to go on so long as gallant ships nail the seas and
men's lives are in jeopardy. The philanthropic work is
one of the most popular institutions in the borough of
Tynemouth. All along the coast similar brigades have
been established, but Tynemouth was the first to unfurl
the flag of humanity to our seafarers. The loss of life
previously had been appalling, as may readily be con-
ceived when it is placed on record that at one time no
fewer than thirty vessels were to be seen ashore at the
mouth of the Tyue as the result of a single gale.
Mr. John Morrison would appear to have been the
first, through the medium of the press, to put suggestions
for the benefit of our seafaring community into tangible
form. He at once found willing coadjutors in Mr. John
Foster Spence and the late Mr. Joseph Spence. two most
estimable Quaker gentlemen, who took kindly to the
scheme, expressing the opinion that "this was a sort of
volunteering which even they might encourage." Public
meetings followed, and in the end, as the result of the
agitation, Mr. J. F. Spence, under date November 30,
1864, intimated in the local newspapers that names of
intending volunteer Hfe-brigadesmen would be received
by Mr. Kilgour, Custom House ; Mr. Greenhow, Ship-
ping Office ; Mr. Messent, Tyne Piers Office ; Mr. John
Morrison, 54, Front Street, Tynemouth ; and Mr. George
Hewitt, police superintendent. North Shields. Mr.
Joseph Spence was appointed treasurer (a position
which he filled with indefatigable energy and
much credit up to the time of his regrettable
death, which occurred at Tynemouth on December
17, 1889, after an honoured and active public life
extending over seventy years) ; Mr. J. F. Spence
was appointed secretary, and the first committee con-
'"' '''//!: ' """ '•'
\ftll
//
sisted of Messrs. James Gilbert, James Blackburn,
Edward Fry, John Morrison, James Hindmarsh, H. A.
Adamson, Joseph Menzies, Stanley Kewney, Michael
Detchon, Thomas Taylor, and the Rev. H. S. Hicks. A
FIRING THE ROCKET.
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
321
code of rules was drawn up, and submitted to the Board
of Trade by Mr. John Morrison, and that authority in-
structed Captain Robertson, R.N., inspecting com-
mander of the district, to take the matter up. From
this time Alderman John Foster Spence conducted all
the correspondence with the Board of Trade, whilst Mr.
John Morrison carried on an active and successful
canvass for members. The code of rules was soon after-
wards approved by the Board of Trade, who, indeed,
thought them so admirable that even to the present day
they are annually printed and circulated in all the Life
Saving Apparatus Reports of the Board as a guide to
similar bodies.
For long the members of the brigade experienced much
difficulty in successfully carrying on their work, owing to
the want of knowledge regarding the apparatus among
the crews of stranded vessels ; but this difficulty ha«
COMING ASHORE IN BREECHES BUOY.
21
since been met by the " instruction boards" which are
now placed on all vessels by the Board of Trade.
Our portrait of Mr. J. F. Spence is copied from an oil
painting by Mr. F. S. Ogilvie, of North Shields, while
that of Mr. John Morrison is reproduced from a photo-
graph by Messrs. Auty and Ruddock, of Tynemouth.
The other sketches which accompany this article show
how the rocket apparatus is worked. When the appara-
tus— which is transported in a waggon specially provided
for the purpose — has arrived at the scene of action and
is got into position, a rocket, with a thin line attached,
is fired over the wreck. This line is secured by the
crew on board, who, at a given signal, make fast a block
to the highest secure part of the wreck. Another signal
is then made, and the coastguard, by means of an endless
line, haul off a hawser, which is made fast on board about
eighteen inches above the block. If the wreck is station-
ary, and circumstances permit, the shore end of the
hawser is passed over a crutch, and set taut with a tackle,
which is generally hooked into an anchor buried in the
beach for the purpose. A breeches-buoy, which travels
suspended from the hawser, is then hauled backwards and
forwards between the vessel and the shore until all the
passengers and crew are landed, the persons to be saved
sitting in the buoy with legs thrust through the breeches.
in tlu ilrrrtli.
KORGE WHITEFIELD, the fellow-labourer
of Wesley, was undoubtedly one of the most
remarkable preachers England ever pro-
duced. From a memorandum book in
which he recorded the times and places of his ministerial
labours, it appears that from the period of his ordination
to that of his death, which was thirty-four years, he
had preached upwards of eighteen thousand sermons.
lie had a fine, clear, audible voice, and such a distinct
articulation that it ia said he could be heard nearly
a mile off. On one occasion, at Cambuslang, in
Lanarkshire, he preached to between thirty and forty
thousand people, of whom three thousand afterwards
sat down at the Lord's table. In Moorfields, London,
and on Kensington Common, he frequently preached
to twenty thousand people. Benjamin Franklin,
who was present at one of his great gatherings in
America, calculated that he could be heard by thirty
thousand at once. He preached almost by preference
in the open air. On such a place as Newcastle Moor
he was far more at home than in a church, chapel,
or meeting house. The rude coal-miners flocked to
hear him wherever he went, at Bristol, Kingswood,
Cardiff, Wallsall, Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle, Cam-
buslang, or Dunfermline. The effect of his fervid
eloquence was magical. Five persons are said to
322
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{
1890.
have been driven mad by one sermon with fear and ex-
citement ; and it was jocularly remarked as to his rhetori-
cal power, that if he only pronounced the word " Meso-
potamia," it was almost enough to make a sensitive soul
cry ! His success as a popular preacher, however, was
due, not to his talents, which were mediocre, nor to his
learning, which was small, nor to his worldly knowledge
or prudence, which were far inferior to Wesley's, but to
the earnestness of his faith, the fluency and ready
strength of his homaly speech, the singularly sonorous
and expressive tone of his voice, and the vehemence and
impetuosity of his nature.
One of WKitefield's most famous missionary journeys
was that which he made to Scotland in 1741. He
went thither on the invitation of Ralph and Ebenezer
Erskine (whose father, Henry, was imprisoned at New-
castle in 1685). The two brothers flourish in ecclesiastical
history as leaders of the first great secession from the
Church of Scotland ; but. comparatively liberal-minded
men as they were, Whitefield's notions were too catholic
for them ; for he was as ready to preach in an Estab-
lished Church as to a seceding congregation, and more
ready still to preach in the open air. Nine of the seced-
ing ministers met in a sort of synod at Ralph Erskine's
house to set the Southern stranger right about Church
Government and the Solemn League and Covenant.
Whitefield bluntly told them that they might save
themselves the trouble, for he had no scruples either
about the one or the other. They begged that he would
preach only for them till he had got further light. " And
why only for you?" said he. " Because, " replied Ralph
Erskine, "we are the Lord's people." "Are there no
other Lord's people but yourselves?" inquired Whitefield :
"if not, they are the devil's people, and so have all the
more need to be preached to. Eor my part," continued
he, "all places are alike to me, and if the Pope himself
would lend me his pulpit, I would gladly preach in it
the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." The ministers
contended that the Presbyterian form of Church Govern-
ment was of divine institution, and all others human
inventions. Whitefield, laying bis hand on his heart,
said, "I do not find it here." Whereupon Alexander
Moncrieff replied, as he rapped the Bible that lay on
the table, "But I find it here." Finding their guest
incorrigible, they had no alternative but to leave him
to his own devices, which accordingly they did.
On his second visit to Scotland he found the Associate
Presbytery still full of wrath. Even the Erskines were
unfriendly. One reverend gentleman, named Gib, went
the length of preaching a sermon at Bristo, then a suburb
of Edinburgh, to warn his Sock " against countenancing
the ministrations of Mr. George Whitefield." In this
discourse, which was immediately afterwards printed,
Mr. Gib denounced the "latitudinarian" Englishman
as one of the false Christs of whom Christ forewarned
the Church. When a revival broke out among the
coal-miners in Lanarkshire, the seceders convened a
Presbytery meeting, which appointed a fast "for the
diabolical delusion which had seized the people." Nor
was the dislike to Whitefield's bold preaching confined
to this new sect. The Cameronians, too, called him
" the most latitudinarian prelatic priest that ever essayed
to expand and unite into one almost all sorts and sizes of
sects and heresies whatsoever with orthodox Christians."
He had come to the North, they averred, "to pervert the
truth, subvert the people, and make gain to himself by
making merchandise of his pretended ministry." They
expressly protested, testified, and declared against the
delusion of Satan at Cambuslang and other places, and
against "all the managers, aiders, assisters, countenancers,
and encouragers of the same."
Whitefield's visits to Scotland were both by sea, and
the return southwards by land through Carlisle. His
first visit to Newcastle was in August, 1749. On his way
thither from Leeds he met Charles Wesley going South.
They had not seen each other for a good while, and there
had never been anything like cordial union between
Whitefield and the Wesleys since the time when the
doctrinal split took place between them on the knotty
subject of Calvinism versus Arminianism. On this
occasion, however, they embraced each other as friends,
and Charles Wesley, turning his horse's head round,
came back immediately to Newcastle to introduce Mr.
Whitefield to the Methodist body there, which was
already numerous. "Honest George," as he was
familiarly called, preached for several days in the
Orphan House in Northumberland Street, and never,
we are told, was he "more blessed or better satisfied."
" Whole troops of the Dissenters he mowed down,"
Charles Wesley wrote. "The world was confounded,"
he went on to say. Here, as at Leeds and other places
in Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Cheshire, through which
" Brother Charles " and " Honest George " rode in
company, we are told the Established and Dissenting
clergy were very angry, and " their churches and chapels
echoed with the thunder of their displeasure."
On their way south from Newcastle, Whitefield and
Charles Wesley visited their little flock in Sheffield, who
were "as sheep in the midst of wolves," the ministers
having so stirred up the people that they were ready to
tear them in pieces. "Hell was moved from beneath"
to oppose the Methodist preachers. " The whole army of
the aliens " followed them. As there were no magistrates
in Sheffield, which was then a small town of ten thousand
inhabitants, every man did as seemed good in his own
eyes. "Satan now put it into their hearts to pull down
the Society House," And they set to their work while
the Methodists were singing and praising God. Charles
Wesley says he could compare them to nothing but the
men of Sodom, or those coming out of the tombs exceed-
ing fierce. They pressed hard to break open the door.
Charles would have gone out to them, but the brethren
'l890. }
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
323
would not suffer him. The mob laboured all night, and
by morning had pulled down one end of the house.
Before long they had not left one stone upon another.
At length some one came and read the Riot Act, and
the mob dispersed. Whitefield afterwards preached to
these sons of Belial, "and some of them were convinced
by him, some converted and added to the Church, and
the remainder mostly silenced."
Whitefield '& third visit to Scotland was more to his
satisfaction. He was much better received than before.
Larger congregations than ever waited on his word.
Ralph Erskine and he met, and shook hands. The
pamphleteers were quiet. And ninny of his enemies
were glad to be at peace with him. "I shall have
reason to bless God for ever," says he, "for this last
visit to Scotland."
In the summer of 1752, he went on a preaching tour
through the provinces. His progress through the North
of England was "a sublime march." From Sheffield he
wrote that since he left Newcastle he had sometimes
scarce known whether he was in heaven or on earth.
" As he swept along from time to time, thousands and
thousands flocked twice and thrice a day to hear the
Word of Life. A gale of Divine influence everywhere
attended it." He continued his work until he readied
Northampton, where he took coach for London.
It was to be expected that one who eclipsed the best
actors of the day in grace of action and naturalness of
expression, and who, at the same time, assailed theatre-
going with unsparing severity, would be attacked in turn.
In Glasgow he warned his hearers to avoid the playhouse,
which was then only the wooden booth of some strolling
players, and represented to them the pernicious influence
of theatres upon religion and morality. About the same
time — we know not whether in consequence of Whitefield 's
remarks — the proprietor of the booth ordered his workmen
to take it down. This simple affair was thus reported in
a Newcastle journal when he had got as far south as that
town: — "By a letter from Edinburgh we are informed
that, on the 2nd instant, Mr. Whitefield, the itinerant,
being at Glasgow, and preaching to a numerous audience
near the playhouse lately built, he inflamed the mob so
much against it, that they ran directly from before him
and pulled it down to the ground. Several of the rioters
are since taken up and committed to gaol." Rumour
was a sad exaggerator and distorter of fact in those
days.
Whitefield, now an old grey-haired man, paid his
farewell visit to the North in the summer of 1768.
The congregations he drew were as large and attentive
as those which he addressed twenty-seven years before,
when he was called a goodly youth by his friends and an
imp of the devil by his enemies.
\ FTER the defeat of the English at Bannock-
burn, the North of England was exposed to
repeated inroads by the Scots, who pillaged,
burnt, and destroyed everything in their
way. Famine naturally followed in the track of war,
and the Marches of the two kingdoms were reduced to a
state of desolation such as had not been seen since the
days of William the Conqueror. Prisoners, we are told,
devoured each other in the gaols, and mothers hid their
children, as at the Siege of Samaria under Ahab, lest
they should furnish a repast equally horrid. The greater
part of the sheep, cattle, and horses died of murrain.
The arable land lay fallow. A dreadful plague carried off
tens of thousands of the people. Many fled to inaccessible
places beyond the enemy's reach, and maintained them-
selves there by brigandage, preying equally on Scots
and English. In the midst of these calamities, the
Prince-Bishop of Durham, Richard Kellow, died, and
the see became the object of contention among various
claimants.
Four competitors for the vacant see appeared, and
each of them was supported by powerful interests.
The Earl of Lancaster recommended his chaplain,
John de Kinardslee ; the Earl of Hereford brought
forward John Walwayne, a doctor of civil law ; the
King (Edward II.) recommended Thomas Charleton,
also a civilian, and keeper of the royal signet ; and
the Queen (Isabella) supported the interest of her
kinsmari, Lewis Beaumont, who claimed to be a
descendant of the royal families of France and Sicily,
and could, at least, trace back his genealogy as far
as Humbert I., who lived in 1080.
The election was fixed for the feast of St. Leonard
(November 6th), and the monks of Durham, who,
during the sort of anarchy that prevailed, were bent
on vindicating their independence of every secular
or lay power, determined to choose 'a man to their
own mind, and fixed, accordingly, upon Henry de
Stamford, the venerable prior of Finchale, a man
recommended only by the mild dignity of age and
of virtue.
On the election day, the Earls of Lancaster, Hereford,
and Pembroke waited within the church during the
whole time the conclave sat; Henry Beaumont, a brave
and successful soldier, well-known on the Borders, was
also there to support the interests of his brother ; and
some of the savage nobility of the County Palatine
threatened, in the spirit of a Front de Bceuf, "if a
monk was elected, to split his shaven crown." The
monks, however, bravely maintained their equanimity,
though surrounded on every side by violence and in-
trigue ; and it was announced in the course of the after-
noon that their unanimous choice had fallen on Henry de
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MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/July
\1890.
Stamford, to the bitter chagrin of the imperious but
divided nobles.
The King, who was at York, would have confirmed the
choice of the convent and admitted the bishop-elect, who
had been canonically and honourably chosen ; but the
Queen fell on her knees before him, saying, "My liege,
I never yet asked anything for my kindred. If you
bear me affection, grant me that my cousin, Lewis de
Bellemonte, be Bishop of Durham." Overcome by this
petition, which the fair adulteress well knew how to
fortify by hypocritical arts, the King refused his con-
firmation, and sent letters to Pope John XXII. in
favour of Lewis, for whom the King of France, the
Eldest Son of the Church, also used his influence.
Despairing of justice at home, Stamford, with three
companions, undertook a painful journey across the
Appenines ; but the royal letters far outstripped the
tedious footsteps of age and infirmity, and Stamford,
on his arrival at Rome, found that the Pope had
already, at the joint request of the Kings of England
and France, irrevocably bestowed the See of Durham
on his powerful rival. As, however, he had documents
to show that he had been duly chosen by the monks,
and as nothing could be justly said against him, his
Holiness gave him a grant of the priory of Durham,
on the next vacancy, by way of compensation fur the
lost bishopric. But the poor old man did not live to
reap any benefit therefrom. Exhausted with the
fatigue of the voyage and the vexation of mind he
had undergone, he only managed to reach the cell of
Stamford, where he had formerly lived ; and there he
remained till a general decline brought on his dissolution,
which took place on the day of St. Gregory, 1320. Robert
Graystanes, the historian of Durham, says a light was
teen descending from heaven, like the rays of the sun,
upon his tomb.
Lewis Beaumont, having been consecrated at West-
minster, proposed to have himself installed at Durham
on the festival of St. Cuthbert, in September, 1318. He
accordingly began his progress to the North, attended by
a numerous and splendid retinue. Two Roman cardinals,
Gancelinus and Lucas, who were on their way to Scotland
on a pacific embassy to King Robert Bruce, accompanied
him northwards, and his brother Henry, with a small
troop of gallant friends, formed what was deemed a
sufficient escort.
At Darlington the bishop was met by a messenger from
the convent to warn him that the road was in possession
of marauders ; but the high rank and sacred dignity of
Lewis and his companions seemed to place danger at
defiance, and the friendly notice was treated with neglect
or suspicion. But a few hours verified the prediction
that the party would be attacked. At the Rushy Ford,
•bout midway betwixt the small villages of Wottouen or
Woodham and Fery or Ferry Hill, the road crosses a
sluggish and swamp-girt rivulet, in a low and sequestered
spot, well calculated for ambush, surprise, and prevention
of escape. There a desperate baud anxiously waited the
arrival of their prey, and the bishop and his companions
had no sooner reached the ford than they were enveloped
in a cloud of light horsemen, under the command of
Gilbert Middleton, a Northumbrian gentleman whom
the necessities of the times had driven to adopt the
lawless life of a freebooter. The Churchmen, having
been taken at a disadvantage, while picking their way
through the miry bog, unsuspicious of danger near,
could make but a slight show of resistance to the on-
slaught, and were soon dismounted and secured. The
whole party were then rifled, after which Middleton
directed their horses to be restored to the two cardinals,
and suffered them to proceed on their journey to Durham.
Arrived there, their influence was successfully used in
exciting the liberality of the monks, so as to raise money
enough to ransom the captured prelate, who was mean-
while carried off, along with his brother, across a
tract of sixty miles, through the heart of Durham and
Northumberland, to the castle of Mitford.
The bishop himself, scion of royalty though he was,
had not the wherewithal to redeem his own and his
brother's liberty ; for Pope John had made him pay
so large a sum to the Holy See, before he would consent
to his consecration, that he was never able entirely to
discharge the debt in which it involved him. Middletou
compelled the monks of Durham to lay down so large a
ransom that the prior was forced to sell the plate and
jewels of the Church in order to raise a part of it. For
the rest, they were thankful to be allowed to give security
— an exceedingly hard fate, considering that they did not
want to have anything to do with Lewis de Bellemonte,
who was more of a fine gentleman of the period than a
learned and devout clerk.
Beaumont seems to have remained in durance vile from
the month of September till the following May, on the
4th of which mouth he obtained possession of his tempor-
alities. But these, alas ! were woefully reduced ; for only
a short time before (anno 1317) two hundred men habited
like friars had plundered, according to Stowe, the palaces
of the Bishop of Durham, leaving nothing in them but
bare walls. For this sacrilegious outrage the ringleaders
were afterwards hanged at York, but that was a poor
compensation indeed to St. Cuthbert's successor for the
time being.
Of the bishop's temporary prison, Mitford Castle,
Middleton was, says Graystanes, the keeper only, not the
proprietor. He was an unscrupulous freebooter or moss-
trooper. He did many injuries to the priory of Tyne.
mouth and other sacred places, no locality within reach
being exempt from his ravages. At length he was taken
and the castle dismantled by Ralph Lord Greystoke and
others. Middleton was carried to London and there
executed, but Lord Greystoke was soon after poisoned
at Gateshead by some of his confederates. The entire
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
325
barony of Mitford was then the property of Adomer de
Valeuce, Earl of Pembroke, one of the three earls who
were present in Durham on the day of the bishop's
election to overawe the monks ; and nothing is more
likely than that Middleton had his cue from him to
pounce on Beaumont on his journey north. But Middle-
ton is also said to have had an incentive in some fancied
slight to a kinsman of his, Adam de Swinburn, whom
the King had, it seems, used harshly in some business
regarding the Marches.
On account of his ignorance of the Latin tongue the
new bishop made a despicable figure at his consecration
while trying to read the papal bull, which be had been
taught to spell for several preceding days, but could not,
after all, utter intelligibly. When he came to the word
mctropolito he scratched his head over it for some time,
and at last cried out, " Let us suppose it read " (in his
mother-tongue, icit pur dite). Then, reading to the
word (eniymate, he could proceed no further, but with
a vacant grin, which was intended to express facetious-
ness, he exclaimed in Norman French, "By St. Lewis,
it is not courteous that this word is written here."
It was the duty of the prince-bishop, in consideration
of his palatine rights, to raise, marshal, and lead the
fencibles of the country, in case of invasion by the Scots.
But, during the early part of Bishop Beaumont's reign,
the northern enemy made an irruption into the district,
laid great part of it in ashes, and penetrated to within
twenty miles of York. King Edward II. reproached
Beaumont for his supineness, but the prelate had bis own
irons in the fire. He was engaged in a dispute with
the Archbishop of York concerning the right of visitation
in Allertonshire, which involved, of course, revenue as
well as dignity; and instead of husbanding his forces
to resist foreign invasion, he preferred being on the alert
to oppose his metropolitan whenever he came into the
disputed district to maintain his alleged right and collect
his dues. The King's reproaches, therefore, fell upon
deaf ears, and Edward was too weak to force the haughty
prelate to make any real amends. Indeed, during the
whole fifteen years while Beaumont held the see, he was
more occupied in providing for his own relations than
in promoting those higher interests of which he was
theoretically the guardian. On the accession of Edward
III., he claimed in Parliament the restitution of the
churches of Barnard Castle and Hartlepool, which had
fallen into lay hands during the long troubles ; but
though he obtained a mandate for that purpose, these
places were not surrendered to him. The King was well
enough pleased to keep the lord bishop within moderate
bounds, particularly as his whole conduct was rather
that of a bold baron than a humble priest. Beaumont's
ingratitude to the monks who had redeemed him from
captivity was displayed by the most c?pricious exercise
of power and the most childish expressions of enmity.
Do nothing for me," he said, "as I do nothing for you.
Pray for my death, for whilst I live you shall have no
favour from me. " He was only prevented by his council
from seizing a large portion of their possessions. In
short, his folly was equalled by his rapacity on the one
hand and his prodigality on the other.
Contemporary historians tell us that "his person, being
lame, was undignified. " He died at Brentingham, in the
diocese of York, in the month of September, 1333, and
was buried before the high altar under the steps in Dur-
ham Cathedral. Over him was placed a large marble
slab, whereon was his effigy engraven in brass in his
episcopal habit, and round him the portraitures of the
twelve apostles. The slab bore several inscriptions, the
first of which was his epitaph in very barbarous Latin.
The latter part may be thus translated: "Stop, passen-
ger, and consider how great a man this was, how worthy
of heaven, how just, pious, and benign, how bountiful
and cheerful, and what a foe to all misers."
fff
tokot.
SAIR FEYL'D, HINNY.
f|F the ballad "Sair i'eyl'd, Hinny," Sir Cuth-
bert Sharp, in his "Bishoprick Garland,"
remarks: — "This song is far North: it is
admitted into Bell's 'Northern Bards,' and
may possibly belong to the bishopriek, where it is well-
known." Whatever doubts might have been entertained
as to the birthplace of the song, there can be none
respecting the music, which is a well-known Northum-
brian melody often met with in old local manuscript
music books, and sometimes also entitled "Ma Cannie
Hinny."
Our venerable townsman, Dr. J. Collingwood Bruce,
when introducing this quaint old song in his lectures on
Northumbrian Ballads, speaks pathetically of it and its
relation to human life. "Autumn," says he, "with all
its fruitfulness, is depressing: it has as much beauty
perhaps as spring, but it has none of its gaiety. And,
with reference to human life, however sweet 'the fields
beyond the swelling flood ' may appear, the three score
years and ten bring solemn thoughts with them. One of
the painful incidents of advanced life is that the friends
of our youth have nearly all left us ; and we cannot at
that period form new ones. There is something natural,
therefore, and highly poetical, in the old man in his
solitary musings pouring out his soul to the scarred but
well-known form of the oak tree, as though it, at least,
was a friend of his youth that had not left him."
The melody has been beautifully harmonized by Dr.
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MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/July
\ 189
1890.
Armes, organist of Durham Cathedral, and was a great
favourite when auuf at Dr. Bruce 's Lectures on North-
umbrian Ballads.
Sair feyl'd, bin - ny, Sair feyl'd now,
=is=s=
Sair feyl'd, bin - ny, Sin' aw ken'd thou.
Aw was young and lusty.
Aw was fair and clear ;
Da Capo.
Aw was young and lusty Mouy a lanjf year.
Sair feyl'd. liinny,
Sair feyl'd now ;
Sair feyl'd hinny,
Sin' aw ken'd thou.
Aw was young and lusty,
Aw was fair and clear ;
Aw was young and lusty
Mony a lang year.
Sair feyl'd, hinny, &c.
When aw was young nnd lusty
Aw cud lowp a dyke ;
But now aw'm awd an' stiff
Aw can hardy step a syke.
Sair feyl'd, hinny, &c.
When aw was five an' twenty
Aw was brave an' bauld ;
Now at tive an' sixty
Aw'm byeth stiff an' cauld.
Sair feyl'd, hinny, &c.
Thus said the awd man
To the oak tree ;
Sair feyl'd is aw
Sin' aw ken'd thee.
Sair feyl'd, hinny, &e.
iiartft
]| HERE has lately been removed from a position
in which he has held watch and ward for
half-a-century past over the ever-changing
vicissitudes of the low-town portion of North Shields
the figure represented in our sketch, familiarly known
far and wide as the "Old Highlander." Many,
many years ago, when Spencer's tobacco was known
from John o'Groat's to Land's End, the figure was
bought by the head of the firm, and placed in the
shop in front of the manufactory at the bottom of
the Wooden Bridge Bank, North Shields. It was
bought at an old curiosity shop in London. The "Old
Highlander " is perhaps one of the best examples of the
wood carver's art to be found in many a long day's
march. His life-like appearance never failed to attract
the attention of the many thousands who, in his heyday,
thronged the locality which his noble presence graced,
until he became almost as familiar a landmark as his
ancient neighbour the "Wooden Dolly" herself. (See
ante, page 161. ) There he stood, complacently gazing with
undisturbed serenity upon
the rolling tide of human
affairs for over half a
century ; the " mull" in
one hand, and the fore-
finger and thumb of the
other poised elegantly on
its upward course to the
delicate aquiline nose it
never reached. Standing,
as he did, at a corner
that abutted right upon
the most crowded
thoroughfare in the town,
the "Old Highlander"
was frequently made the
subject of practical jok-
ing. "The way to Tyne-
mouth, hinny? Aye;
gan alaug till ye cum tiv
a Heelander at a corner ;
he'll mebbe ax ye te tyek
a snuff wiv him ; if he
dis, divvent refuse, an'
he'll put ye reet for Tyne-
mouth." In ninety-nine
cases out of a hundred the joke "came otf." Mr, Elbdon,
who succeeded the Spencers in the tobacco trade, has re-
moved the " Old Highlander" to his premises in Charlotte
Street, where, after an eventful career in the low part,
he now looks so hearty and fresh in the higher and
more salubrious part of North Shields, that, as Mr.
Elsdon, his custodian, puts it, "It will take money to
buy him."
dfivet |3ttblic Ctmctrttf in
T is to Charles Avison — whose tombc-tone in
St. Andrew's Churchyard has just been
restored with befitting ceremony — that the
people of Newcastle are indebted for the first public
concerts held in the town. In 1736 a party of gentlemen
in Newcastle established a series of subscription concerts,
under the leadership of Mr. Avison, who had recently
been appointed organist of St. Nicholas'. They were held
in the Assembly Rooms in the Groat Market, commencing
soon after Michaelmas, and were continued during the
winter. In 1737 there was a concert on the Wednesday
July \
1890./
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
327
of the Race Week, and again on the Wednesday of the
Assize Week, the latter for the benefit of Mr. Avison,
besides which the subscription concerts were repeated
on the plan of the previous year. In 1738 Mr.
Avison had again a benefit concert in the Assize
Week, and in that year he took upon himself the sole
liability of the subscription concerts. The hour of com-
mencing, which had previously been 9 p.m., was changed
to 6. The subscription was 10s. 6d. for a ticket which
admitted one gentleman or two ladies to the whole series.
Admission to the concerts in the Race and Assize Weeks
cost 2s. 6d. each person. The following year the concerts
were conducted with increased success On the 29th of
November "there was a grand performance of three cele-
brated pieces of vocal and instrumental music, viz.: —
'To Arms 'and 'Britons, Strike Home,' the oratorio of
'Saul,' and the ' Masque of Acis. ' There were twenty-
six instrumental performers and the proper number of
voices from Durham. There were the greatest audiences
that ever were known on a like occasion in New-
castle." The concerts continued under the manage-
ment of Mr. Avison till his death in 1770, and were
afterwards under that of his son Edward. The
latter died in 1776, and was succeeded as or-
ganist of St. Nicholas', and also as conductor of the
concerts, by Mr. Mathias Hawdou. In 1783 Mr. Ebdon,
of Durham, was associated in the concerts with Mr.
Hawdon. In 1786 Messrs. Ebdon and Meredith occur as
conductors. The latter had been for several years tha
principal vocal performer at these concerts. In 1793
Messrs. Charles Avison and Hawdon were joint conduc-
tors. In 1796 a grand musical festival was organized by
Messrs. Meredith and Thompson, at which three oratorios
were performed in St. Nicholas' Church, and concerts
were given in the evening at the theatre. Mr. Thomas
Thompson, the organist of St. Nicholas', the son of one of
the conductors, continued the subscription concerts till
1813, when they ceased, after having been carried on for
nearly ninety years from their first establishment by Mr.
Avison. They were originally held in the Assembly
Rooms in the Groat Market, but occasionally, when
that room was otherwise engaged, in the Free Grammar
School. After the building of the Assembly Rooms in
WestKate Street, they were transferred thither, being held
on a few occasions in the long room at the Turk's Head.
After the establishment of Avison's concerts, musical
performances were occasionally given by other parties,
but none of an earlier date, nor, indeed, for some years
after the commencement of his. These occasional con-
certs were generally given by performers on their route to
Edinburgh. In 1763, weekly concerts were established
at the Spring Gardens, head of Gallowgate, and were
held for several years on Thursday evenings during the
months of May, June, July, and August. It is stated
that William Shield, the composer, was at one time
connected with these entertainments.
at
DRAWING is here given of a fine oriel
window which is to be seen in the west
wall of a farm-house at Kentori, near New-
castle, now occupied by Mr. Potts. It is a relic of a
far older building than the present homestead, but has
been built into it and left as a relic. Local historians
do not refer to the window, which bears tbe date
1650.
&. 33.
JORTHUMBERLAXD has long been famous
for having produced eminent mathema-
ticians. Not the least distinguished of
these is the gentleman whose portrait is
here printed.
Mr. Wesley S. B. Woolhouse, now a well-known
actuary, was born at North Shields on May 6, 1809,
and received his education under the Rev. William Leitch,
of that town. Young Woolhouse was remarkable for his
precocity. It is recorded that when he was only thirteen
years of age he won a mathematical prize offered by the
328
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I 1890.
Ladies' Diary, many of the competitors being men of
mature years. But he soon manifested greater power to
deal with abstruse subjects. At the age of nineteen he
published a work on geometry in two dimensions,
without ever having seen a treatise on the subject,
thus rivalling the exploit of Pascal.
While still very young, Mr. Woolhouse became
connected with the office of the "Nautical Almanac."
Here he constructed new formulae by which the tables
were calculated with greater accuracy and speed. His
discoveries and improvements in astronomy were generally
published as appendices to the " Nautical Almanac." At
a later period, when he had entered upon his profession as
an actuary, he published some most valuable papers,
among which may be mentioned one on eclipses, and
another on Jupiter's satellites.
But perhaps Mr. Woolhouse's most remarkable in-
tellectual feat was the solution of a problem in
probabilities in connection with the great struggle
for the Ten Hours Bill. The question was how far
the factory girls had to run in a day when attend-
ing the "mules," and trotting backward and forward
to tie the threads, which were constantly breaking.
Mr. Woolhouse was engaged by Lord Ashley (afterwards
Lord Shaftesbury) to go down to Manchester and obtain
the necessary data for the solution of the problem. He
performed the journey, obtained the data, solved the
problem (which required the highest application of the
calculus), wrote his report, and sent it off by the same
evening's post. Mr. Woolhouse's calculation showed that
the thread-girl ran upwards of thirty miles each working
day!
A remarkable paper by Mr. Woolhouse, "On the
Deposit of Submarine Cables," was inserted in the
Philosophical Magazine for May, 1860. About two years
before, in the same scientific periodical, the subject had
been treated by the late Astronomer Royal, Sir George
Biddle Airey (also a native of Northumberland), who had
graphically described the problem as one "of a most
abstruse nature, far exceeding the complication of the
motions of a planetary body through the heavens, and
probably not even solvable." Immediately after Mr.
Woolhouse's paper was published, the author received a
complimentary letter from the Astronomer Royal, stating
that he had "completely mastered a rather difficult in-
vestigation."
Mr. Woolhouse has contributed numerous valuable
articles to the Journal of the Institute of Actuaries, and
is known as the author of a work on the Differential
Calculus, now used as a text book in many colleges. He
is also the author of a " Treatise on Musical Intervals,
Temperament, and the Elementary Principles of
Music," of which a second edition was published in
1888. Amongst his possessions is a collection of violins,
which is said to be one of the rarest in Eneland.
f LL that remains of Ogle Castle is incorporated
with a manor house of the time of Charles I.,
which is situate about seven miles south-
west of Morpeth. There is little in the
external appearance of the place (as seen in our engraving)
suggestive of a quadraneular building, with towers at the
four corners, surrounded by a moat ; but a plate which is
inserted in the west wall bears the following inscription : —
"Ogle Castle, for the building whereof a patent was
granted anno 15th Edward III., Anno Domini 134
which, together with the barony of Ogle, now belongs
to the Ogles of Kirkley, who are descended from the
third Baron Ogle." A castle of considerable dimensions
occupied the site of the present building ; besides, at the
west end, there are remains of the walls and moat, and
within the edifice is part of a tower. What was once the
old kitchen fireplace may be seen in the dining-room.
According to Froissart, John de Coupland, with eight
companions, after the battle of Neville's Cross, rode off
with David, King of Scotland, and, carrying him 25 miles,
arrived about vespers at Ogle. For this exploit Coupland
received many rewards from the English King, who was
then in France with his son, the Black Prince, fighting
the battle of Cressy.
Mackenzie's "Northumberland," second edition, pub-
lished in 1825, contains the following note on the subject
of Ogle Castle : — " It was thus described forty years ago :
— 'Part of a circular tower adjoins to the east of the
Jnl
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
329
present farm-house, which stands on the scite of the
castle : the windows of this tower are very small, topped
with pointed arches, the whole remains carrying a coun-
tenance of very rnmote antiquity. The ground wherein
the chief part of the castle has stood is square, guarded
by a double moat, divided by a breast-work of mason-
work. The walls are quite levelled with the ground, and
the moat almost grown up." "
The Ogles were seated here before the Conquest ; and
so proud were the members of the family of their long
ancestry that when a Milburn in 1583 protested that the
Dacres were of as good blood as the Ogles, "four of the
Ogles set upoo him and slew him." Thomas de Ogle,
adhering to the barons in their rebellion against Henry
III., his estate was seized by the Crown ; and it was not
returned to the family till the reign of Edward III., who,
in 1340, granted license to Sir Robert Ogle to convert his
manor house into a castle, and to have free warren through
all his demesne. Robert was high bailiff of the dominion
of Tynedale. His brother, Sir Alexander Ogle, knight,
was slain in the defence of the Castle of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, of which he was captain. The lordship of Ogle
was possessed by the family down to the year 1809, when
Ogle was sold to Thomas Brown, a London shipowner,
for £180,000.
About a couple of miles south-west of Ogle is Milbourne
Grange, which is associated with the early history of
Nonconformity in the North. In August, 1684, Mr.
Robert Leaver, who had preached at a conventicle under
George Horsley (a supporter of the ejected ministers)
at the above place, was apprehended at an inn in Gates-
head. Many of the Nonconformists in this locality,
having conscientious objections to the use of the ritual
for the burial of the dead, preferred to be buried in
unconsecrated ground. The grave of George Horsley
is in a plantation not far from the site of the old hall.
imtr Cumntcittartts.
EMBLETON BOG.
Dr. Bruce stated at a recent meeting of the Society of
Antiquaries that a piece of land near Newham Station,
on the North-Eastern Railway, is marked in the ordnance
map as "Embleton Bog," that when the railway
was being made a locomotive left the line there,
and that it "not only disappeared in the morass, but
nothing has been seen of it from that day to this."
I have been in conversation with an old gentleman who
is probably the only surviving witness of the incident
mentioned by Dr. Bruce. Within five minutes before
the accident, my informant, along with another man,
was engaged in cutting a ditch at the side of the
railway — the very spot where the locomotive left
the line. This occurred either in 1846 or 1847, and the
engine, which was running between Berwick and Chathill,
was No. 104, built by Stephenson. The driver's name
was Mann, and the fireman, who was killed, was
called White. Only one passenger was injured. This
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MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/July
\18<
1890
passenger was the late Isaac Milburn, the bonesetter.
Dr. Bruce was in error when he said that "nothing
had been seen of the engine from that day to this."
My friend states that, after hard work, it was extracted
from the bog within two weeks of the occurrence.
CHRISTIAN DECEMBER, Newcastle.
SMOLLETT AND AKENSIDE.
Peregrine Pickle, the hero of "The Adventures of
Peregrine Pickle," a novel by Smollett, is a caricature
of Mark Akenside. Disraeli, in his "Calamities of
Authors," says:— "From a pique with Akenside. on
some reflections against Scotland, Smollett exhibited a
man of great genius and virtue as a most ludicrous
personage ; and who could discriminate, in the ridiculous
physician in Peregrine Pickle, what is real, and what is
fictitious ? Of Akenside few particulars have been re-
corded, for the friend who best knew him was of so cold a
temper in regard to the publick, that he has not, in his
account, revealed a solitary feature in the character of the
poet. Yet Akenside's mind and manners were of a fine
romantic cast, drawn from the moulds of classical an-
tiquity. Such was the charm of his converse, that he
has even heated the cold and sluggish mind of Sir John
Hawkins, who has, with unusual vivacity, described a
day spent with him in the country. As 1 have mentioned
the fictitious physician in 'Peregrine Pickle,' let the same
page show the real one. I shall transcribe Sir John's
forgotten words — omitting his 'neat and elegant dinner.'
' Akenside's conversation was of the most delightful kind,
learned, instructive, and, without any affectation of wit,
cheerful and entertaining. One of the pleasantest days
of my life I passed with him, Mr. Dyson, and another
friend, at Putney — where the enlivening sunshine of a
summer's day and the view of an unclouded skjr were the
least of our gratifications. In perfect good humour with
himself and all about him, he seemed to feel a joy that he
lived, and poured out hia gratulations to the great Dis-
penser of all felicity, in expressions that Plato himself
might have uttered on such an occasion. In conversations
with select friends, and those whose studies had been nearly
the same with his own, it was an usual thing with him,
in libations to the memory of eminent men among the
antients, to bring their characters into view, and expatiate
on those particulars of their lives that had rendered them
famous.' Observe the arts of the ridiculer ! He seized on
the romantic enthusiasm of Akenside, and turned it to
the cookery of the Antients I "
C. H. STEPHEN-SON, Southport.
A WEARDALE HOLY-STONE.
I remember being, in the year 1874, in a farm-house not
far from St. John's Chapel, Weardale, when, on holy-
stones being mentioned as charms, a member of the family
forthwith took down from a nail in a joist in the kitchen
two holy-stones, one of which is shown in the accompany-
ing illustration. They had then almost been forgotten,
but the good wife said that her husband, then dead, prized
them very much, and was very particular about having
them replaced in the
old spot near the door,
whenever they had been
taken down for the
spring or summer clean-
C> eft*5' in£- Tne farmer's wife,
^_ -/^
then in her 77th year,
had known one of the
stones almost all her
life, and that shown
in the illustration had
been picked up by her
_ late husband about the
year 1850. It was found
about four feet beneath ;he bed of Middlehope Burn, a
tributary of the Wear, and was highly valued as a charm
against witchcraft and otherwise as a protection to the
owner against evil spirits. It appears to be a manufactured
article of about two inches long, rather more than an
inch thick and an inch broad. The front forms a rude
human face of the gargoyle stamp ; but the back shows
evidence of the charm having been broken off, conveying
the idea of a rudely formed idol in its complete form.
The front and sides of the face, and even the hole, are
enamelled or covered with a sort of yellow glaze, showing
fire to have been used in its manufacture. This charm,
known by the name of holy-stone, lucky-stone, self-bored-
stone, adder-stone, hag-stone, witch-stone, holed-stone, and
so on, was once exceedingly common in the dales of the
North of England, and small holy-stones were sometimes
worn about the person.
W. M. EGGLESTONE, Stanhope.
PROMOTION.
Two old women met in the City Road. "Aa'sgladte
see ye, Mary," observed the one, "for aa heor that yor
son Jimmy, that's in the Pioneers, is gettin' promoted."
"Aye," replied the other, "he's been promoted te be a
corporal or a colonel — aa divvent knaa which ! "
A TRAMP'S TRICK.
Late one night during cold weather a man, who had
been dining "not wisely, but too well," was leaning
against a lamp post. A tramp came up and gazed
for a moment at the inebriate. "Hey, man," hiccupped
the latter, "aa's in a bonny plight." "What's the
matter?" "Wey, if aa leave lowse, aa'll faall doon;
and if aa stop here aa'll be run in by the pollis." " Well,
then," said the tramp, "aa'll hev yor hat." And he
had it.
July \
isau. I
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
331
SPECTACLES.
The other day two men were having a " bit crack " in a
public-house in Walker when one of them observed : —
"Jack, dis thoo knaa what aa did yesterday?" "Aa
divvent," said Jack. "Wey, aa bowt the wife a pair o'
spectacles." " Thoo wes a fyul ; she'll elwis be yebble noo •
te see when thoo gets ower much te drink ! "
ME. GLADSTONE'S CHIPS.
The other day an ardent admirer of the "Grand Old
Man " was showing his wife some chips he had gathered
from a tree felled by the ex-Premier. The wife, who
cared more for religion than politics, addressed her
husband thus : — "Aye, a lot of good them things will de
ye ! If ye paid as much attention te yor Bible as ye de
te Gladstone, ye might hev a chance of ganning tiv a
plyece whor yor chips waddent born !"
FOOD FOR OARSMEN.
After Chambers, the famous Tyneside oarsman, had
defeated an opponent on the Thames, he made his appear-
ance on the stage of a metropolitan music hall, where he
addressed the audience. He was followed by the van-
quished Londoner, who, in a very defiant style, stated
that he did not consider that he was beaten, and would
post a five-pound note and pull the race over again. One
of Chain bers's supporters at once shouted out :— " Whaat
d'ye knaa about rowing? Ye feed upon nowt but cockles
and parriwinkles. Come doon te Newcastle and train
alangside o' Bob, an' he'll larn ye te eat scrap iron !"
A PICTURE SALE.
Some years ago, a local auctioneer, who had imbibed
more than was good for him, was offering some pictures for
sale. After descanting upon their beauties, he turned to
an oil painting, and said : — "This, ladies and gentlemen,
is an excellent drawing of mountains and dogs." Then,
after a few bids had been made, he requested his assistant
to come up, observing: — "John, take this fine work of
art round the room, and point out to the company which
are the mountains and which are the dogs !"
THE PITMAN AND THE LOCAL PREACHER-
Ono Sunday morning, at a colliery village, not far from
South Shields, a group of pitmen were standing dis-
cussing various questions. A young local preacher was
passing at the time, and, no doubt thinking it a grand
opportunity, commenced to distribute tracts very freely.
Addressing himself to one of the most prominent of the
pitmen, he said: "I should like to see you come to
chapel this morning." Pitman: "Wey, lad, aa hev ne
desire te cum te chapel." This answnr caused a long dis-
cussion, wherein the preacher seemed not to have any the
best of it. At last he put the following question, which
he appeared to think would completely floor the pitman : —
"What comes after death?" Pitman: "Wey, man,
onnybody can ansor that. Monny a time a good row
ower the few bits o' aad claes an' other things that might
be left !"
gtfntuarirs.
Mr. Thomas Trewhitt Wharrier, who for twenty years
held the office of surveyor to the Walker Local Board,
and also served as a member of the same body, besides
being people's warden at Christ Church for a considerable
period, died on the llth of May, at the age of 66.
The Rev. Mortimer L. J. Mortimer, vicar of North
Stockton, died suddenly on the 20th of May. The
deceased, who was between 50 and 60 years of age, came
from Tranmere, near Birkenhead, in 1836.
On the 22nd of May, Mr. W. L Dobinson. who had
represented the Bishopwearmouth Ward on the Simder-
land Board of Guardians fur 15 years, died at his
residence, The Esplanade West. Sunderland. The
deceased was 55 years of age.
On the same day, Mr. Thomas Davison, long a member
of the firm of Pattinson, Davison, and Co., of the Hexliam
Ironworks, died at his residence in that town, in the 77th
year of his age.
At a meeting of the C'r,ester-le-Street Guardians, on
the 22nd of May, it was reported that Mr. Thomas
Wilson, of Washington, i\ conscientious and painstaking
member of the Board, had died on the previous day.
The deatli was announced, on the 23rd of May, of Mr.
William Wilson, who for about fifty years had carried on
an extensive hatting and furrier's business in Newcastle.
He was 73 years of age.
Mr. John Atkinson, who had lung taken a prominent
part in the co-operative and other social movements, died
at Wallsend on the 25th of May.
Mr. Robert A. Allan, chief magistrate of Eyemouth,
died on the 27th of May.
Mr. David M'Nab, house painter, &c., and a prominent
politician, died at Monkwearmouth on the 27th of May.
On the 29th of May, the death was announced from
Haswell of Mr. Ralph Dove, one of the oldest carriers in
the district. The deceased, who was 72 years of age, had
travelled twice weekly between Newcastle and Haswell
for the long period of 15 years.
The death was reported on the same day, from Dunedin,
New Zealand, of Commander Patrick Johnston, of the
Royal Navy, only son of the late Dr. Johnston, of
Berwick-on-Tweed, the founder of the Berwickshire
Naturalists' Field Club. The deceased gentleman was in
the 65th year of his age.
The death occurred o?i the 29th of May, after a brief
illness, of Mr. Thomas T. Clarke, formerly Borough
Accountant for Tynemouth. On the occasion of his
retirement from that office, which took place a little
over two years ago, a complimentary dinner was given
in his honour, and he was the recipient of a handsome
testimonial, subscribed for by the Mayor and members
of the Corporation and other prominent local gentlemen.
A year later he was chosen to represent the Collingwood
Ward in the Town Council. Mr. Clarke took an earnest
interest in the old Mechanics' Institute, as he did in
all the educational institutions of the borough, and
up to the time of his illness he was one of the most active
of members of the Free Library Committee. He was
secretary of the Master Mariners' Asylum, president of
the Tynemouth Art Club, and auditor of the River
Tyne Commission. The deceased, who was a native of
Whittingham, was about 60 years of age.
332
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
On the 30th of May the death was announced as
having taken place at Alnwick a few days previously,
of Mr. John Chrisp, a well-known Northumbrian
agriculturist and shorthorn breeder. The deceased, as
manager to Mr. A. H. Browne, first at Bank House,
and afterwards at Doxford, selected the cattle which
formed the beginning of the famous Doxford herd.
On the 29th of May, Mr. Alfred Legge, who was 65
years of age, died at his residence in Alexandra Place,
Newcastle. Mr. Legge was at one time a partner with
Air. George William Cram, who practised law in the city
for many years.
Another local solicitor, Mr. Robert Dickinson, died
at his residence, Rose Villa, Gosforth, on the 30th of
May. Mr. Dickinson, who was 52 years of age, was
connected with various local building societies, and for a
period acted as deputy-coroner for South Northumberland.
On the 1st of June, there died at the house of his son-
in-law, Mr. William Watson, of Whiteridge Row, Seaton
Delaval, Mr. Alexander Wilson, one of the oldest in-
habitants of that district. He was born at Berwick in
1798, and was consequently in his 92nd year. He was
originally a sailor, but afterwards followed land occupa-
tions. The deceased was engaged on the screens at
Hartley Colliery when the memorable catastrophe took
place in 1862, and had a narrow escape from death on
that occasion.
Mr. William Curry, aged 54, a noted cattle breeder,
agriculturist, and laud agent, well-known in the North of
England, died rather suddenly at Hurworth on the 5th
of June. Mr. Curry was a leading member of the
Darlington Chamber of Agriculture.
rrf
flortl)--£ountr3} ©entrances.
MAY.
11. — The steamer Cleanthes, of Sunderland, bound to
the Tyne from Flushing, grounded, during thick weather,
on the rocks off Souter Point, and became a wreck ; but
the whole of the crew were saved.
— Sarah Inns, or Merryweather, 19 years of age, was
murdered in a lodging-house at Stockton, and a young
man named Frederick Terry, who had been spending the
night with her, was at once arrested on the charge.
The Coroner's jury found a verdict of wilful murder
against Terry, who, on the 15th, was committed by the
magistrates for trial on that charge.
— The body of Mr. Robert Gibson, the unfortunate man
who was drowned between Holy Island and the mainland
on Easter Tuesday, was washed ashore at Bamburgh.
The remains were removed to Newcastle, and were
interred in Jesmond Cemetery. (See ante, p. 240.)
12. — It was announced that Count Herbert Bismarck,
son of Prince Bismarck, the ex-Chancellor of the German
Empire, had arrived on a visit to Wynyard Park as the
guest of the Marquis and Marchioness of Londonderry.
13.— The Rev. Dixon Dixon-Brown, of Unthank, was
appointed chairman of the Northumberland Sea Fisheries
Committee.
— Mr. K. 0. Lamb and Mr. L. W. Adamson, repre-
senting the North of England United Coal Trade
Association, were examined before the Royal Commission
on Mining Royalties at Westminster.
— Miss Eleanor Bur-
nett gave a vocal recital
in the new Assembly
Rooms, Barras Bridge,
Newcastle. There was
a large and fashionable
audience, and the con-
cert was in every way a
success. Miss Burnett
is a daughter of Mr.
James Burnett, chemi-
cal manufacturer, Bill
Quay, near Gateshead.
She received her musi-
cal education under the
best connoisseurs in
Italy.
— Dr. Westcott, the new Bishop of Durham, proceeded
to Windsor to do homage to the Queen on his appoint-
ment to the See. On the following day his lordship,
accompanied by Mrs. Westcott, entered the diocese, and
at Darlington was presented with addresses of congratu-
lation and welcome by the Mayor and Corporation, and by
the local clergy. He afterwards journeyed to the episcopal
residence at Bishop Auckland, where he was also cordially
received. On Ascension Day (May 15), the enthronement
of the Bishop took place, in presence of a crowded
congregation, in Durham Cathedral. The oaths of
allegiance and for preserving privileges having been
taken by Dr. Westcott, Dr. Lake, the Dean of Durham,
placed him on the episcopal chair, and formally inducted
him into the Bishopric. The newly-enthroned Bishop
afterwards preached an eloquent sermon, from the 25th
verse of the 5th chapter of St. Paul's First Epistle to the
Thessalonians. The ceremony was very imposing and
impressive. (See ante, page 237.)
14. — The ceremony of turning the sewage of the South
Gosforth Local Board district into the sewer passing
down the side of the Ouseburn was performed at the
new sewer near the sewage tanks, Gosforth, by Mr. S. H.
Farrer, chairman of the Gosforth Local Board.
— Miss Donkin, daughter of Mr. R. S. Donkin, M.P.,
opened a Northern Wheeleries, Cycling, and Athletic
Exhibition in the Tynemouth Aquarium.
15. — A little girl, named Catherine Garven, four years
old, was knocked down and killed by a passing tramcar
in Scotswood Road, Newcastle.
— At the annual meeting of the Distribution Committee
of the Newcastle Hospital Fund, it was resolved that a
sum of £400 be awarded to the Infirmary as a special
gift, and that £1,600 be distributed as a free gift among
the medical charities on the committee's list.
16. — A meeting, called by the Mayor in response to a
requisition signed by upwards of 400 inhabitants, was
held in the Town Hall, Newcastle, for the consideration
of the compensation clauses of the Government Licensing
Bill at present before Parliament. His Worship (Mr.
Thomas Bell) presided, and a resolution condemnatory
of this feature of the measure was ultimately carried by a
large majority. At a conference and public meeting
held under the auspices of the North of England Temper-
ance League, in Newcastle, on the 27th, a similar
resolution was adopted.
— A Convalescent Home, consisting of a cottage,
Jul:
If
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
333
kindly offered rent-free by Mrs. Williams, a well-known
philanthropic lady, was formally opened at Grange-over-
Sands for the North-Eastern Counties Friendly Societies.
17.— The Rev. J. C. Weir, pastor of the Ellison Street
Presbyterian Church, Jarrow, dedicated a memorial
window which Mr. Alderman Price had caused to be put
in that place of worship in memory of his wife, son, and
daughter.
— Five gentlemen were elected to constitute a newly-
formed School Board for the parish of Washington, in
the county of Durham. The successful candidates
were — Messrs. Robert Fowler, viewer, Washington
Colliery ; Henry Robinson, colliery manager, North
Biddick ; Joseph Cook, ironfounder, North Biddick
Hall ; the Rev. Father Poupaert, Washington ; and Mr.
John Robinson Dixon, grocer, Washington Village.
— The men employed in the bill-posting business in
Newcastle and Gateshead came out on strike for an
advance of 3s. per week, and also for the twelve o'clock
day on Saturdays.
— Mr. Thomas Foggitt, a well-known Stockton gentle-
man, who was engaged in the musical profession, was
knocked down by a goods train and killed near Eagles-
cliffe Junction, on the North-Eastern Railway.
— Mrs. Lane, wife of Mr. C. S. Laue, timber merchant,
of Newstead House, Grange Road, West Hartlepool, fell
over an unprotected part of the pier and was drowned.
—It was announced that Mr. H. M. Stanley, the
African explorer, was about to marry Miss Dorothy
Tennant, daughter of the late Charles Tennant, of Rich-
mond Terrace, Whitehall, London. Miss Tennant is not
unknown in Newcastle. Two or three years ago she
paid a visit to Mr. Burt, M.P. During her visit to New-
castle, Mr. Burc told his guest that one of his little girls
had a decided preference for a walk with her father alone
— "Only you and me and ze umbrella." The story so
struck Miss Tennant's fancy that she made a pretty little
drawing in black and white of the party — the father,
the child, and "ze umbrella." And this drawing now
occupies an honoured place in the hon. member's house.
A sister of Miss Tennant's is married to a gentleman who
is also not unknown in Newcastle — Mr. F. W. H. Myers,
noted for his interest in psychical researches, who has
once or twice lectured in the Tyne Theatre.
19. — Herr Bernhard Stavenhagen, an eminent pianist,
gave a pianoforte recital in the New Assembly Rooms,
Barras Bridge, Newcastle. There was a large audience,
and the playing, which was that of a consummate artist,
elicited unqualified ex-
pressions of admiration.
Herr Stavenhagen, who
was born at Greiz, the
capital of the small
principality of Reuss,
began his musical
education at a very
early age. After study-
ing under Professor Ru-
dorff, second director
of the Berlin Academy,
and Keil, the famous
theory professor, he
gained the Mendels-
Bohn prize at the age
of eighteen. For two
or three years afterwards he studied alone, and was then
introduced to Liszt, with whom he remained as a pupil
until the death of the celebrated ahbi.
— Mr. T. H. Faber, solicitor, was appointed clerk to
the South Stockton justices.
— Mrs. Elizabeth Hogan, who had reached the extra-
ordinarily advanced age of 102 years, died in the house of
the Little Sisters of the Poor at High Barnes, Sunderland.
20,— Mr. J. W. Bowman, B.A., late of Lancashire
Independent College, was ordained to the pastorate of
West Clayton Street Congregational Church, Newcastle,
in succession to the Rev. Walter Lenwood.
— At a meeting at Newcastle of the iron and steel
employers and delegates of the North of England iron
and steel district, the representatives of the men agreed
to accept a reduction of 10 per cent., to take effect from
June 2nd.
— Mr. W. Y. Campbell, honorary vice-president of the
Witwatersrandt Chamber of Mines, Transvaal, lectured
in the Northumberland Hall, Newcastle, under the
auspices of the Tyneside Geographical Society, on
"Transvaal Affairs, and the Development of British
Interests in that Region."
—The marriage of the Rev. J. H. Jowett, M.A.,
minister of St. James's Congregational Church, New-
castle, to Miss Lizzie A. Winpenny, youngest daughter
of Mr. F. Winpenny, of Barnard Castle, was celebrated
at the Congregational Church at the latter place.
— In the list of the Queen's birthday honours, issued
to-night, appeared the name of Mr. William Gray, of
West Hartlepool, on whom her Majesty had conferred a
knighthood. Ihe new knight is a son of the late Mr.
Matthew Gray, of Blyth. He was educated at Dr.
Bruce's schoul in Newcastle. Mr. Gray first followed
the business of his father, that of a draper, and afterwards
commenced business for himself at Hartlepool. About
twenty-eight years ago he joined the Donton Shipbuilding
Company in that town, and eventually became the sole
partner, the business being subsequently transferred to
West Hartlepool. During his residence at Hartlepool,
Mr. Gray was twice Mayor ; and on the incorporation
of West Hartlepool, in 1887, he was chosen as its first
Mayor. Tne new knight is, in religion^ a Presbyterian,
and his munificent gilt of £10,000 for church-debt
extinction in the Darlington Presbytery was the subjeet
of a special vote of thanks at the Synod at Liverpool.
(For portrait of Mr. William Gray, see vol. for 1889,
page 280).
—Mr. T. Burt, M.P., Mr. W. Crawford, M.P., and
Mr. C. Fenwick, M.P., were present at an International
Miners' Congress at Joliuiont, Brussels, Belgium, the
proceedings in connection with which were opened by
Mr. Burt.
21 — A conference on the subject of allotment culture
and small fruit farms was held in the Vegetarian
Restaurant, Newcastle, under the presidency of Mr.
W. C. Gibson. It was resolved that an association be
formed for the purpose of disseminating knowledge
relative to petite culture in all its branches, and the
promotion of combined effort in connection therewith.
—The Rev. Walter Walsh, of Ryehill Baptist Church,
was presented with a safety bicycle by the Ryehill Guild
C. C., of which he is president.
22. — It was stated that a duck, in the possession of Mr.
William Forster, platelayer, Ryton Station, had hatched
duckling with four legs, three feet, and two backs.
334
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/
\
July
23. — Mr. H. H. Emmerson, the eminent local artist,
opened a Shakspearian and Dramatic Art Gallery, into
which Mr. T. B. Appleby, the lessee and manager of the
Theatre Royal. South Shields, had converted the corridor
of that establishment.
— The Earl Ravensworth was elected president of the
Royal Agricultural Society.
— The Royal assent was given by commission to the
Tyne Improvement Bill.
— Dr George Macdonald, the eminent novelist, lectured
on " Hamlet "' in the Town Hull, Gateshead.
—At a meeting of the ratepayers of Westgate township,
Newcastle, Mr. Joseph Forster tendered his resignation
a" assistant-overseer, and the resignation was accepted.
—A conference was held in Bishop Cosin's Library,
Durham, to discuss the movement called "Churchmen
in Council," which is established for urging upon those
in whom the authority of the Church is vested the need
of giving a clear and unmistakable definition of the
ritual directions of the Prayer Book.
— The King of the Belgians passed through Newcastle,
tn route for Balmoral, on a visit to (^ueen Victoria.
—An advance of 3d. per ton to puddlers, and an
increase of 2£ per cent, to all other forge and mill work-
men, were found to have accrued under the sliding-scale
arrangement in the iron and sieel trades of the North of
England.
— The house carpenters and joiners in the Tyne district
accepted an advance of a half-penny per hour.
—Mr. T. M. Healy, M.I'., delivered a political address
in the Town Hall, Newcastle, under the auspices of the
Irish Institute.
24. — It was announced that a skeleton of the great grey
seal, a large specimen of the Greenland shark, a full-grown
male of the Chacma baboon, a young alligator, and three
boas had been added to the Natural History Museum at
Barras Bridge, Newcastle.
—A little girl, named Mears, eight years of age, fell
over the cliff at Marsden and was killed.
— An exhibition of photographs by Mr. J. P. Gibson,
of Northumberland scenery and antiquities, was opened
in the Town Hall, Hexham.
— The ninth annual session of the Northern Counties'
Christian Lay Churches Confederation was opened at
Spennymoor by Mr. James Mowitt, o Newcastle.
—A man named Charles Walker was accidentally killed
by falling from his seat on what was known as "tho
corkscrew," or "spiral switchback," at the "hoppings"
in the Haymarket, Newcastle.
25. — A handsome memorial window to the memory of
the late Dr. Rutherford was unveiled in Bath Lane
Church, Newcastle.
—Mr. J. T. Owen, formerly a journalist, was ordained to
the pastorate of Enon Baptist Chapel, Monkwearmouth.
26.— The Rev. Hugh Rose Rae was inducted into the
pastorate of Ryton Congregational Church.
-The Rev. Dr. Lacy, Roman Catholic Bishop of
Middlesbrough, laid the foundation stone of a new church
in Westbury Street, South Stockton.
—A conference in connection with the Northern
Association of Baptist Churches was opened in Westgate
Road Baptist Chapel, Newcastle, Mr. G. W. Bartlett, of
Darlington, being Moderator.
—The season of the Boys' Seaside Camp was opened at
Hartley.
— The members of the Tyneside Geographical Society,
accompanied by several friends, paid a visit to Chilling-
ham to see the famous herd of wild cattle, on the
invitation of the Earl of Tankerville, one of the vice-
presidents of the society. (For description of Chillingham
Castle and Cattle, with view of the Castle, see vol. for
1887, pp. 272-273.)
— An unusually large number of holiday-makers visited
Tynemouth and other popular resorts, on the occasion of
Whit-Monday.
27. — The new Union Congregational Church at Sunder-
land was opened by the Rev. Dr. Allon, of London.
28. — The students of Durham University presented
an address of welcome to the Bishop of the diocese at
Bishop Cosin's Library, Durham. There was a very large
attendance, and Dr. Westcott met with a very enthusiastic
reception. On the same day his lordship held his first
confirmation in Durham Cathedral.
— A new tombstone erected to the memory of the
Novocastrian musician and composer of the last century,
Charles Avison, was unveiled by Judge Seymour, in
St. Andrew's Churchyard, Newcastle. The stone bore
the following inscription : —
H.R.I.P.
CAR. Avisos- "I , . / 9Maii, 1770 \AO. x LX.
CATH. Uxou / ° ' \14Oct., 1766 / LIII.
Simul cum filia
JAXA conjugi mcestissimo
ROBERTO PAGE
immature erepta
14 Julii MDCCLXXIII
Annos Nata XXVIII.
CHARLES AVJSON, late organist of St. Nicholas' Church,
son of the said
CHAS. and CATHERE. died 6 April, 1793.
Aged 43 years.
Hie Situs eat
ROBERT-US PAGE, ARMIOER,
Vir virtute et rectefactis insignia
Diutissime langueseens morti succubuit.
A.n. 1807. ^Etatisque 69.
CHARLES Avisos, son of the above CHARLES AVISON,
organist, departed this life Feby. 19, 1816.
Aged 25 years.
Restored by Public Subscription 1890.
In memory of
CHARLES AVISON,
Musical Composer and Organist of this City.
" On the list
Of worthies who by help of pipe or wire.
Expressed in sound routrh rape or soft desire,
Thou whilom of Newcastle organist."
— Broiening.
Dr. Bruce, Dr. Hodgkin, and the Vicar of Newcastle
also spoke on the occasion. (See vol. for 1888, p. 109;
a portrait of Avison will be found in vol. for 1889, p. 570.)
— The first meeting of the season of the Berwickshire
Naturalists' Club took place at Beanley, Northumberland,
and was marked by the presentation of a handsome testi-
monial, consisting of a cheque for a sum of over £400, to
the secretary of the society, Dr. James Hardy, of
Oldcambus, Cockburnspath.
— The dispute between the billposters of Newcastle and
their employers was amicably settled by arbitration
through Mr. J. Baxter Ellis, the terms of arrangement
including a week of 53 hours.
—A man named Carlisle, who had arrived in Alnwick
with a peep-show a few days previously, completed a 48
hours' walk, without sleep, between Alnwick and Newton-
on-the-Moor, the number of miles accomplished being 148.
— A party of excursionists, including the Rev. J. S.
Rae, who had proceeded from Sunderland, arrived at St.
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
335
Kilda, in the Hebrides, with a view of taking part in the
marriage of Annie Ferguson, popularly known as the
"Queen of St. Kilda," to John Gillies, but the expected
wedding did not take place. The Wearside visitors were
the bearers of many strange presents, among which was a
gold ring — an article hitherto unknown in the island.
29. — A handsome new organ was opened in Jesmond
Presbyterian Church, Newcastle.
—It was intimated that the Lord Chancellor had
appointed the following gentlemen to the Commission of
the Peace for Newcastle :— Messrs. Thomas Bell (Mayor),
William Button, William Mathwin Angus, James Edward
Woods, Utrick Alexander Ritson, Edward Eccles. Robert
Thomas Jackson Usher, William Dickinson, and Richard
Henry Holmes.
30.— The Rev. Canon Tristram was re-elected president
of the Tyneside Naturalists' Field Club.
—A letter was received from the Rev. Canon Trotter,
Vicar of Alnwick, dated Trinidad, Rogation Day, 1890,
to his parishioners, intimating his determination to take
up a permanent residence in the West Indies, where he
went with Mrs. Trotter nearly twelve months ago.
31.— Band performances of a more than usually attrac-
tive character were given in the Bull Park Recreation
Ground, Newcastle. The bands which took part in the
evening entertainment were the 1st Newcastle Royal
Engineers, under Mr.
W. Ure, and the Royal
Exhibition Band, under
the direction of Mr.
John H. Amers. The
latter body of instru-
mentalists has been per-
forming at the Leeds
Exhibition to the de-
light of large crowds.
Mr. Amers remembers
the time when the only
band in Newcastle was
that of the Yeomanry
Cavalry, mounted and
dismounted, under the direction of Mr. Matthew Liddle,
the head of a Newcastle musical family. Young Amers
played in this band when a boy. His father was the
band sergeant for a period of thirty years, and to him he
owes his musical education.
— A horse procession was held, for the first time, at
Berwick -on-Tweed.
— On the occasion of the twentieth annual meeting of
the institution, Mr. Alderman T. P. Barkas announced
his retirement from the responsible management of the
Central Exchange Newsroom and Art Gallery, New-
castle.
— Dr. and Mrs. R. S. Watson held a garden party at
Bensham Grove, Gateshead, where a numerous company
of ladies and gentlemen assembled to meet three repre-
sentatives of the Indian National Congress— Mr. A. H.
Hume, genera] secretary of the Congress ; Mr. Mudholka ;
and Mr. Surendra Nath Banerjee, B.A., principal of the
Ripon College at Calcutta, municipal commissioner, and
editor of The Bengalee. On the 2nd of June, a public
meeting in furtherance of the same object was held in
Ginnett's Circus, Bath Road, Newcastle, under the
presidency of the Mayor (Mr. T. Bell).
— On the occasion of the first anniversary of the Chop-
pington District Liberal Club, a banquet was held at the
JOHN" H. AMERS.
Queen's Head Hotel, Choppington Guide Post. Mr. R.
H. Wheatley presided. Amongst those present were
Mr. T. D. Sullivan, M.P., Mr. Burt, M.P., Mr. Fen-
wick, M.P., and others.
JUNE.
1. — The new Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady and
St. Oswin, Front Street, Tynemouth, was opened by the
Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle.
2. — The men employed at Monkwearmouth Colliery
came out on strike for a seven hours' shift.
— A meeting to protest against betting and gambling
was held at Houghton-le-Spring, under the presidency of
the Hon. and Rev. Canon Grey, and among the speakers
was the Bishop of Durham.
3. — A sturgeon, weighing 14- stones, was captured in
the river Tees by Mr. Goldie, at Yarm.
4. — The Rev. John Hallam, of Newcastle, was elected
President of the Primitive Methodist Conference, which
was opened at Sunderland.
— The screw-steamer Rangatira, the largest vessel ever
built at the port, having a dead-weight carrying capacity
of 6,250 tons, was launched from the shipbuilding yard of
Messrs. W. Gray and Co., West Hartlepool.
— The Board of Trade, in pursuance of applications
from the County Councils in the localities, gave official
notice of their intention to create a sea fisheries district,
to comprise the whole of the seaboard of Durham, York-
shire, and Lincolnshire, and to be known as the North-
Eastern Sea Fisheries District.
—Mr. James Annan, aged 54, a lithographic artist,
carrying on business in Grey Street, Newcastle, was
drowned from a boat off Cullercoats.
-The Rev. A. M. Norman, M.A., D.C.L., F.R.S., &c.,
I'ector of Burnmoor, near Fence Houses, and honorary
Canon of Durham Cathedral, was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society.
5. — The annual survey of the Whickham parish
boundaries was made by the members of the Local
Board.
— Mrs. Schoefield, wife of the Mayor of Morpeth, gave
birth to a daughter ; such an event having occurred only
once previously, viz., in 1873, in tho family of a Mayor of
that borough.
—Miss Sophie Wylde Stobart, second daughter of Mr.
William Stobart, of Pepper Arden Hall, near Northaller-
ton, was married to Mr. Harry Huxley, youngest son of
Professor Huxley.
6.— Mr. Thomas John Des Forges was elected assistant-
overseer of Westgate township, Newcastle.
7. — It was announced that the will of the late Mr.
Mason Watson, of Newcastle, land agent, had been
proved ; the gross value of the estate being £2,790 2s.
9id., and the net value £1,385 11s. 6d.
— The twenty-eighth annual meeting of the Northum-
berland and Durham Miners' Permanent Relief Fund was
held at Durham.
9.— The consecration ceremony in connection with the
new church of St. Columba, Southwick, Sunderland,
which, owing to the death of the late Bishop of Durham,
has been delayed for some considerable time, was per-
formed to-night (St. Columba's Day) by Dr. Lightfoot's
successor, the occasion being Dr. Westcott'» first official
visit to Sunderland. The new church, which is built of
brick, has cost, with furnishings, about £5,500, and is
capable of holding 850 persons.
336
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{is
1890.
— Mr. H. M. Stanley, th eminent explorer, and party
passed through Newcastle, en route for Edinburgh,
— The foundation stone of a new Sunday School in
connection with the Salem Baptist Chapel, Salem Street,
Jarrow, was laid by Miss D. D. Price, daughter of Aid.
Price, J.P., of Jarrow.
10. — An exhibition, under the auspices of the Newcastle
Sketching Club, was opened at the rooms in Collingwood
Street, by Mr. G. R. Hedley.
General ©ccurrences.
MAY.
12. — Mr. Thomas Bayley Potter, M.P., was presented
with an address from the members of the Cobden Club,
in recognition of his services to Free Trade.
— The Queen unveiled a bronze equestrian statue of the
late Prince Consort, which had been presented to her
Majesty as a jubilee offering by the women of England.
13. — Fifty-one of the crew and passengers of the
schooner Eliza Mary were killed, roasted, and eaten by
cannibals at the island of Mallicollo, New Hebrides.
— It was announced that Mr. H. M. Stanley was en-
paged to be married to Miss Dorothy Tennant.
— Lord Alcester, who commanded the English fleet at
the bombardment of Alexandria, was seriously injured
in Piccadilly by b;ing knocked down by an omnibus.
H. — The trial of Major Panitza and others, for con-
spiring against the life of Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria,
commenced to-day at Sofia, and terminated on the 30th.
Major Panitza was sentenced to be shot, and some of
his companions in crime were sentenced to terms of im-
prisonment.
16. — Thirty-six children were drowned through the
overturning of a ferryboat at Slairkan, Silesia.
17. — A monument to the Right Hon. W. E. Forster
was unveiled at Bradford.
20. — An International Miners' Conference was held at
Jolimont, Belgium, and lasted several days. The British
representatives consisted of forty delegates, including Mr.
Thomas Burt, M.P., Mr. William Crawford, M.P., and
Mr. Charles Fenwick, M.P.
23. — It was announced that the Queen had conferred
the dignity of a peerage of the United Kingdom upon
Prince Albert Victor, by the name, style, and title of
Duke of Clarence and Avondale and Earl of Athlone.
27. — In the United States Senate during the debate on
the Naval Supply Bill, Senator Blair, of New Hampshire,
moved a proviso that the vote should not be available
until the British Government had been requested by the
President to withdraw all its naval forces from American
waters and dismantle its fortifications in both North and
South America. The proviso was negatived.
28. — The picture entitled "1814" by the French artist,
Meissouier, representing Napoleon on horseback sur-
rounded by his generals on the eve of his abdication, was
sold for 850,000 francs — the highest price ever given for
the work of a living artist.
29. — A number of Russian anarchists were arrested in
Paris. Bombs and explosive materials were found
in their possession.
30. — A Louis Quinze clock, which was to be seen at
Milton Hall, the Northamptonshire seat of the Fitz-
william family, was sold to one of the Rothschilds for
the princely sum of £30,000. The clock is said to have
been a wedding present from a foreign potentate to a
former Countess Fitzwilliam.
— Victor Rolla, a professional aeronaut, lost his life
while attempting a parachute feat in Sweden. The
balloon fell into the sea, and Rolla was drowned.
—The last stone of the spire of Ulm Cathedral was
laid amidst general rejoicing. The cathedral is now the
highest in the world, having an altitude of 530 feet.
31. — A railway train was completely blown over by a
hurricane at Belgaum, near Calcutta. Some of the
passengers were injured, but there was no loss of life.
JUNE.
3. — A tornado destroyed Bradshaw, a hamlet with
some 500 inhabitants, in Central Nebraska, United
States, eighty persons being killed and twenty-two
wounded.
4.-— The Duke of Orleans was released from Clairvaux
prison, and conducted to the French frontier.
7. — The metropolitan temperance organisations and
other societies opposed to the compensation clauses of the
Government Licensing Bill held an imposing demonstra-
in Hyde Park. The number of persons present was
between 100,000 and 150,000.
— The Frencli Government issued a decree granting a
partial or full pardon to 72 persons undergoing sentence
for offences committed in connection with strikes.
— Miss Philippa G. Fawcett, only child of the late
Professor Faweett, Postmaster-General, obtained a
HISS PHILIPPA FAWCETT.
higher position than the Senior Wrangler in the Cam-
bridge Mathematical Tripos. This was the first time
that a woman bad attained this honour.
10. — Daniel Stewart Gorrie was hanged at Wands-
worth for the murder of Thomas Furlonger at a bakery
in Brixton on April 12 last.
Printed by WALTER SCOTT, Felling-on-Tyne.
Chronicle
OF
NORTH-COUNTRY*LORE*AND*LEGEND
VOL. IV.— No. 42.
AUGUST, 1890.
PRICE 6n.
erf JHarfc 'QTtotft ftgn* airtr
S tUch,arb eBdfori).
AUTHOR OF "A HISTORY OF NEWCASTLE AND GATKSHEAD.'
Parent,
PCEITAN PREACHER.
among the "godly and faithful"
ministers of religion who found their way
to the banks of the Tyne in the early days
of the great Civil War, stands William
Durant. Whence he came has not been ascertained.
He united the culture and refinement of a scholar with
tbe tastes and habits of a gentleman, but how and where
he acquired them are unknown. Dr. Ellison, Vicar of
Newcastle at the close of the seventeenth century,
claimed to have discovered that he was " of University
education, bred up in University College, Oxford,"
where he took " one or more degrees " ; yet Anthony
Wood, the industrious biographer of Oxford men, knows
him not ; and Dr. Cosin, Bishop of Durham at the
Restoration, " reduced him to silence" because satis-
factory evidence was not forthcoming of his having
received either Episcopal or Presbyterial ordination.
He married Jane, sister of James (afterwards Sir
James) Clavering, of Axwell, and in the Clavering
pedigree he is entered as "William Durand, of county
Devon," an assignment of origin which finds colour,
if not substance, in the fact that during the ejection
of the clergy in 1662, a Nathaniel Durant was turned
22
out of the living of Cheriton Fitzpaine, in that county.
It is known that John Durant, of Canterbury, who
after the ejection became a Dissenting minister at Maid-
stone, was his brother, but no other of his relations have
been traced. Whencesoever he came, whatsoever may
have been his credentials, he was a Puritan of high
repute, who, amid the distractions and persecutions
of his time, lived a life of consistency and rectitude ; a
preacher of eminence who, gathering around him devout
and earnest people, is reputed to have founded the first
settled Nonconformist congregation in Newcastle.
It was in the year 1645, a few months after the storming
and capture of the town, that Mr. Durant made his
appearance in a local pulpit. The Corporation selected
him in February of that year to officiate at All Saints' ;
in May they appointed him one of the lecturers at
St. Nicholas' ; and in July, 1646, they installed him
at St. John's. At St. Nicholas' he had for a colleague
silver-tongued Cuthbert Sydenham, who, writing in
1653 a controversial treatise on "Infant Baptism and
Singing of Psalms," dedicated it to his "dear and
honoured Brother, Mr. William Durant," his "faithful
Fellow-labourer in the Gospel, and the Church of Christ,
over whom the Holy Ghost bath made us Joyn t-overseers. "
Ministers like-minded filled other pulpits in the town,
•338
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I AUEUlt
\ 1890.
differing in opinion as to forms of Church government —
some favouring Independency, others leaning towards
Presbyterianism — yet pronounced Puritans each and all.
Durant himself was of the " Independent judgment " ;
among his colleagues the Presbyterian order pre-
dominated ; but against prelacy and heresy — against
• Episcopalians and Arians, Arminians and Quakers,
they were one.
The unity ot spirit which prevailed among the Puritan
'preachers in Newcastle had the merit of continuance.
With Dr. Robert Jenison, a member of an old and high-
placed local family, at their head (he died in November,
1652), and Mr. Durant, related by marriage to another
eminent local house, they worked in unison and good
fellowship, "preaching in the same places, and fasting
and praying together in heavenly harmony." If there
were any doubt or misgiving amongst them it arose
from a fear that the Presbyterian element might gain
too much ascendency. That such fear was entertained
is evident from a letter which, in 1656, the Corporation
of Newcastle addressed to the Lord Protector. Crom-
well was suspected of leaning too much towards the
Presbyterian form of worship, and the Corjxiration,
echoing the apprehensions of Mr. Durant and his
Congregational brethren, considered it proper to express
their suspicions in writing. Cromwell wrote a pacific
reply, and with its reception the affair was supposed
to have ended. But the following letter from
Mr. Durant and other Puritan pastors (copied by the
Rev. John Brand from the original MS., and now
published from Mr. Brand's transcript) shows that the
dissension continued, though it was not of a serious
character : —
Newcastle, January 12th, 1656 (57).
For His Highness the Lord Protector of the Common-
wealth of England, and the Dominions thereunto
belonging : These Humbly Present.
May it please your Highness,
That the Congregational Churches of Christ in these
parts have not made any solemn addresses to your High-
ness, thereby to make knowne the real! senue of the good
hand of God upon us in raising you upp in the midst of
the divisions of Saints to be instrumental! for the repairing
of breaches among us, hath not proceeded from any dis-
satisfaction in our Spirits to the wonderfull out-goeings
of Providence in these latter dayes, in throwing downe
one and setting upp another ; but lookeing upon it as
cur proper duty to submitt to you in the Lord, and pray
for you, judging ourselves and our Applications not
worthy your Highness' cognizance. Though by your
Highness' Letter to the Mayor of Newcastle com-
municated to us, wee cannot but read your singular
affection and most Christian tenderness to us in the
Lord Jesus ; which exceeding greate act of Love, aa
little sought for as merited by us, but flowing (as we
believe) from that divine principle which God hath
endowed you with for the protection of his people will
not In: unrequited in that day when Christ will reward
any kindness shewed to the least of Saints.
Sir, your many inculcated Exhortations to love the
whole flocke of Christ, though not walking in the same
order of the Gospell, wee receive with all gladness,
resolving in the strength of Christ as hitherto, soe for the
future to endeavour to keepe the Unity of the Spirit in
the Bond of peace ; a frame of heart, which, as wee believe
to be acceptable to the Lord Jesus, soe wee desire to be
found in, whatever provocations wee may meete with to
the interrupting of it.
When wee consider how many of the pretious Sonnes of
Zion have Hedd into a roaring Wildernes to enjoy the
Tabernacle of God, and were glad of it, and that wee
should under our Vines and Figg trees, not onely enjoy
the priviledges of the Gospell, but have the protection and
encouragement of the supreme powers of the Nation, our
hearts are drawne out to bless the Lord, and pray for the
church with David : Psalm 20 — The Lord heare thee in
the day of trouble ; the name of the God of Jacob defend
thee ; send thee helpe from the sanctuary, and strengthen
thee out of Sion, &c. Which Blessing that the Lord may
poure upon your Highness' head shall be the prayer of
Your most obedient servants and Remembrancers with
the Lord.
Signed in the name and with the consent of the ChurcU
at Newcastle.— WM. DuEANT, Pastor ; R. RlOHE, THO :
YOUNG, Deacons.
[Signatures of five other ministers and deacons or elders
follow. J
At the ejection of 1662, Mr. Durant, who had been
" silenced " the year before by Bishop Cosin, cast in his
lot with the retiring clerey. Dr. Richard Gilpin, Dr.
.John Pringle, Henry Leaver, and he became "the four
leaders and abettors " of Nonconformity in Newcastle,
and upon them the persecuting spirit of the time fell
heavily. When the Indulgence of 1672 came out,
William Durant applied for a license to be an In-
dependent Teacher at the chapel of the Trinity House,
Drs. Gilpin and Pringle to hold Presbyterian services
in the Moot Hall, and Henry Leaver to officiate among
Presbyterians in the chapel at the end of the Tyne Bridge.
Their applications were refused, but a month later they
all obtained the necessary permission to preach in private
dwelling-houses. Thus were formed four Nonconformist
congregations in Newcastle, though neither of them had
a special or suitable place of worship.
Mr. Durant's house in Pilgrim Street was situated near
the entrance to the great mansion known in after years as
Anderson Place. In that abode the stern and unflinching
Puritan lived the greater part of his life in Newcastle,
and in 1681 died. A few weeks before his death some
trouble had occurred at St.. Nicholas' respecting the
interment of his son Benezer's wife, for in the Burial
Register of that church, under date December 10, 1680,
we find the entry — "Mary, wife of Benezer Durant,
mercht. (who dyed excommunicate), was buried contrary
to Act of Parliament for burying in woollen, her husband
paying the penalty by that Act required." And now,
when the old Puritan had departed, the Church would
not acknowledge him. His remains were, however,
reverently buried in the garden attached to his house,
and there a stone, bearing a Latin inscription, was
erected by one of his sons to mark his resting place. By
and by the garden was annexed to the mansion, and
over the spot where his ashes lay a stable was con-
structed. In this "Dead Man's Hole," as the stable-
men called it, the tombstone was preserved, and when
Major Anderson acquired the property he found it lying
under the staircase leading to the lofts above. From him
the Rev. William Turner, pastor of the congregation
August!
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
339
which Mr. Durant founded, obtained the precious
memorial, and, removing it to his church in Hanover
Square, placed it against the outer wall. In that
appropriate location it remained till the removal of the
congregation in 1854- to their new place of worship, the
Church of the Divine Unity, New Bridge Street, where,
set up in the vestibule, the filial inscription may still be
read : —
Parentis venerandi
Gulielmi Durant A.M.
Ecclesiaa Christi
D.V. bac in urbe
. Pastoris vigilantissimi
Officii pietatis ergo
Funeri subjacent!
Sepulclirale hocce marmor
Lu. mae posuit
Johannes Durant F.
Joshua; cap. ult. ver. 29, 30, 32, 33.
1681.
Slje fflutl)bert
EARLY HISTORY OF THE ELLISON FAMILY.
The ancestry of the great local family of Ellison ha.s
been traced as far as the beginning of the sixteenth
century. A little license, not at all rare in genealogical
investigation, would have carried it back to the tune of
Henry the Third. For in the Pipe Rolls of that mon-
arch's reign the name of "Rob. fil. Elye" frequently
appears, and what transition more natural than from
Robert, the son of Elye, or Elyas, to Robert Elyason,
Elyson, and Ellison? Indeed, two hundred years later,
a "Robert Elyson" occurs — Robert Elyson, of Hawk-
well, near Stamfordham, whose son, Rowland Elyson,
transferred (1494) his share in the town fields of Hawk-
well to John Fenwick and others. Hodgson, the his-
torian of Northumberland, who had access to the family
archives, and Surtees, the historian of Durham, who was
similarly favoured, did not, however, venture to treat
either the Hawkwell yeoman, or Robert, son of Elyas,
as common progenitors. Both historians commence the
pedigree of the Ellisons with Cuthbert Ellison, of New-
castle, who was born about the time that Henry VIII.
came to the throne.
It is a notable circumstance that the Ellisons make
their appearance in Newcastle history all of a sudden
as it were. The books of the Company of Merchant
Adventurers of Newcastle contain entries of the appren-
ticeship of John and Cuthbert Ellison, dated respectively
1533 and 1524; the books of the Trinity House show
that in the last-named year "Sir" Robert Ellison was
chaplain, and John Ellison an alderman of the fraternity.
Six years later, Robert Ellison occurs in the Merchants'
books as entering upon his apprenticeship. Thus, in
the space of seven years, we have evidence of five Ellisons
living in Newcastle, of whom no previous notice occurs —
a chaplain, an elder brother of the Trinity House, and
three young men just commencing life as merchant ad-
venturers. From that time down to a recent period
members of the family filled conspicuous positions in
various spheres of public usefulness. They were governors
of the Merchants' Company and justices of the pence,
clergymen and military officers, sheriffs, mayors, and
members of Parliament. Acquiring landed estate, as at
Hebburn and Otterburn, Lintz Green and Gateshead,
they founded county families, formed alliances with other
great county houses — Carr and Jenison, Clavering and
Fenwick, Bates and Lambton — and finally married into
the peerage. '
The history of the Ellisons is, in great part, the history
of Newcastle.
Cutljfacrt CUi-son,
1510-1557.
Cuthbert and Robert have been favourite names in the
Ellison family, Cuthbert having the preference. Robert
was the name of the chaplain of tlie Trinity House in
1524, Cuthbert was the name of the common ancestor
who was beginning his servitude in the same year, of
the master of St. Thomas's Chapel upon Tyne Bridge in
1556, and of numerous other Ellisons, prominent and
obscure, down to our own day.
Cuthbert Ellison, the apprentice of 1524, with whom
the family pedigree begins, having served his time and
taken up his freedom, commenced business in Newcastle
as a merchant adventurer. When a muster of the male
population of the town capable of bearing and providing
arms was taken, in 1539, he was a substantial house-
holder, and appears in the ward of Alderman Thomas
Baxter, with Andrew Bewick, the mayor, George Seiby,
the sheriff, and representatives of the great local families
of Ord, Fenwick, Riddell, Shafto, Carr, and Liddell as
"well appoynted, with one seruant, iaks, bowys, and
salletts," ready for the king's service. Introduced to
municipal life, he became sheriff at Michaelmas, 1544,
and was in office when the Scots won the battle of
Ancrum Moor, and the Earl of Hertford, in revenge,
marching through Newcastle, destroyed Dunse and
Kelso, Melrose and Jedburgh, and laid waste nearly two
hundred and fifty Scottish villages. In 1547, when
Edward VI. came to the throne, and granted a new
charter to the Merchants' Company, he was one of twelve
members who were appointed assistant governors of the
fraternity. Two years later he was elected governor of
the company and Mayor of Newcastle, in which capacity
he would probably hear John Knox preach at St.
Nicholas', and listen to the great Reformer's trial before
the Bishop of Durham, the Council, and congregation,
for teaching that the mass was idolatrous. He filled the
double office again in 1554, when the Merchants' Com-
pany issued their famous bye-law about the apparel of
apprentices. It was during this mayoralty that the
Bishop of Durham, "for the benefit and commodity"
of Newcastle, granted "to Cuthbert Ellison, now Mayor,
and to the burgesses of the same town of Newcastle
340
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{AllgUE
1890.
JUHt,
and their successors, all that his piece of ground or
meadow called Salt Meadows, containing by estimation
34 acres of ground, be it more or less, within the county
of Durham," &c., for 450 years— a "piece of ground"
which, enlarged to 82 acres, the Corporation still retain.
The last act in which Cuthbert Ellison figures is the
making of his will. That document, dated February 24,
1556-7, is printed at length in vol. ii. of the Surtees
Society's Publications, and exhibits the testator as a man
of wealth, owning houses
in the Bigg Market (his
residence), the Windaes,
Middle Street, and Gow-
ler Rawe, Newcastle,
lands at Bamborough,
leases of a farrahold and
mills at Heworth, half
a salt pan, a quantity of
plate, &c. When he died
is not known, but, as his
name appears no more
in local history, it is
probable that he did not
long survive his will-
making. On the floor of
St. Nicholas' Church a
tombstone bearing a
merchant's mark and
the following inscrip-
tion, indicated his rest-
ing place : —
.Thu have mercy of the sowlle of Cuthbert Ellison,
Marchant Adventurer, some tyme mai. of this towne,
and Isabell and Anne his wyves and yr children.
(ffutljbert (SUtjson,
1684-1744.
During the next hundred and twenty years, two or
three Cuthbert Ellisons lived upon Tyneside who took
little or no part in the public movements of their time
and locality. There were, for example, Cuthbert, son
of the founder, who married Elizabeth Metcalf, of
Warkworth, inherited most of his father's estate, became
an alderman of Newcastle, and was buried in 1581 ;
Cuthbert, his son (married to a daughter of Christopher
He), a member of the Merchants' Company, who died
in 1626 ; Cuthbert (son of Robert Ellison, M.P. during
the Long Parliament), who married Jane, daughter of
William Carr, of Newcastle, and sister of Sir Ralph
Carr ; and Cuthbert, his son, B.D., who was a Fellow
of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and died in Novem-
ber, 1719, leaving £500 to his college, and founding
prize orations in praise of Charles I. and Archbishop
Laud.
Passing over these, we come to Cuthbert Ellison, cousin
of the last-named, and a notable cleric and rhymer. His
father was Samuel Ellison, Merchant Adventurer, third
son of Robert Ellison, M.P. ; his mother, Barbara
daughter of Cuthbert Carr ; his grandmother, Eliza-
beth, sister of William Gray, author of the " Choro-
graphia." Baptized on the 27th February, 1683-84, he
went as a boy to the Royal Free Grammar School of
Newcastle, then under the headmastership of the Rev.
John Cotteral. From thence he proceeded to Lincoln
College, Oxford (where he took his degrees in arts),
and returning to Newcastle obtained from his uncle,
Dr. Nathaniel Ellison, vicar of the town, the curacy of
All Saints'. At All Saints' he remained till 1722, when
he was presented by Talbot, Bishop of Durbam, to the
vicarage of Stannington, near Morpeth. At Stannington,
in February, 1744, he died, and on the 15th of that month
he was buried among his ancestors in St. Nicholas'
Church, Newcastle.
This Cuthbert Ellison was a man of eccentric, not to
say unclerical humour. His celebrity is founded upon
a very coarse book published anonymously under the
title of "A Most Pleasant Description of Benwel
Village, In the County of Northumberland, Intermix'd
with several diverting Incidents both Serious and
Comical. Divided into Two Books. By Q. Z., late
Commoner of Oxon. Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Printed
and Sold by John White, 1726. Price 4s." The
volume is a small 12mo. of 581 pages, resembling in
appearance an old-fashioned hymn-book, and it has
for sub-title, "A Merry Description of a Sunday's
Trip to Benwel." As originally published, it was
dedicated— the first book to Robert Shaftoe, Esq., of
Benwell, the second part to Ralph Jenison, Esq.,
M.P., of Elswick ; but shortly after it was issued
the author quarrelled with Mr. Jenison, and tore out
the second dedication, so that copies containing it
are exceedingly rare. The book in any form is now
scarce. At Brand's sale, in 1807, a copy with an
MS. note by Brand was bought by a Mr. Sancho
for £2 12s. 6d. ; at the sale of Mr. John Trotter
Brockett's books, in 1823, a copy brought 33s., and
a perfect edition is worth perhaps three guineas.
Truth to tell, however, the scarcity of the volume
is its chief merit. Collectors prize it for its rarity,
and that is all. Although it contains 2,290 verses of
six lines each, amounting altogether to 13,740 lines,
there is not a quotable passage in the whole book.
Thus it begins : —
Speak, Goddess Muse 1
As wond'rous News,
In humble Doggrel Rhimes,
Things yet un-sung
By Mortal Tongue
In North, or Southern Climes.
Let great Renown
Of BENWEL Town
Employ thy tuneful Lays ;
Bt British Wight
Can in just Light
Display her juster Praise.
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
341
The final verse, unfortunately, cannot be printed, on
account of its coarseness.
After his death, was published "TheBabler, in Two
Sermons on Acts 17 and 18 preached in St. Nicholas'
Church, before the Corporation of Newcastle, May 15th,
and Nov. 27th, 1726. Newcastle : 17+5. Price 6d." Brand
states that he was also the author of an anonymous
"Pastoral between Corydon and Thyrsis," in which,
under the assumed character of a lover of the clergy,
bis "Sunday's Trip to Benwel" is censured, though,
as the Rev. Hussey Adamson has pointed out, a sort
of apology is attempted in the lines —
If I may judge, his work should be denned
A harm unthouebt, a scandal undesigned.
Ctttljbcrt CHltsiou,
1783-1860.
Another Cuthbert Ellison, son of Robert Ellison, of
Hebburn, and great-grandson of Robert Ellison, of the
Long Parliament, was a military officer, and for a short
time one of the M.P.'s for Shaftesbury, in Dorsetshire.
He died, unmarried, on the llth October, 1785. aged 87
— the oldest^ general but one in the British army. Of
this Cuthbert Ellison little is recorded, and we pass on
to the last of his name, Cuthbert Ellison of our own
time, the father of Lady Northbourne, and grandfather
of the Hon. W. H. James, M.P. for Gateshead. He
was the second son of Henry Ellison, Esquire, of
Hebburn Hall and Gateshead Park, by Henrietta,
daughter of John Isaacson, of Newcastle, and was
born on the 12th of July, 1783, His father died at
Bath in October, 1795 ; his elder brother followed three
years later ; thus at the age of fifteen he became heir
to the valuable estates of the family. Educated at
Harrow and Cambridge, he marked out for himself a
political career, and at the general election of 1807, when
he was twenty-four years of age, an opportunity arose
through which he was enabled to attempt the gratification
of his ambition. A political contest of great bitterness
was being fought in the county of Durham, and at the
last moment, only a day or two before the nomination,
two of the candidates, Sir T. H. Liddell and Rowland
Burdon, retired in Jlr. Ellison's favour. The fates, or
rather the electors, were, however, unpropitious ; he did
not succeed in realising his wishes. But four years later,
having in the meantime (1808) filled the office of High
Sheriff for Northumberland, he was fortunate in obtain-
ing a seat as the colleague of Sir Matthew White Ridley
in the representation of Newcastle. That was thought to
be a thoroughly safe position, and so, for eighteen years,
it proved to be.
When George IV. came to the throne, in 1820, New-
castle was in the enjoyment of an unbroken record of
forty years' freedom from political strife. The friends
of the rising family of Scott determined to break it, and
they induced William Scott, son of the future Lord
Stowell, to contest the seat. Mr. Ellison had given
offence by the exercise of his patronage in some petty
local appointment ; he had been abroad from ill-health
for a time and was still absent ; the opportunity seemed
to be favourable for an effort to replace him. At the
nomination the show of hands was in favour of his
colleague and Mr. Scott ; when the poll closed, Mr. Scott
was nowhere ; Mr. Ellison and Sir Matthew were re-
turned by large majorities. In 1825 he was re-elected
with Sir Matthew unopposed, and the following year
served the office of High Sheriff of the county of
342
MONTHLY CHRONICLE,
Durham. Upon tiie accession of William IV. in 1830,
Mr. John Hodgson (afterwards Hodgson Hinde) was
brought out with the avowed intention of breaking
down the Whig influence of the Ridleys. That,
however, was too firmly rooted in Newcastle to be
disturbed, but the movement so seriously endangered
the seat of Mr. Ellison, who was a Liberal-Conservative,
that he declined to go to a poll.
Mr. Ellison had married, 21st July, 1804, Isabella
Grace, daughter and co-heir of Henry Ibbetson, Esq.,
of St. Anthony's, near Newcastle, and after his retire-
ment from the representation of the town, he withdrew
from public life, and devoting himself to the management
of his extensive estates, lived to the good old age of 77
years. He died in London on the 13th June, 1860. His
family consisted of seven daughters, two of whom died
young ; the other five were united to representatives of
illustrious houses — Isabella Caroline to the fifth Lord
Vernon, Louisa to the fourth Earl of Mansfield, Laura
Jane to the third Baron Kensington, Henrietta to W.
H. Lambton, Esq., brother of the first Earl of Durham,
and Sarah Caroline to Sir Walter C. James, Bart., now
Lord Northbourne.
For the portraits which accompany this sketch, we
are indebted to the kindness of the Hon. W. H. James,
M.P.
VICAK OF BEDLIN'GTOK.
The Rev. John Ellison, eldest son of Dr. Nathaniel
Ellison, vicar of Newcastle (sixth son of Robert Ellison,
M.P. for Newcastle in the Long Parliament), was not a
man of mark in the ordinary meaning of the term. He
was a well-to-do clergyman, belonging to a good family,
and, it is to be presumed, doing his duty like many
other ministers of the Church, faithfully and well. The
place which he occupies in local history is due, not
so much to his own merits, as to the malign in-
fluence of an anonymous versifier who used his name,
or rather his office, after he was dead, as a peg upon
which to hang a long string of defamatory rhymes,
that by virtue of their coarseness attracted atten-
tion, and through their pseudonymous character baffled
curiosity.
Mr. Ellison was born in Newcastle in December, 1694,
a few weeks after his father had been appointed vicar.
He was educated, it is supposed, at the Royal Free
Grammar School, and went from thence to University
College, Oxford, where he took his Arts degrees. The
influence of his father and his family soon obtained for
him a valuable preferment. In April, 1719, when but a
young man of four-and-twenty, he was inducted to the
vicarage of Bedlington, and in September, 1725, he was
appointed to the curacy of St. Andrew's, Newcastle.
Notwithstanding the distance of Bedlington from New-
castle the fortunate holder of both livings was allowed
to retain them. Curates were cheap in those days. One
at St. Andrew's would be " passing rich " on about forty
or fifty pounds a year, and the Vicar of Bedlington could
enjoy the remainder. Such methods of holding Church
preferment were common enough in his time, and indeed
for long after.
Mr. Ellison held the curacy of St. Andrew's for forty-
one years, and then retired "in favour of his son,"
Nathaniel Ellison, afterwards Vicar of Bolam. The
vicarage of Bedlington he retained till his death in
December, 1773, having then occupied the living for
the long period of fifty-four years. By his marriage
with Mary, daughter of Richard Jedidiah Bates, of
the Milbourne and Holywell family, he had several
children, most of whom survived him, amongst them
being Nathaniel, above named (father of the late Com-
missioner Ellison and of the late Peregrine George
Ellison, of St. James's, Newcastle) ; John, a London
merchant ; Isabella, second wife of the famous Grammar
School master, the Rev. Hugh Moises; and Margaret,
who married George Clavering, of Greencroft.
Some years before Mr. Ellison's decease appeared the
scurrilous pamphlet referred to in the opening para-
graph. It was entitled "Parson Jock's Will," but it is
better known in its second edition, dated 1765, the title
of which runs : —
The Will of a certain Northern Vicar, to which is
annex'd a Codicil. "Here's that wou'd sack a City."
London : Printed for the Author, and Sold by W.
Bunce, in Russell Street, Covent Garden ; the Book-
sellers at Durham and Newcastle-upon-Tyne ; W.
Tessyman, at York ; J. Leeke at Bath ; Bristol,
Tunbridge, &c., &c.. MDCCLXV. Price One Shilling
and Sixpence.
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
343
The frontispiece, here depicted, in supposed to repre-
sent Mr. Ellison dressed in full canonicals, with his wig
on (which is said to have weighed at least a pound)
dictating his will to a lawyer. The lawyer is described
as suggesting to the vicar that before he deals with
money matters it is customary to dispose of "goods of
greater worth, as sermons, essays, and old tracts," and
then the fun, such as it is, begins :—
Then be it so, cried out the Vicar,
First in the list well place Wm. Parker ; (1)
To him (as he's so very callous)
I give my lecture on the gallows.
I leave my essay upon Jaw
Unto my rev'rend son-in-law ; (2)
And to his wife (3) (the present load)
My smart remarks on large Wm. Boag.
To brother Bob (upon my life) (4)
I give my essay upon strife ;
And to my learned brother Nat (5)
My curious sermon on the Bat.
My Art of Building (by his leave)
I give to Master Dicky Grieve (6)
And washballs, too, a curious stock,
Wou'd scent the devil and all his flock :
And all my Epicurean Pans
With a Oambrick cloth to wipe his hands :
My beautiful remarks on slavering
I give the wise Sir Thos. Clavering ;
And to my jolly friend, Tom Liddell,
My art of playing on the fiddle.
1 give my essay npon Bacon
To the facetious Nat
at. Clayton. (7)
1. William Parker, landlord of the Turk's Head, Newcastle, and
afterwards Postmaster.
2. The Rev. Hugh Moises, who married for his third wife,
August 16, 1764, (3) Ann, widow of William Boajr.
4. Robert Ellison, wine merchant, afterwards of Otterburn.
5. Rev. Nathaniel Ellison, Vicar of Kirkwhelpington, and of
Lesbury.
6. Richard Grieve, of Alnwick, the Political Reformer.
7. Curate of St John's, Newcastle. 1736 to 1786.
I give my family cheese toaster
Unto the Reverend Mr. Brewster ; (8)
And to the Reverend Mr. Darch (9)
My curious essay upon Starch.
As to that Pedant, Mr. Hall, (10)
By Jove — I'll give him nouse at all.
To Askew, (11) too (by way of sport)
I give my essay upon port.
* * * * *
I give to Alderman Jack Blackett (12)
My favourite essay upon Claret ;
And to my good friend, William Ord, (13)
The use (and so forth) of a cord.
*****
To Avison (14) (by way of reading)
I give my essay on good breeding ;
Then to his wife, the gentle Kitty,
My doleful essay upon pity ;
And to his matchless children three
My quaint remarks on Tyburn tree.
But as to all my stock of wealth,
By G I'll keep that to myself.—
Sign'd, seal'd, delivered in Sixty-One,
By me, the Vicar of Bedlington.
The codicil is much longer than the will,
more scurrilous, and therefore less quotable.
Upon Avison, Matthew Ridley, the Clay-
tons, Sir Thomas Clavering, the Duke of
Northumberland, and one or two others, the
writer discharged copious venom with little regard to
decency, and less for either rhyme or sense. Who he was
has never been ascertained. Nobody would admit having
written such trash. An attempt was made to fasten it
upon the Rev. William Cooper (son of William Cooper,
M.D., Newcastle, by Mary Grey, of the Howick family),
but by advertisement in the Newcastle Courant of the
7th December, 1765, he disowned the impeachment. So
the author's secret died with him, and the pamphlet itself
would probably have died out of remembrance if some
local printer had not in the year 1824 issued an anony-
mous reprint of it.
Mr. Ellison does not appear to have indulged in the
luxury of authorship himself, not even to the extent of
publishing "by request" a volume of pulpit discourses.
The only printed publication that bears his name is a
sermon entitled, "Our Obligations to do Good, and the
Manner of Doing it. A Sermon preached at the Anni-
versary Meeting of the Sons of the Clergy within the
Diocese of Durham, at St. Nicholas's Church, in New-
castle, on Thursday, the 6th of September, 1750, by
John Ellison, &c. Newcastle : Printed and sold by J.
White, and to be had of M. Bryson, R. Akenhead, Senr.,
J. Fleming, J. Barber, and H. Reed, Booksellers, in
Newcastle."
a Assistant curate of St Andrew's, Newcastle, 1741 to 1750.
9. Vioar of Long Benton, 1757 to 1767.
10. Afternoon lecturer of St. Anne's. Newcastle, 1773 to 178L
11. Dr. Adam Askew, the famous physician, or, possibly, John
Askew, aA., assistant curate of St. Andrew's, Newcastle, 1756.
12. John Erasmus Blackett, father of Lady Collingwood.
13. William Ord, of Fenham, who is said to have had a passion
for hanging himself for amusement.
14. Charles Avison, organist and composer.
344
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{August
1890.
I BOUT seven hundred and fifty years ago
Eustace Fitz-John, the builder of Alnwiok
Castle, founded an abbey on the north bank
of the Alne, on a sheltered spot encircled by
a bend of the river which he could probably aee from
some of the towers of his stronghold. It was titled
"The Abbey and Convent of the Blessed Mary of
Alnwick." Eustace endowed it with many possessions.
These endowments consisted chiefly of land, the
services of tenants, five churches in the neighbourhood,
with their appendages and tithes, privilege to erect a
corn-mill, and a tenth part of all the venison, wild cattle,
and boars killed in his forests and parks, and of all the
fish taken in his fisheries. To these, from time to time,
and from other benefactors, were added further privileges
and more property, till in the end the abbey became one
of the richest in the land. The abbots were summoned
to Parliament as men of consequence ; and the com-
munity, generally, prospered. For four hundred years,
under a succession of thirty abbots, the establishment
was maintained, when the suppression of monasteries
brought its tenure to a close. A memorandum is pre-
served in the Close Rolls, stating that Richard Layton,
ALNWIOK ABBEY GATEWAY.
a Chancery clerk, received a deed of surrender from
the abbot, William Hawton, in the chapter-house, on
December 22nd, 1539.
A copy of the chronicle of the abbey is still in existence
among the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum, which
mentions many interesting facts concerning the benefac-
tors of the convent, as, for instance, that Eustace Fitz-
John made his clerk, or chaplain, Baldwin, the first
abbot; that he and his wife associated the memory
of their parents with the foundation; that their son,
in his turn, mentioned them when he confirmed
their charters of endowment ; and that he even-
tually retired to the convent, and was buried near
the chapter-house door by the side of Burga, his
wife. It also mentions the indebtedness of the pious
community to several generations of the Fercies, who
bestowed upon it many gifts of value. The chronicle
further states that the first Earl Percy took the brother-
hood of the chapter in 1372, and that his son and two
brothers did the same in the following year. There is
mention, moreover, of a great banquet, when Walter
Hepescote was abbot, in the days of the fifth Lord Percy.
This document, which is written in Latin, is printed at
length in Hartshorne's "Feudal and Military Antiquities
of Northumberland."
Of this ecclesiastical establishment only the gateway
remains, if we except a well, and
a hedge of yew thought likely
from its age and growth to have
been planted in those old times.
When surrendered to Richard
Layton, the Chancery clerk,
some portions of it may have
been demolished ; but there was
accommodation enough left for
the owners of the site to reside
on it in the next century. In
1608, it belonged to a Brandling;
in the next century, to the
Doubledays ; in our own, to the
Hewitsons ; and, finally, the
Dukes of Northumberland pur-
chased the great bulk, if not the
whole, of the abbey possessions,
as portion after portion was for
sale. The remains of the build-
ings, probably in dilapidation,
were removed on the acquire-
ment of their site, and the land
was levelled and grown with
grass. But six years ago interest
was revived in the former exist-
ence of the abbey by the dis-
covery of a fine tomb-slab below
the surface, and orders were
given to make further researches,
Ausrust \
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
345
which resulted in tracing most of the foundations of its
walls. Edgings of cement have been placed on the
ground-lines of these foundations, that the grass may not
obliterate them again. We may, therefore, examine the
situation of the cloisters, note the fine size of the
church, the proximity of the chapter-house, and puzzle
over the purposes of the numerous other buildings dis-
closed.
The great gateway, though probably nearly new at the
surrender, is yet old enough to be furnished with means
of defence. It is embattled and machicolated. It con-
sists of a great covered archway with a lofty chamber
above it, and a tower at each angle. In these four towers
are small chambers or closets, and in two of them stone
stairs, one from the ground to the large chamber men-
tioned, and the other from the ground to the roof. The
windows have mullions, transoms, and tracery, and are
finished with labels terminating with angels bearing
shields. There are niches placed for ornament; as well
as shields, displaying the arms of the De Vescies and
Percies. The archway passes from north to south. Our
view represents the eastern front. The low four-centred
DUNGEON GILL FORCE, LANGDALE, LAKE DISTRICT.
346
MONTHL\ CHRONICLE.
f AllKUSt
1890.
arch on this side has also a label with angels for termi-
nals. From the roof, the seclusion of the site, the curve
of the river, and the luxuriance of the foliage of the trees
dotting the low-lying meadow land so pleasantly sheltered
by the banks and slopes around, are strikingly apparent.
S. W.
(Sill
JJNE of the sights of the English Lake District
is Dungoon Gill Force. If visitors who climb
the rocky ravine experience a certain amount
of disappointment on first beholding the object of their
journey, they may derive consolation from the fact that
the beauties of the fall have been sung by two great poets
—Wordsworth and Coleridge. T!ie former tells a story
of two "idle shepherd boys" playing on "pipes of
sycamore" beneath a rock overlooking Dungeon Gill.
One boy challenges the other to a feat of daring : —
"Now cross where I shall cross — come on,
And follow me where I shall lead "-
The other took him at his word ;
But did not like the deed.
It was a spot which you may see
If ever you to Langd'ale go—
Into a chasm, a mighty block
Hath fall'n, and made a bridge of rock :
The gulf is deep below,
And in a brain, black and small,
Receives a lofty waterfall.
With staff in hand, across the cleft
The challenger began his march ;
And now, all eyes and feet, hath gain'd
The middle of the arch.
When list ! he hears a piteous moan —
Again ! — his heart within him dies —
His pulse is stopp'd, his breath is lost,
He totters, pale as any ghost,
And, looking down, he spies
A lamb, that in the pool is pent
Within that black and frightful rent.
When he had learnt what thing it WHS
That sent this rueful cry, I ween,
The boy recovered heart, and told
The sight which he had seen.
Both gladly now deferr'd their task ;
Nor was there wanting other aid ; —
A Poet, one who loves the brooks
Far better than the sages' books,
By chance had thither strav'd ;
And there the helpless lamb he found,
By those huge rocks encompass'd round.
He drew it gently from the pool,
And brought it forth into the light ;
The shepherds met him with his charge,
An unexpected sight !
Into their arms the lamb they took,
Said they, "He's neither maim'd nor scarr'd."
Then up the steep ascent they hied,
And placed him at his mother's side ;
And gently did the Bard
Those idle shepherd boys upbraid,
And bade them better mind their trade.
Coleridge's lines refer to a legend of the locality, and
run thus: —
In Lanpdale Pike and Witch's Lair,
And Dungeon Ghyll as foully rent,
With rope of rocks and bells of air,
Three sinful sextons' ghosts are pent.
Who all give back, one after t'other,
The death-note to their living brother ;
And oft, top, by their knell offended,
Just as their one ! two ! three ! is ended,
The devil mocks.their doleful tale
With a merry peal from Borrodaile.
The force is fed by a stream which issues from between
the Langdale Pikes. The quantity of water is inconsider-
able ; but the aspect of the cleft, which is only nine feet
in width,- is gloomy in the extreme. The feature which
distinguishes the force from others in Lakeland is the
natural arch that spans it, formed by two rocks which
have been doubtless rolled into the position from neigh-
bouring heights during some mighty convulsion of nature.
Adventurous young people of both sexes, like the "idle
shepherd boys" in Wordsworth's poem, have crossed the
bridge ; but the feat is not unattended with danger. By
far the best view of the waterfall is obtained from below.
It is from this point that our sketch on the previous page
has been taken.
»muit at SUavfcUmrtft.
||ALES of eremites or hermits are found on
every page of mediaeval history, from the
days of Augustine to those of "Tom Tid-
dler's Ground." In the majority of cases
disappointed affection or baffled ambition has led men to
retire from the world's routine into a sort of semi-
solitude ; and with few exceptions hermits have pro-
fessedly devoted themselves to a life of holy medita-
tion and prayer. In England, and also in some other
countries, these religious "solitaries" were specially
licensed by the Crown, under which gaberlunzie sort of
charter the pious lieges of the locality in which the
retreat had been fixed were encouraged and urged to
make the temporal wants of the holy man their sacred
care. But as this casual pittance was apt to prove
irregular, the holy men generally fixed upon some spot
near well-stocked rivers or in the depths of forests
abounding in game, so that the default of piety might be
made good by skill and toil. There have been many
famous and some little known hermits in the North of
England. When the old Tyne Bridge was pulled down.
above a century ago, there was discovered the wasted
skeleton of one who had long lived the life of an anchorite
— a sort of Simeon Stylites— in a little den on one of the
pillars of the bridge. Tradition says that he died there
some 400 years ago. Not much more than a century
back there lived in Gateshead one Edward Train, who
through a love-blight was led . to separate himself from
the world and its luxurious habits so far as to live in his
garden instead of his house, and never go to bed for
twenty years. But perhaps the best known story of
hermit life in the North is connected with Warkworth
Aiianst)
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
347
and the Coquet, although it is difficult to say how much
is truth and how much is fable in the story as it is now
enshrined in Percy's exquisite ballad.
By patent from the ancient Earls of Northumberland,
a chanting priest was maintained in the Warkworth
Hermitage down to the time of the dissolution of the
monasteries by Henry VIII. The last patent was
granted in 1532 by the sixth Earl of Northumberland ;
but because it was a private and continuing benefaction
in the shape of a voluntary charge on the rent roll of the
Percy, there was no formal sequestration of the endow-
ment—only a simple relapse to the lords of the manor ;
consequently, there is no public memorial of the nature
and objects of the modest establishment in its original
form. The tale, however, was told from sire to son
substantially as the balladist has rendered it, and the
subsidy of the noble Percy must be regarded as a
voucher for the singular worth of the recluse who made
the Hermitage his oratory while he lived his life of tear-
ful expiation, and his memorial when he had left this
vale of weeping behind him for ever.
Sweeter spot for retreat from the world, meditation,
and prayer could not be found in all the North Country
than that wherein nestles the Hermitage of Warkworth.
The silver Coquet glides gently along the base of the
rock in which the romantic chapel has been patiently
wrought with skilful hands, with loving care, and with
holy purpose. The site is embowered amidst rich foliage,
and the lapsing centuries have each bequeathed some
touch of mournful beauty to the ruins, while gently
crumbling them to waste and dust. The lonely watcher
in this rocky cell escaped the notice of merry huntsman
and marching soldiery ;. but he could look upon the fair
landscape beyond the stream, and follow afar with his
gaze the wanderings of the quiet and beautiful river.
Generation after generation of suffering and sinful men
has sent its quota of wistful visitors to explore the sacred
cave, and few of those who have climbed into its strange
recess could say that they had no wish to know the
legend of the builder of this forest sanctuary. How came
the thought of such a place into heart of man ? The days
of deep faith and ecstatic religion witnessed, as we have
said, many such experiments to sever the ties that bind
man to his kind and his age. In the village hard by,
almost beneath the shadow of the once princely castle,
there was a convent cell — a place of summer retreat, or a
chantry of special sanctity, connected with the monas-
tery of Durham, or, perchance, of Lindisfarae. But, if
tradition tells true, the sequestered Hermitage on the
river bank had a solemnity and romance in its origin
that were lacking to the sister cell nearer the sea.
There is, however, bnt little matter of fact to serve
as a thread for the pearls of poetic tancy strung together
by the famous Dr. Percy ; but, indeed, it is neither easy
nor pleasant to discriminate between the old tale of the
Hermit and the beautiful ballad by which it is now com-
pletely superseded. To analyse and criticise such a myth
would be like grasping the rainbow-tinted bubble as it
floats slowly heavenward. But we can add a sober tint of
fact, perhaps, without marring the poetic interest of the
story as told in the ballad.
Sir Bertram was aknight in the retinue of Percy, hand-
some, valiant, all ways accomplished, universally beloved,
but singled out for special affection by the great lord
whose banner he followed alike to the feast and the fray
wherever it was unfurled. He owned great estates-within
sight of the spot where a sad mischance doomed him to
spend the remnant of his days. He was worthy of the
fairest damsel in the shire, and, emboldened by the en-
couragement of his liege lord, he sought the hand of
Isabel, daughter of the Lord of Widdrington. The
father gave his consent to the suit of the brave Sir Ber-
tram, and it seemed that the maiden, though coy and
wilful, cast no unkindly glance upon her anxious suitor.
But she dallied with her true knight's passion, holding
him captive thereby as if with chain of gossamer that he
could have broken, but loved too well to break. She had
been taught that maiden's love, lightly won, was ever
lightly thought of ; and she would test her gallant's worth
and vows before she blessed him with her trust. She was
wilful in her sport with Bertram's deep affection, yet her
heart was neither cold nor all untouched. It was the
sprightly girlhood budding into womanly strength and
graciousness, and the angel of love as yet nestled in the
shade of fancy. Her father, the good old Knight of
Widdrington, loved his daughter, and would fain have
crowned the faithful suit of his neighbour's son.
Once upon a time Lord Percy made a great feast, bidding
the country squires of all degrees to his hospitable halls.
The Lord of Widdrington, with his lovely child, and Sir
Bertram of the Hill, were among the most welcome and
honoured of the party. Wine and wassail were not want-
ing ; and minstrelsy, such as only a Percy could supply
and the legends of the Percy inspire, filled the guest
chamber with song and the gentle melody of harp. The
liveried singers chanted the ancient lays which told of the
glories of war and the valiant deeds of Northuinbria's
mighty lords. These recitals of valour and famous deeds
fired the sleeping love of fair Isabel to a wakeful and
yearning ambition. Oh ! could she but mate with one
whose name would thus echo in the songs of distant ages,
how happy would she be ! And so she singled from her
maidens one pleasanter to look upon and smarter of
address than many a high-born dame, and, placing in her
hands a plumed casque with golden crest, she bade her
carry it to Sir Bertram as a token of acceptance of his
love — of acceptance, however, only when he should bring
it to her feet dinted with many a foeman's blow. Sir
Bertram was a very star of chivalry. Thrice he kissed
the sacred pledge, and in reverent tones vowed to test the
helm wherever blows rained fastest in the field. The great
Lord Percy would not, for his knightly honour, gainsay
348
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I August
I 1890.
the maiden's bond or hinder his friend and follower from
the fray that wae to crown his life with joy. So he paused
the word; the bugles sounded; the eager warriors mar-
shalled swiftly on fair Alnwick's slopes. The times were
wild. Old scores of cruel wrong were waiting to be
washed out in blood.
The restless Scots had ravaged the marches and
harried the flocks of the Percy. Now was the hour of
reprisals, and in the struggle young Bertram was to
win fresh fame and a darling bride. Not long had
they to look. The Douglas were never far to seek when
a Percy was the seeker. Sir Bertram sees the clustering
foes, and at his chieftain's summons rushes to the strife.
Short and sharp is the shock. His stalwart arm wields a
trusty blade, and he mows down his foes like poppies in
a field. But they gather round him, press upon him, hem
him in on every side, until a giant hand is lifted and a
deadly blow cleaves the shield he bears. A second blow
cuts through the golden crest and iron casque. He
totters, faint and stunned. Down upon the sward he falls,
his rich blood bedabbling the trodden grass. Then "Ho!
to the rescue !" good Lord Percy cries, and his yeomen
sweep like the wind, scattering the crowd that gathers
densely round the fallen knight. They take him up
tenderly, and laying him on their shields carry him forth
to the safe retreat of Wark. The old Knight of Wid-
drington had witnessed the gallant deeds of his daughter's
lover, and now, when he looked upon his stricken form so
white and weak, he solaced him with the promise that
Isabel herself should be his nurse and soon his wife. But
the coy maiden — why came she not at the bidding of her
father to bind up the wounds her own pride had inflicted
on her lover ?
Come she did not, though the stricken knight
looked ever wistfully forth for her pleasant form and
listened painfully for her musical step. So he moaned
through days of sickness, and tossed in restless fever
through the weary nights. Yet his vigorous frame
repelled the fever, and the flush of returning health spread
across his wan face. Still weak as a child, he rose from
his couch, girded on his armour, placed the dinted helm
on his brow, and went away, through forest and fell, in
search of his truant bride. Night had fallen when he
reached the hall of Widdrington. With all his strength
he thundered at the gate. Long he waited before an aged
dame thrust her head from the lattice and asked who was
abroad in the dark and silent night. He told his name
and errand. The woman shrieked in terror, and with
rreat labour gave him to know that the fair Isabel no
sooner heard of his mischance than she bade them capari-
son her palfrey that she might haste on the wings of
penitent love to tend the couch of her faithful knight.
She had gone from her father's home with slender retinue,
so great was her haste ; and her old nurse deemed that
she was long since and all these days by the side of her
lover. Oh, woe for the day. and woe for the maiden fair,
and woe for her suffering; knight ! Whither had she gone,
and what evil chance had befallen her ? Wild beasts and
wilder men roamed the forests and the moorland. Could
it be that she had fallen a prey to their ravening ? would
he never see her more ? would no gentle fairy, no guardian
spirit, guide him to his dear one? To Our Lady of Lin-
disfarne he lifted up his petition and vows, then sadly
bent his steps, he knew not whither, but away through
the sombre glades of the forest in search of his lost
Isabel.
Sir Bertram had a brother strong, faithful, and fair,
who loved and was loved with truest affection. This
youth grieved for Sir Bertram's sore affliction, and ten-
dered his services as a searcher for the lost one, thinking
only of the solace he might bring to his kinsman. So they
parted to make the quest more extensive and thorough.
Sir Bertram guessed it was some Scottish earl who had
seized his betrothed and borne her away to his distant den.
He doffed the well-hacked armour and the dinted casque
— love's fatal gage of battle — and donned the humble
garb now of holy palmer, now of minstrel old and weary.
Long and far he roamed, and many a castle did he enter,
and many a hut, yet found not what he sought. One day
his heart was heavy with dolour, and his limbs were worn
with walking. As he sat at rest beneath a flowering
thorn, an aged pilgrim passed, and, greeting him with
pleasant benison, he started to see a minstrel weeping, it
was so rare a sight. He asked him whence and why those
tears. Then up rose Bertram and told him how he sought
a maiden who had been torn from father and bridegroom
on the very eve of her nuptials, and how he had sought
her over hill and dale with never a trace or a sound of her
flight to console him. Then the aged pilgrim bade him
not despair, and told him of a captive maiden in some not
distant tower. It might be Isabel. It must, it should be
Isabel. So once more with lissome limbs and buoyant
heart he went upon his travels. He reached the
lonely fort, played his harp before the gate, and
charmed the listening menials of the absent lord. The
ancient seneschal himself was moved, but, sworn on the
holy rood to give no entrance to a stranger till his lord
came back, what could he do? He bade the pleasant
harpist betake himself to a cave hard by, and there he
would bring him meat and wine. And there he rested
night by night, plying his sweet minstrelsy at times by
day at the castle gate. In the watches of the night he heard
the voice of Isabel singing within the song of captivity,
and his heart leaped joyously yet angrily within his breast.
Another night, and he caught a glimpse of her beauteous
form, as of moonbeams through a cloud-rift. Another
night, when he would fain have watched, sleep laid him
low, and the dawn was high before his dream was ended.
But was it ended? Was he not dreaming still? There
was the castle wall, gleaming white in the dim morning ;
there— did his eyes deceive him ?— was the lovely Isabel,
and she was picking her frightened steps down a silken
An
1!
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
349
ladder, held firm by a waiting knight. Now she is on
the sward, and as she grasps the arm of her deliverer she
pours out her heart in thanks, and they hurry from the
scene. Sir Bertram can scarcely believe his eyes ; but
the risinsr day reveals the knight and maiden too plainly
for mistake. Enraged, he grasps his poignard and pur-
sues. A few swift strides brings him athwart the course
of his rival, and with a yell of vengeance he bids him
yield his prize. The stranger turns with equal rage ;
blow for blow, in mad fury they assail each other : but
Sir Bertram's is the stronger arm and sharper weapon —
the other falls. Sir Bertram is in the act to strike the
fatal blow. The maiden cries— ''Stay, stay. Sir Bertram,
it is thy brother !" and as she rushes in to save from
fratricide, the poixnard of the lover strikes her to the
heart. Too late, too late, to save the generous brother ;
for his life was ebbing fast away, and Sir Bertram held
in his arms the form of the dying Isabel ! Not long
she lived, but as she drooped and swooned her sweet
life away, she sought to comfort her beloved.
"Bertram," she said, "be comforted,
And live to think on me :
May we in heaven that union prove
Which here was not to be."
" Bertram," she said, " I still was true ;
Thou only hadst my heart :
May we hereafter meet in bliss !
We now, alas ! must part.
" For thee I left my father's hall,
And flew to thy relief ;
When, lo ! near Cheviot's fatal hills,
I met a Scottish chief :
"Lord Malcolm's son, whose proffered love
I had refused with scorn ;
He slew thy guards and seized on me
Upon that fatal morn.
" And in these dreary hated walls
He kept me close confined,
And fondly sued and warmly pressed
To win me to his mind.
" Each rising morn increased my pain,
Each night increased my fear ;
When wandering in this northern garb.
Thy brother found me here.
" He quickly formed his brave design
To set me captive free ;
And on the moor his horses wait.
Tied to a neighbouring tree.
"Then haste, my love ; escape away,
And for thyself provide ;
And sometimes fondly think of her
Who should have been thy bride."
But there was to be no earthly answer to the bene-
diction of the dying bride. "It was sacrilege," thought
Sir Bertram, "to take another love into this smitten
heart of mine ; no human love shall nestle in the ruins
of such affection as I did bear my brother and my bride.
Stained with the blood of all I loved most dearly in this
accursed world, I leave the world for ever. My loved
lands and fair castle I consecrate to God and to his poor
forever." And so it came to pass that the good Lord
Percy, in pity for the broken heart of his faithful follower,
gave him a quiet restiug-place by the riverside, and in the
frowning moss-clad rock the mournful alien from his kind
hewed out a place of rest that might serve him in his
stricken life .for the death that would be so welcome
when it came. There for fifty years he sighed, and wept,
and prayed. Ever and again the lords of the Percy
would seek his holy retreat to beg a blessing from the
holy man, or perchance to add to his scanty store of
roots and forest fruits some dainty morsel fitted to soothe
his mellowing age. When at last sweet death released
the mourner from his life-long penance, the Percy en-
dowed the scene of so much sorrow as a charity, that
mass might never be wanting for the man they had
loved and mourned in life.
3)tit<jlut(j
JlN the Monthly Chronicle for July, 1887,
(vol. i., page 218) appeared a very interest.
ing article, by Mr. William Brockie, giving
an account of this singular cave in the cliff under
the Priory of Tyneinouth, of the traditions connected
therewith, and of an exploration of the hole made
"about forty years ago." Curiously enough, I am in the
position to place on record an earlier expedition of dis-
covery, conducted, unfortunately, without accurate ob-
servation, and described in crude, not to say illiterate,
fashion.
Through the kindness of a relative, who is aware of my
hereditary predilection for any thing curious in connection
with local lore and legend, I have before me a dilapi-
dated and much thumbed copy of Bourne's "History of
Newcastle-upon-Tyne. " The book has evidently belonged
to a circulating library of days gone by, kept by " Edward
Humble, Corner of Dean Street," and has at an early
period been bound interleaved. Advantage has been
taken of the space thus provided by successive generations
of readers to record contemporary events and fresh infor-
mation in connection with the adjoining text. Opposite
to page 180, on which the Curate of All Hallows' treats of
the famous monastery and castle of Tinmouth, an ama-
teur Belzoni of the last century has entered his experi-
ences and impressions of a visit to " the Jingling Man's
Hole," doubtless feeling that the history was incomplete
without mention of this mysterious feature. The date of
the entry is September 21st, 1780, the ink is faded and
the writing difficult to decipher, whilst it abounds in
capital letters and has no attempt at punctuation ; never-
theless, I propose that the anonymous writer shall relate
his adventure in his own words. Here is what he says : —
On the side next the German Ocean is a place called by
the common people the Jingling Man's Hole which it is
pretended was enchanted. Curiosity led me and two-
more to go, accordingly the 2 August 1778 having pro-
vided ourselves with candles, ropes etc. we entered a
small arch door going straight forward, turned West a
few yards where we found a small square hole sufficient
to let only one at once down. Having fixed all ready we
350
MON2HLY CHRONICLE.
fAUi
\ IS
iK«st
1890
descended one by one and found it to be about twelve
foot deep, we creeped through a small square hole stoped
almost up with stone about 3 yards further we found
another but not being able to get further being no chocked
with stones but throwing several stones to the far end
which was about 2i yards it went down into a low vault —
from hence it appears these holes have been to let in air
for at the bottom we could plainly decern an arched door
— but finding it impossible to get those stones up as it
would have oeen a great fatigue and labour — it is a pity
so many boys, nay old people, should constantly be throw-
ing stones down'which when I was at Tinemouth about
16 years ago at school if we had as we frequently did
throw stones down we could hear it fall down step by
step for a considerable time but now if one is thrown
down it will fall with a " Todd " (? thud) amongst the
rest of them from hence I am certain there has been a
way out here from the Garrison we search every part of
the Castle to find but could not find any satisfactory one
wearied with pursuit we gave over.
Newcastle, Sept. 21st, 1780.
The agreement between this story and Mr. Brockie's
remarkable narrative undoubtedly points to its being the
same cave which was explored on both occasions. The
arched door of the one writer agrees with the entrance
partly formed by masonry of the other. The distance to
the well is similar, and its depth (12 feet) identical in
each narrative, although the one describes the aperture
as square, the other as circular. It seems, however, that
the earlier explorer penetrated to the greater distance,
because the inner " arched door," which he could plainly
discern, although he could not get to it, is not mentioned
in the later account. No doubt the mischief which drew
forth a protest in 1778 was continued by " many boys "
and by adults also in the interim, and three-quarter of a
century's accumulation curtailed the opportunity of the
more recent and more intelligent observer.
I will only make one further remark, which is with
reference to the name popularly applied to this cave. I
am inclined to agree with Mr. Brockie that the "Geordy"
is comparatively a recent innovation, possibly of the early
part of the present century. The school days of the
anonymous writer I have quoted take us as far back as
the middle of last century, and it will be observed he dis-
tinctly states that the name in general acceptation in his
time was the Jingling Man's Hole. PERSEVKRANTIA.
Mr. Hugh R. Rodham, of North Shields, lately sent
to the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle the following copy of
an old bill in his possession : —
The Public are respectfully informed that the
SIEUR ABDAUALLA
will
Ox EASTER TUESDAY, April lith, 1819,
Display from His
MAGICAL CHAIR
the
WHOLE EN'CHANTBD SECRET
of
JINOLIXO MAN'S HOLE.
He will before Sunset astonish every Beholder by producing, by
three waves of his Magic Wand, the long-heard-of chest at the
Mouth of the Cave. By a second three Waves of the Wand, he will
produce the Lady that has been confined since the Reign of
Severus, the Roman Emperor. By a third Movement, he will com-
mand them from whence they came.
Peace Officers will attend to preserve Tranquillity.
Pollock, Printer, 15, Union Street, North Shields.
Referring to the above announcement, Mr. Horatio A.
Adamson, the respected Town Clerk of North Shields,
wrote subsequently as follows : —
Some years aeo I read the account of how the people of
Tynemouth had been hoaxed, and how a great number
assembled hoping to see the long hidden chest, but were
greatly disappointed at the non-appearance of Sieur
Abdahallah. I cannot lay my hands on the newspaper
account. As a boy I went to visit this cave, and I
remember crawling on my hands and knees along a
passage until I came to a door blocked up with dirt which
I thought would be the entrance to the cave that con-
tained the treasures ; but nothing came of it. The old
cave is much altered.
Cfturtft.
j]ORTY years ago the late Dr. Raine wrote
thus: — "The parish of Whelpington occu-
pies upon the map of Northumberland pre-
cisely the situation in which, like similar
districts in Yorkshire, Durham, and other counties.
touching upon either side of the great line of hills,
commonly called the Backbone of England, there is
not only a great, but almost invariably a beautiful
variety of surface — hills gradually sloping downwards,
and dying away in level ground ; and streams, in general
extremely picturesque in themselves and in their accom-
paniments, struggling to escape from rocks and cliffs
and natural woods, to flow on at ease through pasture?
and meadows and arable land, which they frequently
overflow and enrich by their fertilizing contributions.
The village of Whelpington itself stands upon high and
dry ground, and is of the usual character of Northumbrian
hamlets ; its houses mean and straggling, picturesque from
their thatch of ling, and giving no external indication
Aupustl
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
351
of what they seldom possess— internal comfort. The
church .... is placed upon a sunny elevation in
front ; and abutting upon the west side of the churchyard
are the vicarage house and garden, the latter terminated on
the south-west by a rugged precipice, finely fringed witli
timber, beneath which flows the Wansbeck, that lively
streamlet of which Akenside sung."
The church of Whelpington owes its chief interest at
the present day to the fact that it still remains just such
a church as the ecclesiastical authorities a hundred years
ago loved to have. A flat, whitewashed ceiling, square
high-backed pews, much like cattle-pens, and of the
rudest carpentry of a country village, pulpit and sound-
ing board of the same type of art, flat-headed cottage
windows, sashed, and glazed with large square panes, and
a large melancholy gallery at the west end, are the pre-
dominant characteristics of this church. Such churches
as were built in country villages in the eighteenth century
were almost always of this type, and rare indeed were
even the ancient churches which escaped being trans-
formed to such a pattern. The church at Whelpington is
one of the very few that are still left as they were in the
days when George III. was a young king.
But the church is ancient, dating from the closing years
of the twelfth century. Till the alterations of last cen-
tury it seems to have been left much as it was when
originally built. Its length, even now, is remarkable,
although there is evidence that it has been curtailed at its
east end. The nave is 68 feet long, and the chancel 34
teet, or 102 feet in all. whilst its greatest breadth is only
20 feet. Hodgson believed it to have " been a cross church, "
by which he means a church with transepts, and he
speaks of "the lower part of the walls of the transept,"
on the north side, having been "taken up" early in the
present century. Such a transept, however, is quite in-
compatible with the present structure, and must, if it ever
existed, have belonged to an earlier edifice. But probably
the foundations referred to were those of some outhouse or
other extraneous building. Hodgson himself never saw
them, and writes about them only from hearsay.
Of the original church the portions now remaining are
the north and south walls of the chancel, the north and
part of the south wall of the nave, and the lower stages
of the tower. The tower is low and massive. Its
original buttresses, of slight projection, are still visible at
its north-west corner, and on the middle of its north and
south sides, but at all the other angles they have been
covered by later and extremely heavy buttresses, the
latter being rendered necessary by the outward thrust of
the vault of the lowest stage. On the west side of the
tower there is an original doorway, now partly walled up,
and partly open as a window. On the east side, and
above the vault, there has been a pointed opening into
the nave, the character and purpose of which it is not easy
to determine. A portion of it may be seen from the belfry.
This arch or doorway, or whatever else it may be, is
adorned with a very peculiar and rude type of chevron
moulding. The upper stage of the tower appears to have
been rebuilt in the last century.
The nave possesses none of its original features except
its south doorway and a solitary lancet light near the east
end of the north wall, tne position of which entirely dissi-
pates the theory of a north transept. The doorway just
mentioned is the best architectural feature in the whole
building. Its arch U of two orders, which rest on engaged
nook-shafts, in the capitals of which the nail-head mould-
ing appears. The doorway is covered by a porch, as to the
date of which I will not hazard a conjecture. Over the
porch door is a sun-dial, whereof the gnomon is lost, but
the motto, " Hora pars Vit(e" (The Hour is a part of
Life), still remains legible, and might have reminded the
villagers of Whelpington of an important lesson had it
been sensibly inscribed in English.
The chancel has a lancet light, shown in our sketch in
its south wall, and beneath this window is a walled-up
priests' door. In the interior there are two sedilia at the
extreme east end of the south side, in such a position as to
show that formerly the chancel extended considerably
further eastward.
In the fourteenth century the appropriation of the
church of Whelpington passed into the hands of the abbot
and convent of the Cistercian house of Newminster, near
Morpeth. We are unfortunately not in possession of the
whole of the documents relating to the transfer, and
there are difficulties in the historical sequence of those
tliat we do possess which it does not seem possible to
explain. In 1334-, Edward III. granted a license to Gil-
bert de Umfraville, Earl of Angus, empowering him to
assign the advowson and appropriation of Whelpingtun
church to the abbot and convent of Newminster. The
reasons given for this grant are " the injuries and destruc-
tions which our beloved in Christ, the abbot and convent
of Newminster, have suffered by the frequent arrival of
the Scots in those parts, coming recently to make war. "
This grant the monks were able to acquire by paying
Umfraville £100, and this sum was supplied to them by
Thomas de Heppescotes, then Rector of Morpeth, on the
condition that they should find a priest to say mass in
Morpeth Church everyday, for his health whilst he lived,
and for his soul after his death.
The King's grant seems afterwards, for some reason, to
have been set aside, and in 1349 we find the abbot and
monks petitioning Bishop Hatfield for the same rights
in Whelpington Church which it was supposed they
had acquired fifteen years before from Umfraville.
In their petition, they set forth that their house and
other buildines were almost entirely destroyed by fire,
through no fault of theirs; and their other places
destroyed and reduced to ashes and cinders, by the
invasions of the Scots, and various wars and depredations;
their goods, of which they were accustomed to live, BO
consumed and devastated and diminished by recent
352
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I Aumst
\ 1890.
pestilence that not sufficient was left wherewith to
maintain the professions of their life, nor to rebuild and
repair the houses and other places of their monastery, nor
even to afford their accustomed hospitality and alms,
unless suitable remedy be opportunely provided. The
petition mentions that their monastery was situated near
the great highways, and that to its gates there was
every day a great confluence of noblemen and others
needing its hospitalities. For the reasons just stated,
Hatfield granted them the appropriation of Whelpington
Church ; this grant to take effect at the removal or death
of the then rector. He reserved to himself and his suc-
cessors the collation to the vicarage, and provided that
the vicar should have a third part of the rectory ground ;
whereon the first vicar, within six months after his ap-
pointment, should have for his residence a suitable house,
to be erected at the cost of the abbot and convent, wherein
he might be able to live comfortably and receive visitors
honourably.
At the dissolution of the monasteries the rectory passed
into lay hands. After being held by the Shaftoes, the
Delavals, and the Widdringtons, ic came into the posses-
sion of the Radcliffes of Dilston, and from them passed,
with the rest of their estates, to Greenwich Hospital, the
commissioners of Which sold it, in 1799, to Sir J. E.
Swinburne, by whose representative it is now held.
The later history of the Whelpingtou Church possesses
little or no interest. It was, as we have seen, sadly
defaced in last century, when the south wall of the nave
seems to have been almost entirely rebuilt. Its time of
restoration will come, I suppose, sooner or later, when in
all probability it will be brought up to the ecclesiastical
taste of the present day. Its sashed windows, plain pews,
and plaster ceiling will be swept away. Well will it be if
what yet remains of really ancient work is not destroyed.
or defaced, or supplanted by modern imitation at the
same time. J. R. BOYLE, F.S.A.
HE modern compiler of the Curwen pedigree
in the "Transactions of the Cumberland and
Westmoreland Antiquarian and Archseologi-
cal Society " complains that " scant justice
has hitherto been accorded by the genealogists to the
Curwen family ... a family which for antiquity can
be equalled by few and surpassed by none."
If the antiquity of one's family be a matter for pride,
then surely the present representative of the Ourwens
should be proud enough, for he can trace his ancestory
back in one long unbroken line for nearly nine hundred
years; back indeed to Ethelred II., King of England,
called the "Unready." on the one hand, and the
Royal House of Scotland on the other ; and all along
the line are armoured knights, brave warriors, and noble
dames.
Workinpton Hall stands on a slight eminence on the
eastward side ot the town, and overlooks the Sol way Firth
as well as the river Uerwent. It is of rectangular shape,
and dates back to the eleventh century, though the west
side with its gateway and some of the interior parts of the
hall are the only portions of the original structure now
standing.
Eutering by the old gateway and the main door, almost
the first thing to attract the visitor's notice is a beautiful
shield carved in marble and let into the wall at the foot
of the grand staircase. This is quite a curiosity, being in
fact composed of four distinct coats of arms. The one in
the left hand bottom corner is the coat of arms of the
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NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
353
Curwen family, the cookie shells denoting that some of its
members had fought in the Holy Wars.
Further up the staircase is a stone medallion of Queen
Mary, said to be an authentic portrait.
The "Justice Hall " is at the foot of the grand staircase,
a small quadrangle, with the "bar " at which the prisoners
stood still preserved, and branching off from it are the
cells or dungeons in which the prisoners were confined.
Dark, damp, and "uncanny" looking places these, that
would take the labour and ingenuity of Monte-Cristo and
the Abbe. Faria to escape from, the walls being some-
thing over eight feet thick.
Ascending the staircase once more, we pass a side-face
portrait of a lady, which » said to be that of Mary Queen
of Scots, but which is so unlike what might be expected
from the full face portraits which are so common that the
statement seems doubtful. However, the portrait has
been in the family for 300 years, and tradition says that
it was left at the Hall by the unfortunate Queen when
she took temporary refuge there at tba time of her flight
from Scotland.
Whatever doubt there may be about the portrait, there
is none whatever about two other souvenirs of Mary
which are kept in the drawing-room, along with many
other interesting heirlooms and relics. The first is a
small brass clock about six inches high, apparently of
French manufacture, which, notwithstanding its age,
can yet truthfully tell the time-o'-day. The other is a
lovely and delicately veined agate cup. In the " History
of Mary Stewart " by her private secretary, Claude Nau,
there is the following reierence to the Curwens of Work-
ington : — "When the Queen had crossed the sea and was
getting out of the boat, she fell to the ground, which
many persons accepted as an augury of good success,
interpreting it, according to the common form, to mean
that she had taken possession of England, to which she
laid claim as a right. She arrived at a small hamlet
where supper was being prepared. Lord Herries sent a
message to the Laird of Ourwen, who was a friend of his,
to the effect that he had arrived in England, and had
brought with him a young heiress, whom be had carried
off in the hope of causing her to marry Curwen's son.
Lord Herries asked, therefore, that he might be recei vecl
in the laird 'a house. The answer which was returned
stated that the laird was in London, but the house was
offered by one of the laird's principal servants, amongst
whom was a Frenchman, who recognised Her Majesty as
soon as she had crossed the threshold, and remarked to
Lord Fleming that he had formerly seen the queen in
better plight than now. In consequence, the report got
abroad, and well nigh four hundred horsemen arrived
next morning. Seeing that she was discovered, her
Majesty thought it prudent to let it be known that she
had come in reliance upon the promise of the tv>ueHn of
England, who was immediately apprised of her arrival."'
Amongst the other relics at Workington Hall is a docu-
ment (the oldest in the possession of the family), dating
back to 1340, granting the family permission to ca^tellate
the building. Between 1399 and 1403 William de
Curwen had a grant from Henry, Earl of Northumber-
land, Constable of England, and Hotspur, his son, of all
their rights "in the manors of Wyrkyngton, Seton, and
Thornthwaite in Derwent felles." This document, too,
is still in possession of the family, and the two great seals
upon it are pronounced by competent judges to be the
best preserved and most perfect of any in the kingdom.
A sight worth going a long way to see is the lovely
mantel-piece in the billiard room. It is of pure white
marble, with figures in relief representing Apollo and the
Muses. The carving is perfect, even to the most delicate
details, though the figures are but a few inches in height ;
and each goddess is depicted holding some representation
354
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f August
\ 1890.
of the art over which she presided — Calliope with stylus
and tablets ; Melpomene with a dagger ; Thalia with a
mask, &c. Another mantel-piece of exceeding beauty and
value is to be seen in the dining-room. In addition to the
figures and fruit which are carved upon it, it has pillars
of the almost priceless Derbyshire spar, and is altogether
a most magnificent affair. In the billiard room is a
portrait of Henry Curwen, known as "Galloping Harry,"
a dashing young blade who was so attached to James II.
that he followed him into exile. He was absent so long
that a jury declared him dead, and the next of kin took
possession. Not for long, though ; for, like Alonzo the
Brave or the murdered Banquo, "Galloping Harry"
returned, but, unlike them, he came in solid flesh and
blood, upset the find of the jury, and ousted the "man
in possession." Henry reduced the property considerably
by leaving all his estates not entailed to outsiders.
All along the corridors and in the rooms are the
jjortraits of family ancestors, valiant knights in armour,
and worthy dames and beautiful damsels in frills,
farthingales, and lace. There are two immense portraits
of John Christian Curwen and his wife Isabella, which
are at present on view in London at the exhibition of
modern paintings. This John Christian Curwen is
specially remembered for his active Parliamentary life .
and the great services he rendered to agriculture in the
neighbourhood.
In the entrance to the parish church of Workington
.stands the monumental tomb of Sir Christopher Curwen
and Elizabeth his wife. It was this Sir Christopher
Curwen who, in July, 1+18, formed one of that gallant
party who embarked at Portsmouth for France. That
his assistance must have been of great value may be
gathered from the fact that there is still to be seen at the
Hall ii deed of Henry V., dated at Rouen. January 30,
1419, granting the castle and domain of Canny, in the
province of Caux, " to my good friend and faithful knight
Sir Christopher Curwen, for his good services," &c.
It was this same gallant knight who, in 1417, took part
in the great tournament on the Castle Green at Carlisle
between six English knights, the challengers, and an
equal number of Scottish knights. The English company
consisted of Ralph de Neville, first Earl of Westmore-
land, John, seventh Lord Clifford, Ralph, sixth Lord
Greystoke, William, who became fifth Lord Harington,
John de Lancaster, and Christopher Curwen, who,
" accoutred much as you see him to-day on his monument,
ranged himself alongside his fellows, and when the
trumpets blared forth the charge, hurled his adversary,
Sir Halyburton, from his horse, severely hurt in the neck.
It needs but little stretch of the imagination. "continues
Mr. Jackson, the modern historian of the family, "to see
the victorious knight bearing a scarf of scarlet and silver,
the colours of Elizabeth de Hudelston, bending to his saddle
bow before that fair girl, the hue of whose face was changing
from the pallor of terror to the crimson of joy and pride."
The Curwen family are directly connected with New-
castle, for in 1619 Sir Patricus Our wen " married at
Houghton House, in the parish of Houghton-le-Spring,
Isabella, daughter and co-heiress of Sir George Selby, of
Whitehouse, Durham, the representative of a family
which had been very successful in trade in Newcastle-
on-Tyne, to the mayoralty of which city several of them
bad risen." His only son Henry was baptised at St.
Nicholas' Church, Newcastle, on March 23, 1621.
Well fitted, indeed, is Workington Hall, with its ivy-
covered battlements, its splendid associations, its oaken
furniture, and relics of by-gone days, to rank among the
"stately homes of England." SBKGBANT C. HALL.
i.
THE BORDER LINE.
[(HE present boundary line between North and
South Britain is comparatively modern. In
former times, the frontier shifted according
to the surging tide of war or diplomacy.
For several ages, during the Heptarchy, the Anglo-
Danish kingdom of Northumbria, forming a part of
what we now call England, included all that portion
of Scotland south of the Frith of Forth as far as
Stirling, while Cumberland, Westmorland, and North
Lancashire were comprehended in the kingdom of
Strathclyde or Cumbria, which was an appanage of the
Scottish crown, just as Wales now is of England. But
in the eleventh century (A. D. 1018), the Lothians, the
Merse, and Teviotdale were ceded to Malcolm III.,
King of Scots, and ever since the Tweed, in its lower
part, and a line drawn along the summit of the Cheviot
hills, have been the boundary on the East and Middle
Marches. On the other hand, William the Conqueror
wrenched Cumbria from the Scottish sovereign and
incorporated it with England, so that the boundary on
the Western March was settled as it has since remained
with little intermission, along the line of the Solway,
Sark, Esk, Liddell, and Kershope Water. The counties
lying on the English side are Northumberland and
Cumberland ; on the Scottish side, Berwickshire, Rox-
burghshire, and Dumfriesshire.
THE BRIGANTES.
From the first dawn of authentic history, the wild
mountainous and moorish region extending from the
sources of the Tyne, Rede. Teviot, and Liddell to the
neighbourhood of the Peak of Derbyshire, had been
inhabited by a race of restless, turbulent people, known
as the Brigantes or Brigands. The name in Welsh
signifies "highlander," and is applied by Pausanias to
the whole nation of the Caledonians or Scotch High-
landers ; while on the Continent, amid the Rhaetian and
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NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
355
Cottian Alps, and also among the Cantabrian mountains
in the North of Spain, there were likewise tribes known
•as Brigantes. Those in our part of Britain were partly
subdued in A.D. 50, in the reign of the Emperor
Claudius, by P. Ostorius, the pro-praetor. Shortly after-
wards, however, the Brigantes broke out in open revolt,
not only against the Romans, but against their own
Queen Cartismandua, whose name, being interpreted,
may signify "the darling of two nations." That lady,
who seems to have been a bit of a voluptuary as well
as a coquette, had treacherously delivered up Caraetacus
to the Romans, when, after bravely making head against
them for many years, he had at length been driven to
seek an asylum in her dominions. This disgusted the
bulk of her subjects, who took up arms against her,
under the generalship of her own husband, Venusius,
whom she had wantonly repudiated in order to marry
his lieutenant. The Romans marched to Cartismandua's
aid, and protected her from the rebels. But the result
was only a sort of compromise. Venusius was allowed
to retain the kingship which the Brigantes had conferred
upon him, but Cartismandua likewise kept her queen-
hood, while the Romans agreed to defray their own
charges. Under the Emperor Vespasian, the Brigantes
again misbehaved themselves, and they suffered sore
chastisement at the hands of two of his generals, Petelius
Cerialis and Julius Frontinus, after whose time they
apparently gave the conquerers less trouble. These
incidents are interesting, as showing the character of
the race from which sprang the Border Mosstroopers
of whom we are about to write.
BORDER HARDIHOOD AND CUNNING.
For many ages after the departure of the Romans, the
country adjoining the Cheviots was a vast waste. Moor,
marsh, rock, and forest overspread the surface. The
monks from lona, Melrose, and Lindisfarne found it in
this state when they wandered over Northumberland
intent on their apostolic mission to the Pagan nations.
And five hundred years later, though a sort of incipient
civilization had taken root in a few favoured
centres, such as Bamborough, Alnwick, Morpeth,
Newcastle, and Hexham, the bulk of the people were
still as ignorant, rude, and barbarous as before Cuth-
bert and Paulinus attempted to Christianise them, or
Edwin and Oswald ruled beneficently over them.
During the Heptarchy, Northumbria was scarcely ever
free from invasion, either by the Picts, the Mercians,
or the Danes ; and from the eleventh to the end of
the twelfth century — that is to eay, from the establish-
ment of the present boundary between England and
Scotland till more than a hundred years after the
union of the crowns — there was almost constant dis-
turbance and misrule and misery on the Border. Ruth-
less wars on a great scale between English and Scots
sometimes caused frightful devastations during the earlier
part of the time ; and these became the source of lasting
ill-will and hatred on both sides, that led to interminable
feuds, frays, raids, harryings, burnings, and other out-
rages as bad as anything ever heard of in any heathen
land. As Gray says, in his " Chorographia " (A.D. 1649),
"the Scots, their neighbouring enemies, made the in-
habitants of Northumberland fierce and hardy, ....
being a most warlike nation, and excellent good light-
horsemen, wholly addicting themselves to wars and arms,
not a gentleman amongst them that hath not his castle
or tower." Nor were their cousins-german on the north
side of the Border a whit behind them in turbulent
self-reliance. Camden, in his "Britannia" (A.D. 1586),
quoting Lesley, Bishop of Ross, tells us the people that
inhabited the valleys on the marches of both kingdoms
were all cattle stealers. They used to sally out of their
own borders in the night, in troops, through unfrequented
by-ways and many intricate windings. All the day-time
they refreshed themselves and their horses in lurking
holes they had pitched upon before, till they arrived in
the dark at those places they had a design upon. As
soon as they had seized on the booty, they, in like
manner, returned home in the night, through blind
ways, and fetching many a compass. The more skilful
any captain was to pass through those wild deserts,
crooked turnings,, and deep precipices, in the thickest
mists, his reputation was the greater, and he was looked
upon as "a man of an excellent head." And they were
so very cunning that they seldom had their booty taken
from them, unless sometimes when, tracked by sleuth-
hounds, or bloodhounds, they might chance to fall into
the hands of their adversaries. Being taken, says
Camden, "they have so much persuasive eloquence,
and so many smooth, insinuating words at command,
that, if they do not move their judges, nay, and even
their adversaries, notwithstanding the severity of their
natures, to have mercy, yet they incite them to admira-
tion and compassion." A curious illustration of this is
furnished by a story long current in Peeblesshire.
DICKIE O1 THE DEN.
Vietch of Dawick, a man of great strength and bravery,
who flourished in the upper part of Tweeddale in the six-
teenth century, was on bad terms with a neighbouring
landowner, Tweedie of Drumelzier. By some accident,
a flock of his sheep had strayed over into Drumelzier's
ground, at the time when Dickie o' the Den, a Liddesdale
outlaw, was making his rounds in that quarter. Seeing
the sheep without a shepherd, Dickie drove them off.
Next morning, Dawick, discovering his loss, summoned
his servants and retainers, laid a bloodhound npon the
traces of the robber, by which they were guided for many
miles along "the Thief's Road," up Manor Water, across
the head of Meggatdale, and over the Strypes past
Herman Law, the Pike, the Black Knowes, and Tud-
hope Fell, to the head of Billhop Burn and the water
of Hermitage. At last, on reaching the banks of the
Liddell, not far from the Thief Sike, the dog staid upon
356
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f August
\ 1890.
a very large hay stack. This seemingly stupid pause
surprised the pursuers not a little ; but Dawick, sus-
pecting there was something hidden inside the stack,
set to and pulled down some of the hay that seemed to
have been recently moved. He soon discovered that the
stack was hollow, a kiln having been artfully constructed
within it with fir poles ; and there lay the robbers and
their spoil, secure, as they fancied, from pursuit.
Dawick instantly flew upon Dickie, and was about to
poinard him, when the marauder, with much address,
protested that he would never have touched a cloot of
them if he had not taken them for Drumzeliers property.
This dexterous appeal to Vietch's passions saved Dickie's
life.
MAN-HUNTING WITH BLOODHOUNDS.
The parishes were required to keep bloodhounds for the
purpose of hunting the freebooters. Many old men who
were living in the middle of last century could well
remember the time when these ferocious dogs were
common. Yet, even with such auxiliaries, it was often
found impossible to track the robbers to their retreats
among the hills and morasses. For the topography
of the country was very imperfectly known. Even
after the accession of George the Third, the path,
over the Cumbrian fells from Borrowdale to Raven-
glass was still a secret, carefully kept by the dales-
men, some of whom had probably in their youth
escaped from the pursuit of justice by that
road. In the Corporation Records of Newcastle, quoted
in "Richardson's Reprints," we find, under 1598, that
some one who had escaped from the judgment of the
Council of the North at York, and fled into the county
of Northumberland or Durham, was the cause of some
charge to the town, the Mayor having sent in all direc-
tions— to Darlington, Stockton, Shields, Seaton Delaval,
and Alnwick— in the hope of obtaining tidings of the
fugitive. It sounds startling to modern ears that " a sloe-
hound and man which led him (went) to make inquiry
after him." The powers of one dog were judged suffi-
cient, it seems, in this particular case, with which the
Corporation had only to do as an intermediate agency ;
but two had been obtained, three years before, " to follow
the scent and trove of those which broke the town
chamber doors," in 1595. Denton, in the county of
Northumberland, and Chester-le-Street, in the county of
Durham, appear to have been the places where the owners
and probably breeders of these hounds lived. Newcastle,
not being on the Border, though sufficiently near to be
much plagued through its vicinity to it, was perhaps
exempted from the bounden duty on the parishes close to
Scotland of keeping a sleuthhound of its own. When
pursued by these much dreaded brutes, the Border
thieves, if they could not reach some impenetrable bog,
or get into some impregnable hold, had no chance of
escape without fighting for their lives, unless they could
throw the dog off the scent by wading up or down a.
stream for a good way, or baffle it by spilling blood on
the track, which had the effect of destroying for the
nonce the creature's discriminating instinct. The injured
party and his friends followed the marauders with hound
and horse, as if they had been wild beasts. This was
called the hot trod. He was entitled, by long-standing
international Border law, to follow them into the opposite
kingdom, if his dog could trace the scent the whole way —
a privilege which often led to bloodshed, and which was
ultimately withdrawn. The breed of the sleuthhound has
long been extinct, or nearly so, in the Border districts.
It was kept pure till after the Forty-five in the Highlands
of Scotland, where the people called it the "foot-print
tracking dog " (cu luirge). The last of the breed in the
Scottish Lowlands gave a touch of their blood to the
Mellerstain fox-hounds, kept by that famous Nimrod of
the North, old Mr. Baillie of Jerviswoode. On one occa-
sion, it is said, this pack got upon the scent of a poor
wayfaring woman, crossing Earlstown Moor, and had not
Andrew Lumsden, the huntsman, called them off in time,
they would most likely have treated her as unceremoni-
ously as her progenitors, a couple of hundred years before,
would have treated a lifter of cattle or other common
thief from Rothbury, Otterburn, Bellingham, or Bew-
castle. But the blast of the hunter's horn, which in
former times announced the hot trod, and summoned the
hardy Borderer to rise and follow the fray, is now only
heard echoing among the hills when a party of gentle-
men-farmers, with a miscellaneous pack of terriers,
collies, curs, and half-bred fox-hounds orjowters, assemble
to chase the fox which has been making free with their
lambs or poultry.
THE BORDER WARDENS AND WARDEN COURTS.
From an early date, during the brief and insecure
intervals of peace between the two monarchies, com-
missioners were appointed from time to time to repress
such incursions as were constantly taking place, and to
punish the mounted brigands, bandits, or thieves,
commonly called mosstroopers. The East, Middle,
and West Marches respectively had also wardens set
over them, whose business it was to decide summarily
in all cases of dispute or outrage, in conjunction with
the wardens on the other side. The residence of the
English warden of the Middle Marches was commonly
at Harbottle Castle, on the banks of the Coquet, a
fortress held in grand serjeantry, as were likewise the
castle and manor of Otterburn, by the service of keeping
the dale free from thieves and wolves. This officer,
together with the Scottish warden of the opposite march,
used, in times of peace, to hold warden courts at certain
places on the Border, usually at Heppeth-Gate-Head, or
at Gammelspeth, on the Watling Street, near Coquet
Head, for the purpose of trying those Englishmen and
Scotchmen against whom bills were filed for offences
— generally cattle-stealing, assault, and fire-raising —
committed by them on the opposite frontier. The-
August
ustl
0. J
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
357
Warden of the Middle Marches had two deputies under
him— the keeper of North Tynedale and the keeper of
Redesdale — together with two subordinate officers, called
warden-serjeants, whose duty it was to serve warrants
and apprehend offenders. On the Scotch side, there
were similar officers, commonly called country keepers,
of Teviotdale, Liddesdale, and the Forest respectively.
CASTLES, PELES, AND BASTLE HOUSES.
Every dwelling in the county of Northumberland,
in North Cumberland, in the Merse and Teviotdale, in
Liddesdale, Annandale, Ettrick Forest, and Tweeddale,
above a mere hut or shiel, was obliged in those days to
be a tower of defence, if not a regularly fortified castle.
Almost all had exploratory turrets on account of the
mosstroopers, and they were generally vaulted under-
neath, for the purpose of securing the 8ocks and herds
of the owner and his tenants and dependents in the hour
of assault. Besides the great baronial castles, of which
there were several, the number of small castles, pelcs, or
bastlc-houses, belonging to the inferior gentry, was very
great. The walls of some of these were nine feet thick,
with narrow apertures for windows, and strong doors,
either of iron or wood studded with nails, and defended
by portcullises. Hugh stones and boiling water were
kept in readiness to crush and scald any plunderers
who might dare to assail the garrison, whether by
night or day. Every evening the sheep were brought
in from the hill and the cattle from their pasture,
to be secured from robbers in the lower floor of the
tower.
COTTAGES, HUTS, AND SHIELS.
Of the houses or rather hovels occupied by the common
people, not the least vestige remains, owing to the slender
way in which they were constructed. A few upright
poles or stakes were fixed in the ground, the open spaces
between them being filled with stones and sods or divots,
layer about, or wattled and plastered with mud or ctatlen-
clay, and the roof formed of unpeeled branches of trees,
covered with turf or rushes. A cow's hide generally
supplied the place of a door. The windows were a
mere hole, covered with a rough board at night, or
when rain or snow drifted in. There was no grate or
chimney, the fire, which was of peat or turf, being
lighted on the damp earthen floor, and the smoke
passing through a hole in the soot-begrimed roof, which
admitted the rain as it fell. The only seats were rude
wooden benches, called lany settles, with a sort of
awning overhead occasionally, to ward falling soot and
rain off the goodman's head — a few clumsy three-legged
stools for the lads and lasses to sit on — and two or three
crackets, about eighteen inches high, to accommodate
the old women and bairns. A single iron pot, with a
crook to hang it on, and a few wooden dishes, including
perhaps a trencher, completed the culinary apparatus.
Men who had a score of cattle, besides sheep and horses,
would have only some ten shillings worth of inside gear,
reckoning all they had in their house. When the proba-
bility was that the place would be sacked and rifled, if
not burned down, before the lapse of a twelvemonth, it
would have been folly to build more substantial houses.
BOBBERS PERFORCE.
Bearing these conditions in mind, the reader will see
that the Borderers could not well be anything but what
they were, utterly lawless. Rude as Red Indians, they
were the creatures of circumstances. Subsisting by
rapine, which early training and life-long habit made
them deem lawful and honourable, they blotted honesty
towards strangers out of the list of virtues. But it
would be absurd to judge of them by any modern
standard of morality ; for when war was the normal
state of things, and every householder on either side,
from Soltra Hill to the Tyue and the Blyth, was liable
to be harried any night out of house and hoire, indus-
try and thrift were out of the question, and predatory
habits and tastes were sure to be engendered. With
human nature such as it is, it could not be otherwise.
Every able-bodied man was a fighting man. Each chief
of a clan was a military captain, and more or less of a
strategist and diplomatist, according as God had give:i
him ability. A pacific temperament in such a country
was wholly out of place. Nor could it with truth be
said that honesty was the best policy there. He who
could not both strike and thrust, fence and parry, and
take what he needed and keep what he had got, was
just like a poor sheep among ravening wolves, sure to be
torn to pieces and devoured. Most fathers of families
were occasionally necessitated to shift for their wives'
and children's living by taking advantage of the long
moonlight nights to cross the dreary fells in quest of
something to eat. Even when there was nominal peace,
both sides of the Border were ever and anon desolated by
armed bands of marauders, whom the stern necessity of
hunger, as well as the almost equally strong impulse of
hate, had driven to systematic brigandage.
"RIDE, ROWLEY, BIDE!"
A saying is recorded of an old dowager to her son :
"Ride, Rowley, hough's i' the pot!" meaning, "The
last piece of beef is in the pot boiling for dinner, and,
therefore, it is high time for you to go and fetch more."
The Charltons of Hesleyside still possess the spur with
which the ladies of that house hinted the necessity
of the chief going forth, without an hour's delay, to
replenish the exhausted larder. The same mode of
housekeeping characterised most of the Border families
on both sides.
WAT O' HARDEN.
Old Wat of Harden, up Borthwick Water, the
ancestor of the Scotts of Mertoun, Raeburn, and
other noble and gentle families of that name, and
particularly of Sir Walter Scott, was one of the most
renowned freebooters Teviotdale ever produced. He
lived about the middle of the sixteenth century, before
358
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
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1890.
the rash-bush had been made to keep the cow, and when
it was every man's look out to defend his own head.
He used to ride with a numerous band of followers, as
rough and reckless as the worst Highland caterans.
The spoil which they carried off from England, or from
neighbours with whom the laird chanced to be at feud,
was concealed in a deep and nearly impervious glen,
on the brink of which the tower of Harden stood.
From thence the cattle were brought out, one by
one, as they were wanted, to supply the laird's
rude and plentiful table. When the last bullock
had been killed and devoured, it was the lady's
custom, just as at Hesleyside, to place on the
table a dish, which, on being uncovered, was found
to contain a pair of clean spurs, a hint to the riders
that they must shift for their next meal. Tradition
has it that, on one occasion, when the town herd was
driving out the cattle to pasture, the old laird heard
him call loudly to drive out Harden's cow. "Harden's
coo!" echoed the affronted chief: "is it come to that
pass ? By my faith, they sail sune say Harden's kye ! "
Accordingly, he sounded his bugle, mounted his horse,
set out with his followers, and returned next day with
a bow of kye and a basent (brindled) bull. On his way
home with his gallant prey, he passed a very large hay-
staclc. The thought naturally flashed across his mind
that this would be very valuable if he only had it at
Harden for winter fodder; but as there was no means
of transporting it thither, he was forced to take leave
of it with this apostrophe, now proverbial, "By my
saul, an ye had but fower feet, ye sudna stand iang
there ! " The motto of the clan Scott, given in the
vernacular, was, "Ye'se want ere I want," and their
Latin motto, borne on their coats of arms and signet
rings to this day, is "Keparabit cornua Phu'be'' — ''The
moon will repair her horns "—clear, frosty, moonlight
nights being evidently the best for pricking their way
across the moors, through the mosses, and over the fellt,
in search of plunder. WILLIAM BROOKIE.
j]IR JOHN FENWICK, the owner of the
manor of Wallington in the time of
Henry IV., obtained it from William dol
Strother, who got it by marriage with the
heiress from the family of John Grey, who was its
possessor in 1326. A later Sir John Fenwick — he who
built the great dining hall in Christ's Hospital — was
executed for high treason, and the estate was bought
by Sir William Blackett, then of Newcastle. Sir
William's granddaughter, Elizabeth Ord, married Sir
Walter Calverley, of Calverley, in Yorkshire, and that
baronet took the name of Blackett. Sir Walter Blackett
left the estate to his only sister Julia, wife of Sir George
Trevelyan, of Nettlecombe, Somerset, and on her death
to her eldebt son, Sir John Trevelvan, his nephew, the
great-grandfather of the present baronet, Sir George
Otto Trevelyan.
Wallington is not difficult to find. Two roads from the
Belsay-to-Kirkwhelpington turnpike, one just north of
Shafthoe Crag, and the other a mile or so further north,
join shortly before reaching the Wansbeck. and debouch
from a country of green hedges and pastures into the
beautiful demesne of Wallington quite suddenly. The
gently descending road gives a sharp turn, and you find
yourself on the very fine stone bridge which crosses the
river at a most picturesque spot. From the bridge
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
359
the ground rises sharply straight up the hill that faces us,
and on the left we see the beautiful park of Walliugton,
and the hall higher up, in a cluster of trees, with a com-
manding view of the valley to the east, west, and south.
First, however, we visit the courtyard behind. It is a
large quadrangle, with a block of stables and coach-
houses surmounted by a clock tower of very elegant
architecture. This courtyard was built by Sir Walter
Blackett as a shooting box, and there are yet to be seen
on the walls the rings to which the guests from New-
castle fastened their horses. The stables have not been
changed, and stand just as they did a hundred and fifty
years ago.
The present hall is built on the site of an ancient pele
or castle. Some of the walls of the old tower still remain.
The hall originally enclosed a small open courtyard, but
this is now covered in, so that the interior is not so very
dissimilar in plan from the old dwelling house of the
Greeks and Romans. It is a plain rectangle, and is
totally in opposition to the inclination of modern
times, which often sacrifices the utility and com-
fort of the internal arrangements to an imposing
frontage, in order that a splendid external effect may be
produced. No effort has been made to give the entrance
an important appearance, and, indeed, the pleasing aspect
of the building is in no way due to the architecture, but to
the fine trees and well-kept lawns which surround it. But
if little attention is called to the external view of the
house itself, the interior displays rare excellence of
arrangement and beautiful design of decoration and fur-
nishing.
The arms of Sir George Trerelyan — the Wellington
Trevelyans — of which we give the accompanying illus-
tration, as taken from the carving in stone above the
terrace drawing-room window in the south front of
Wallington Hall, are the same as those of the older
branch of Trevelyans— those of Nettlecombe : gules,
a demi-horse argent, hoofed and maned or, issuing out of
water in base proper, with the motto " Tyme tryeth
troth." They were adopted by the first of the Nettle-
combe baronets, Sir George, son of George Trevelyan,
who suffered so much for his loyalty to the Crown during
the civil war.
The principal feature of Wallington is the centr.il
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1890.
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
361
362
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
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hall, or loggia, the old courtyard covered in and beauti-
fully embellished, so that it now seems like an old Roman
or Greek atrium, adapted to the severer climate of the
North of England. It rises to the full height of the
building, being well lighted from the roof, and around it
are placed the dwelling rooms.
On entering, we find ourselves in a rectangular en-
trance hall, which opens on one side into an adjacent
apartment and on another into the colonnade which sur-
rounds the central hall. And it may be remarked here
that this is one of the very few houses of any age in the
county that is now inhabited in which the rooms are
lived in exactly as they were first built, without re-
arrangement or rebuilding. Passing at once into the
grand hall, we are pleasantly surprised at the full
light which fills the apartment, flooding in from the top
through twelve circular sunlights of clouded glass. In
the piers of the colonnade, on both sides of the hall, are
introduced a series of most beautiful frescoes by William
Bell Scott, representing typical events in various periods
of Northumbrian history.
Starting with Roman times, the first picture bears
the following inscription : — "Adrianus murum duxit qui
barbaros Romanesque divideret," and the scene is that of
the Roman wall being built, with Crag Lough and the
west Northumbrian moors in the background. The
second is a scene bearing the inscription " Blessed are the
meek, for they shall inherit the earth." We are on Holy
Island, with the distant Fames rising from the sea, and
King Egfrid and Bishop Trumwine are shown trying to
persuade St. Cuthbert to accept the Bishopric of Hex-
ham. The third view is one of the Tyne mouth, where
the Danes are seen descending on the coast. In the
foreground the men of the place are rushing down
in the misty morning to oppose the landing of the
invaders, whilst the women hurry up the cliffs, carrying
all their movable possessions, children, household imple-
ments, &c., to a place of safety. The fourth is a picture
of the interior of the old monastery at Jarrow, where the
Venerable Bede is finishing his life and his life's work.
The grief-stricken monks surround him in his cell, and
one of the brethren has just written the last verse of St.
John's Gospel at his dictation. The fifth painting —
''Ride, Rowley, ride, noo the hough's i' the pot" — shows
a Border chieftain's wife demonstrating to her husband
and his men that the larder is empty, and that it is time
for another foray. This she does by bringing up in the
dish which should have held the dinner a large spur,
indicating that they must "ride and reive " before they get
another repast. The sixth displays the famous Bernard
Gilpin, in 1570, preventing a Border feud by taking down
the challenge glove in Rothbury Church. The seventh is
a representation of Grace Darling's heroic deed, the girl
and her father being watched by the survivors from the
wreck of the Forfarshire on the Fame Islands. The last
is a painting of Newcastle in the nineteenth century,
showing the High Level Bridge, and giving specimens of
the different industrial toilers that help to make the fame
of the city.
Between and above these frescoes are wall paintings
and decorations of exquisite elegance, done straight upon
the white stone, which takes the colours admirably. Many
of these were the work of the present baronet's mother,
sister of Lord Macaulay, whilst a neat and careful paint-
ing of a corn-flower on one of the walls will perpetuate
for future Trevelyans the memory of John Ruskin.
Above are medallion portraits of men celebrated in the
annals of Northumberland — Hadrian, Severus, Alcuin,
Duns Scotus, Bishop Bury, Bishop Ridley, Belted
Will Howard, Sir John Fenwiok, Lord Derwentwater,
Lord Crewe, Sir Walter Blackett, Lord Collingwood,
Lords Eldon and Stowell, Thomas Bewick, Earl Grey, Sir
Walter Calverley Trevelyan, Sir Charles Edward Tre-
velyan, and George Stephenson. On the upper part of
the wall, too, in the spandrils, are a number of paintings
by W. B. Scott, illustrative of "Chevy Chase."
The family portraits at Wallington, which are found
aiound the central hall both upstairs and downstairs and
in several rooms in both storeys, are of great interest ;
they comprise canvases of the Calverleys, of Calverley,
near Leeds, the Blacketts, and the Trevelyans, and among
them are works by such masters of portraiture as Sir
Peter Lely, Gainsborough, Cornelius Jansen, and Sir
Joshua Reynolds. The painting of Miss Sukey Trevelyan
by Gainsborough (1761) is curious from the fact that it
was "touched up" afterwards by Sir Joshua Reynolds.
Arthui; Youne remarked that it was all hat and ruffles —
most of Gainsborough's were — and so Miss Sukey's head
adornments were painted out, and nothing was left but
the natural coiffure. There are also several pictures of
the Italian school, including an early painting either
by Raphael or Leonardo da Vinci, and others by Petro
della Francesca, Lorenzo da Credi. besides which English
art is also represented by examples of Turner and
Rossetti.
The Trevelyan china is, as a private collection, pro-
bably unique, much of it being, in point of fact, priceless.
It is a very large collection, and comprises some of the
rarest and most perfect of Sevres, Dresden, and English
manufactures, and there is some china belonging to
extinct British makes which cannot be replaced. Vases,
bowls, services, and bric-a-brac of immense value are to be
found in almost every room.
Another interesting feature of Wallington was formerly
the museum, remarkable for its shells, which were as com-
prehensive and valuable as any possessed by private indi-
viduals at the time they were brought together — early
this century. In the museum, as in the china collection,
were to be found objects so rare that their places could not
be refilled. Among these was a great auk's egg, a thing
as inaccessible to any but the most wealthy as first
editions of Caxton, tenth century missals, first folio
August 1
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NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
363
Shnkspeares, or "grand mandarin" vases. Other rari-
ties there were, such as a Scandinavian almanac, a lock
from the Faroe Islands, similar in construction to those
used by the ancient Egyptians, boots taken from Bona-
parte's carriage after Waterloo, an old Exchequer tally, &c.
The late Sir Walter Trevelyan added much to this collec-
tion, but it was dispersed at his death, the principal ob-
jects being presented to the British Museum. The collec-
tion was contained in a large upper room at the south
side of the house.
But not even a public collection can boast of such
interesting personal relics as those of Lord Macaulay,
whose sister Sir Charles Trevelyan married. Sir George
Trevelyan has, in his private sitting-room, Lord
Macaulay's writing table, on which most of the history
was written, as well as the inkstand he used. In
another room is Lord Macaulay's bed. There are in
Lady Trevelyan's sitting-room several of Turner's
water colours. In the tapestry room is as elegant and
well-preserved a piece of lady's handiwork as could be
seen. The tapestry is a beautiful floral design worked by
Miss Julia Blackett getting on for two hundred years ago,
and yet it has preserved its texture and colour in a most
wonderful degree.
These are some of the features of Wallington, a beauti-
ful house in as beautiful a demesne, and the demesne is in
a country equally beautiful. The view of it from the
high ground at the south side of the Wansbeck, standing
surrounded by its hosts of tall, swaying trees, the wooded
river below, the picturesquely sloping ground rising up to
and above it, and the wild moorlands beyond crowning
the prospect, with Rothley Castle, built on the summit
of its stately crags, over a hundred years ago, by Sir
Walter Blackett, for the simple purpose of lending
additional ornament to the landscape, is one that gives
entrancing pleasure.
ifuflft 0( tftt
iN adventurous career came to a sudden and
melancholy end at Alnwick in the earlj'
days of the present year. John George
^**J' Donkin, as recorded on page 93, finished
his earthly pilgrimage in that town on the 4th of
January. A member of a well-known Northumbrian
family, son of the late Dr. A. S. Donkin (formerly of
Newcastle), and grandson of Mr. Samuel Donkin, the
celebrated auctioneer, whose curious and eccentric adver-
tisements had caused him to be called the "George
Robins of the North," Mr. Donkin was a man of very
considerable ability himself. He was, too, a man of
wayward and roving disposition. Although he was
educated for the medical profession, he seems to have
preferred a wandering life. Thus, some years ago, he
took part in the Carlist war in Spain. Afterwards he
settled down for a short time in Rothbury, but soon
migrated to the Far West of Canada. There he joined
the North- Western Mounted Police Force, and remained
in the service for some years. Numerous contributions
from his pen relating to life in the distant parts of
the colony appeared from time to time in the Newcastle
Weekly Chronicle. Mr. Donkin returned to England in
1889, published an account of his experiences entitled
"Trooper and Redskin in the Far North-West," and
wandered hither and thither for a few months till he
finally died on the day mentioned at the early age of
thirty-seven. Among the fugitive pieces he wrote not
long previous to his death was a graphic description of
the Cheviot district. It is this paper, which originally
appeared in the Weekly Chronicle at the beginning of
1889, that is here reprinted. EDITOR.
I often wonder how many of the dwellers in the North-
umbrian lowlands — when they cast their eyes in the
direction of the dim, blue outline of the far Cheviots —
give a thought to the rich mines of romantic memories
hidden away amid those deep glens and pastoral valleys.
It is a fairy land of ballad and legend, the land of song,
of raid, and fciray ; the fruitful theme of many a minstrel
and raconteur. Almost every foot of ground — brown,
heathery moorland, or braeside green with bracken — is
hallowed by some tale of bloody feud, when steel-clad
mosstroopers rode spear in hand to harry and burn.
Vivid pictures rise before the mental vision of solitary
pele towers in the darkness of night ; the cresset fire
blazing from lofty turret ; the lowing cattle in the arched
vaults ; and the stern faces peering fortn from under the
heavy morions, keeping watch and ward against maraud-
ing horsemen from over the Borders.
And what stubborn fights they were ! Of course
Chevy Chase is familiar to Macaulay's celebrated school-
boy. That was a big business, a sort of general engage-
ment, a battle royal. But there were countless lesser
skirmishes, so common as to pass unrecorded, like a
Saturday night's brawl in Belfast. One of the most
famous of these Scottish inroads was the raid of the Kers.
What native of Upper Coquetdale does not feel his blood
course more swiftly through his veins as he reads Hogg's
spirit-stirring verses on that ill-starred expedition ? The
memory of that bold foray is still preserved in the fact
that every left-handed man in the country of the Upper
Coquet is styled "Ker-handed." Fifty-one of this
celebrated family, "all bred left-handed," rode into
Northumberland down by the Usway Burn, and on by
Biddlestone to Thropton, where they " lifted " a herd of
Widdrington's cattle — Widdrington was Warden of the
Middle Marches— with the intention of driving them
into Roxburghshire. But they made a "sair mistake.'1
It was a sadly disastrous day for them when they set off
from Faldonaide upon this determined razzia. Their two
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MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
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1890
leaders, Hark Ker and Tarn o* Mossburnford, were slain,
and only seventeen sorely wounded men made their way
back to their own stronghold.
Of one-and-fifty buirldy Kers,
The very prime men of the clan,
They were only seventeen return'd.
And they were wounded every man.
Forced to abandon their prey during their retreat, they
cut the neck sinews of the herd, and left them in a gory
heap at Shilmoor, above Alwinton.
That raid it fell on St. Michael's eve,
When the dark harvest nights began :
But the Kers no more overcame that day
While they remained a warlike clan.
It was a reckless dash, worthy of the freebooters of
that lawless time !
Over the whole of the Borderland, at one period, there
reigned a continual warfare, which only ceased at the
union of the two kingdoms. But even then the pastime
of cattle-lifting, with its inevitable skirmishes, was not
abandoned. All the farm-houses and the very churches
were fortified, and the villages were surrounded by triple
walls. Indeed, at the present day, old people in the
remote hamlets of this region speak of the entrance to
their one street as the "town gate," thus preserving the
tradition of past fortifications. The Borderers were all,
by birth and education, soldiers and foragers. What
says Scott ?
Not so the Borderer : — bred to war,
He knew the battle's din afar,
And joyed to hear it swell.
His peaceful day was slothful ease ;
Nor harp, nor pipe, his ear could please,
Like the loud slogan yell.
But war's the Borderers' game,
Their gain, their glory, their delight,
To sleep the day, maraud the night,
O'er mountain, moss, and moor.
When more meat was required to replenish the larder of
one of these reivers, a spur was served up on a dish by
the lady of the house, as an intimation that the male
members of the household must ride and seek out some
cattle from the "other side." Sometimes they preyed
on their own countrymen. These mosstroopers all wore
the same kind of armour, called a jack ; hence the title
of jackmen. They acted in war as light cavalry, and
were armed with lance and a long sword. Sometimes
they carried a species of battle-axe, called a Jeddart
staff.
With Jedwood axe at saddle-bow.*
"Each clan was commanded by a Border chief, who,
when any of his clansmen sustained injury, was bound
to seek revenge, and defend 'ail his name, kindred,
mountaineers, and upholders," and, on the other hand,
to retaliate whatever the injured party might in their
thirst for vengeance commit. By this barbarous system, a
ferocious animosity, or, as it has been very appropriately
designated, a deadly feud, was cherished on the Borders.
* See ante, papre 294.
These martial clans were always eager and prepared for
war, and at the sound of their slogan were speedily
gathered together. It is said of the Borderers, 'that
though they would steal without compunction, yet they
would not betray any man who trusted in them for all
the gold in England and France.'" They were very
particular in the choice of their wives. It is stated
that a stout man would not wed a small woman,
however rich she might be. Perhaps this accounts
for the extraordinary build and stature and longevity
among the hillmen of the present time. Eeligion was
very much at a discount among them. Quaint old
Fuller remarks : — " They come to church as seldom as
the 29th of February comes in the Kalendar." Many
rigid laws were made to repress these freebooters, but
without avail, until time and the spread of education
gradually eradicated the evil.
The hill-shepherds, who have taken the place of those
mailed marchmen of Eld, still preserve a character of
their own. Tall as the sons of Auak, they may be
seen, with plaid on shoulder, stalking over the hills,
or driving their fleecy flocks to some fresh district. A
quiet, observant race they are, much given to a certain
philosophy peculiar to themselves, evolved from their
solitary musings among the wild mountains. Battling
often with fierce, howling storms, they spend their long,
dreary winters far away up the glens, besieged often for
weeks with snow, unable to hold any communication
whatever with the outer world. Frequently they relieve
the monotony by a night's salmon spearing. A shrewd
race they are, too, these hillmen, with a singularly grim,
quaint sense of humour. In order to create a test case
for the courts, the late Mr. Carr-Ellison told one of his
tenants to turn a few head of sheep upon some debatable
land on the Border line. A little time afterwards,
meeting the farmer, he said : — " Well, Thompson, I
suppose you turned half-a-dozen sheep or so on to the
Plea Shank ! " " Oh, no, sor ! " was the ingenuous
reply, "aa just 'wysed' on fifty score." It requires a
Northumbrian mind to appreciate fully the peculiar
flavour of this remark.
The whole of the round-topped range of the "Cheviots
grey" is devoted to sheep pasturage, and the mossy
turf is peculiarly adapted to the production of the fine,
well-known wooL There are numerous peat mosses,
which furnish the dwellers in this wilderness with their
winter fuel. Before the advent of railways, these people
lived a most secluded life, seldom straying far from
their native heath. There is a legend told regarding the
Linnbriggs herd, when he first caught a glimpse of the
German Ocean. It was lying hazy and still under a
summer noon-day sun, and a few lazy fishing -boats
lay without motion on its glassy bosom. "Aye," he
exclaimed, "that's a grand blue muir ower there wi' a
few scraggy bushes on't. A graund place yon for
iimmerin' lambs."
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NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
365
The cottages in this lone Arcadia are hidden away in
remote sleepy hollows, while the babbling of some brown
burn makes music by the door. The steep hillsides
are dotted with the tiny black-faced sheep. The long
bracken waves by the side of the brawling stream,
dark olive shading into lighter green. In the glory of
autumn the purple heather throws its imperial robe
over craggy cliff and curving hollow. And here and
there in one's wanderings one comes across some great
grey homestead, with its folds and byres and out-
buildings, where Border hospitality reigns unbounded.
It is a hard life they lead, these shepherd swains. Sir
Walter Scott well describes the danger of the winter
storms in the introduction to the fourth canto of
" Marmion." And then he asks : —
Who envies now the shepherd's lot,
His healthy fare, hia rural cot,
His summer couch by greenwood tree,
His rustic kirn's loud revelry,
His native hill-notes tuned on high,
To Marion of the blithesome eye ;
His crook, his scrip, his oaten reed,
And all Arcadia's golden creed ?
A branch of the North British Railway brings the
traveller to Rothbury, a prettily-situated market town,
lying at the foot of the towering summits of Simonside.
Nine miles up the lovely vale of the Coquet is Harbottle,
the gateway to this enchanted land— the highlands of
Northumberland. It is a delightful little village, with
the most romantic surroundings ; with pine trees that
fringe the heath-clad crags. In its dark and sombre
setting of serrated peaks and feathery firs, from certain
points it reminds one of some place in the Tyrol or the
Schwarzwald. No scene in famed Coquetdale can equal
Harbottle for gem-like beauty.
The Coquet is the most beautiful of all Northumbrian
rivers ; and many are the songs that have been written
in its praise. A perfect garland of poetry is woven
around its beauties. During the first miles of its
sparkling course it is shut in by lofty hills, bare and
scarred. Then come level haughs and fertile slopes,
till below Weldon Bridge it rushes through woods, and
flows on to Hotspur's hold at Warkworth. The views
around Harbottle are exquisite. On coming by road
from the eastward, and on reaching the edge of the
Sharperton Bank, the happy valley bursts at once upon
the enraptured eye. The green background of the
Cbeviots, the woods that wave and climb the lower
slopes — brown and purple in autumn or emerald in golden
summer light — the sharply-defined ridges stretching from
the Drake Stone, the silvery gleam of the windine river,
the smooth lawns around the hall, and the grey ruins of
the castle, all combine to make a landscape ot rare and
sweet delight.
In the blest land of heaven, they tav,
Are rivers fair beholden,
That by God's throne flow murmuring on
O'er opal sands and golden :
My lot may be those streams to see ;
But ah ! — dear son and daughter-
Shall I ne'er cast a backward glance
To Coquet's lovely water 1
The village houses cluster around the venerable ruins
of the ancient keep, giving it an old-world, feudal air.
This fortress was in existence as early as the 10th year
of William the Conqueror. In the reign of Elizabeth it
was in possession of the Crown ; and was recommended
as the fittest place for the residence of the Warden of the
Middle Marches : —
The warden of the Meddell Marches to lye at Her-
bottell in tyme of warres, and to have accustomary fee
for his enterteignment, besides the profotte of the
demeanes of Herbottell for keeping of his house, etc.
The castell of Herbottell is a most convenyent place
for the warden at the Meddell Marches to lye at, for
the orderyne of the mesdemende Contries of Tendale
and Reddesdale, which pertene both to that marche.
The walls of this "castell," by their solidity and
thickness, attest its former strength. Now very little
of them remain ; only a few fragments crowning the
verdant eminence which overlooks the Coquet. The
site is to the north-west of the village. It was dis-
mantled by the Widdringtons to provide building
materials fur their manor house. Margaret, Queen
Dowager of Scotland, resided here in the reign of
Henry VIII., and here her daughter. Lady Mary
Douglas, was born. The name Here bottel is Saxon,
signifying the station of the army.
I count it happiness beyond all words to sally forth
on a fine breezy morning in the glad time of spring —
rod in hand — to spend a day far up the Coquet among
the lonesome glens and slumbering mountains. How
wildly the blood courses through the veins; how the
laughing winds scurry past frolicsome and fast, bearing
life in every breath ! Scent of springing heather and
moorland ; perfume of the everlasting hills comes float-
ing by. The fleeting clouds throw shadows evanescent
upon the towering acclivities on either side ; and the
cry of the curlew comes piping over the moss. There is
rapture and music in the very air. And after a glorious
day of sport and meditation, how pleasant to wander
back to the comfort of Cherry Tree Cottage in the
blushing, magic hush of the gloaming ! And the
slippered ease thereafter ! Ah —
If life were like a day in June,
As I hae choice o' England wide,
Wha wadna spend the afternoon.
And gloamin' too, by Coquetside '.'
There are some very charming rambles around Har-
bottle. One delightful, anteprandial little walk is to
stroll down the village, over the swing bridge, up the
north side of the river, crossing it again by the upper
bridge, and back through the avenue, as the road
leading through the pin« woods is called. There is a
magnificent view from the rising ground on the left
bank of the Coquet. The precipitous cliffs opposite
are marked with dark hanging woods of oak, and the
brawling river rushes over the rocks many feet below.
The hoary ruins of the castle crown the smooth green
366
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
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1890.
mount, and from behind the leafy screen the smoke
from the village curls gracefully into the air. The
nearer range of hills — crag and boulder standing in deep
silhouette — rise sombre and clear and sharp ; and every-
where the evergreen olive-hued pines climb their slopes.
In the far south-eastern distance the faint and misty
ridge of Simonside frowns above the billowy curves
of the landscape ; and to the westward the emerald
Cheviots, clad with bracken, lie peaceful and calm under
the pellucid sky. Sheep are quietly grazing, and over
all is a ruby-golden haze and holy calm. There are many
longer excursions from this favoured bower of Nature.
You can, in a few hours, reach the remote "high lands"
and climb the Windy Gyle, whence a splendid prospect
can be had over the whole of the Scottish Border,
which is spread like a fertile garden at your feet.
Wave on wave of rounded hills are tossed in wild
confusion all around. A ride on horseback to Yetholm,
with its colony of gipsies — the Faas — is a glorious trip
upon a mellow autumn day. Kalewater will vie with
Coquet in its piscatorial and artistic seductions. And
in the sunset glow of a summer eve you can wander up
to the Drake Stone, %vitb its lonely mere ; and away into
the mystic purple atmosphere of the lonesome moors
beyond.
The Drake Stone is a huge mass of rock, thirty feet
in height, standing on the backbone of the watershed,
about one thousand feet above the level of the sea. No
one knows the origin of the name ; but no doubt it is
a deposit of the glacial period. Antiquaries connect it
with Druidical worship; and at one time a custom
prevailed of passing sick children over it, to facilitate
their recovery.
A deliciously rural road leads from Harbottle to Holy-
stone, a small collection of low thatched houses, buried in
a hollow about two miles to the south-east. Here there is
St. Mary's Church, and a snug hostelry, the Salmon Inn.
This place is commonly known by its Saxon name of
Halystane. Very few names are familiar to the North-
umbrian peasantry when pronounced as spelled. Alnham
in the vernacular becomes Yeldom ; Alwinton, Allenton ;
and so on. Holystone is a very quaint little hamlet, and
reminds one very forcibly of Scott's description of Tully-
Veolan in "Waverley." The sunburnt children sprawl
about the straggling, half-ruinous street ; and now and
then a frenzied sibyl makes a fierce dash and rescues
some urchin from the hoofs of a passing horse. "Ma
sang ; you're warkin' weel for your skelps !" cries she in
the Northumbrian dialect, with a sounding burr, to her
screaming charge as she bears him off to punishment
condign. The windows of the humble cottages, of thick
glass, are mere peep-holes; and a deserted look hangs
over everything. In Norman times there was a small
convent of Benedictine nuns established here. The
parish was united to that of Alwinton in the Pontificate
of Gregory XI., and this union exists to the present day.
The church stands on the site of the old monastic
building. The holy sisterhood were so frequently
harassed and pillaged by the Scots that they were com-
pelled to petition the Pope for assistance.
The principal object of a modern pilgrimage to this
out-of-the-way place is to visit Our Lady's Well. This is
of historic interest. It stands in a grove of firs and
laurels near the village, and is an oval basin ten yards by
six in area, fed by a copious spring discharging about
sixteen gallons of water per minute. The sides of the
well are built of stone, and the water is clear as crystal.
On the brink is a moss-grown statue of Paulinus in his
episcopal robes ; but the features have been damaged by
vandals. Rising from the centre is a stone cross, bearing
upon its pedestal the following inscription : —
In this place Paulinus, the Bishop, baptised 3,000
Northumbrians. Easter, 627.
But we find in the " History of Northumberland " the
following remark : —
The tradition is an old one, and there may possibly be
some truth in it, though the date is certainly an
anachronism, as the venerable bishop was on the Easter
Day of 627 A.D. not at Sancta Petra (Holy Stone), but at
Sancti Petri (St. Peter's Church, York).
Away above Harbottle, from Rowhope on the Scottish
Border eastward to Welhope, a distance of eleven miles,
and from the western extremity of Cheviot southward
about eight and a-half miles, stretches a mountainous
tract known as Kidland Lordship. Here the Cheviot
sheep attain their greatest perfection, grazing upon the
sweet, moist herbage which clothes the hillsides. In
the unsettled times along the Borderland, when Dick o'
the Cow, Kinraont Willie, Jock o' the Side, and other
"minions of the moon," ranged this district, the whole
area of 11,825 acres was let for £5 per annum. The
highest peaks of this region are Cheviot, Cushat Law,
Flint Crag, Haydon Law, Maiden Cross, Milk hope,
Rookland, Shilmoor, &c. Cairns and the remains of
ancient camps are scattered all around.
The Alwine joins the Coquet a mile or so west of
Harbottle. At the junction of the two streams stands
Alwinton, upon a broad level haugh. Here are two
inns, and a church, with the vicarage. Surrounded
by Alpine hills, a narrow pass leads up the glen to
Scotland. It is a great trysting place for the hill folk ;
and in the kitchen of the inn may be beard much gossip
anent Cheviot ewes and black-faced gimmers. Many
anglers stay here during the season. The manor-house
of Clennell, only a mile distant up the Alwine, was
once a celebrated stronghold. Above the door is a stone
bearing the date 1365, though scarcely legible. The
walls are between six and seven feet thick in places.
In the dungeon below, many a bold reiver has been
imprisoned, then taken out and hanged to the nearest
tree.
The whole of this Northumbrian Borderland is
hallowed with romance, and wears a beauty all its own.
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
367
It lacks the magnificence of the Scottish Highlands,
but its quiet pastoral simplicity grows upon one's
feelings. The Coquet is famed for its trout fishing ;
and, as I have remarked, its glories have inspired many
a poet. And its lassies, too, buxom and fresh as the
moorland breezes ! I recall to mind the following
verses that speak their charms : —
The lasses of Tyne, that fearlessly shine,
Are mirrors of modesty too ;
The lasses o' Coquet put a' in their pocket —
Gan ye then to Coquet and woo.
There's wine in the cellars o' Weldon,
If ye ken but the turn of the key ;
There are bonny, braw lassies on Coquet,
If ye ken but the blink o' their e'e.
People who scamper awav to the Continent, and follow
the noisy, beaten track of travel, sometimes little think
of the picturesque scenery and " haunts of ancient
peace" they have left behind them. And I would
here remark that the Northumbrian Borderland is
peculiarly adapted to those who wish for a quiet, con-
templative holiday. Coquetside is the heart of this
little-known region — the Mecca of the true Borderer.
The lambs they are feeding on lonely Shilmoor,
And the breezes blow softly o'er dark Simonside ;
The birds they are lilting in every green bower,
And the streams of the Coquet now merrily glide.
The primrose is blooming at Halystane Well,
And the buck's on the Saugh, and the bonny birk tree ;
The moorcocks are calling round Harbottle Fell,
And the snaw wreaths are gane frae the Cheviot saie hie.
The mist's on the mountain, the dew's on the spray,
And the lassie has kilted her coats to the knee ;
The shepherd he's whistling o'er Barraburn brae,
And the sunbeams are glintin' far over the sea.
Then we'll off to the Coquet, with hook, hair, and heckle,
With our neat taper gads, and our well-belted creels,
And far from the bustle and din o' Newcastle,
Begin the campaign at the streams o' Linnshiels !
JOHN G. DONKIN.
Cfturdt.
GGLESCLIFFE is a quiet and secluded
village, clustering for the most part round
its own ample green. It is a village of old-
fashioned, red-roofed cottages, with deep
over-hanging eaves and peaked dormer windows ; with
doorways overshadowed by trellised porches, and the
clambering branches of the honeysuckle and the rose, and
with gardens, too, stretching down to the roadway, all
well kept, and liberally stocked with the flowers that
were favourites in England before tulips were known, and
will still be favourites when the passion for orchids shall
be a thing of the past.
From the village green a road leads past the church
and the rectory, over the brow of the hill whence Eggles-
cliff* derives its name, and past the Blue Bell, to the
famed Yarm Bridge. Standing on the hill-side, above
the inn just named, we have a magnificent view of the
neighbouring reaches of the Tees, of the sleepy old town
of Yarm, with its one extravagantly wide street, and its
great venerable orchards, of the fertile fields of North
Yorkshire stretching away beyond, and of the Cleveland
hills in the distance, with Roseberry Topping, really
" over- topping " the rest, standing out bold and clear
against the sky, or wearing the unmistakable "cap,"
which has been a weather-warning to the people of the
whole district whence it can be seen from time im-
memorial.
That the latter syllable of the name, Egglescliffe,
alludes to the bold, river-side headland on which the
village is built, there can be no doubt. The first syllables
may be a corruption of Eccles, an adapted form of the
Latin ecdesia, of which we have an example in Ecclesfield
in South Yorkshire. In this case the name means "the
hill of the church," or " the church-hill." But I am dis-
posed to consider the word as an evidence of the former
presence and resort of the eagle.
The records of Egglescliffe church are scanty. We
know nothing, in fact, of its early history beyond what is
revealed by the architecture of the edifice. It bears,
however, most unmistakable evidence of having been
built in the early Norman period, or, let us say, about the
end of the eleventh century. The most marked and
interesting feature of this date is the south doorway of
the nave, of which the capitals of the nook-shafts, with
their rude but most characteristic sculpture, deserve
especial notice. The only other portions of the original
church which now remain are the north wall of the nave
and the jambs of the chancel arch, but these possess no
special features.
The whole chancel was rebuilt in late Perpendicular
times, and may safely be ascribed to the latter half of the
fifteenth century. The fine east window, of five lights,
is filled with clear glass, and the ivy which covers the
east and south walls of the chancel is seen through it as a
fringe of living green, through which, as the breeze
moves gently, the sunlight falls in quivering beams,
with peaceful yet incessant change, forming altogether
an adornment compared with which the finest stained
glass window in the world is poor and meaningless.
Long may the unpolluted beams of the morning sun
shine through the east window of Egglescliffe church !
There are three other windows in the chancel, two in the
south wall and one in the north, each of three lights,
and all of them, as well as the east window, save for
some restoration, are of the same date as the chancel
itself. In the south wall, too, there are three
sediha, or priests' seats, and a priest's door. The
principals of the chancel roof are of the latter part of
the seventeenth century, and may, like much other work
of a similar kind in various parts of the same county, be
ascribed to the episcopate of Bishop Cosin. Several of
the bosses of the roof are angels holding shields, but all
the shields are blank. The stall work of the chancel, and
368
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I August
1 1890.
August t
1890. f
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
369
370
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f AllgUBt
\ 189U.
the chancel screen as well, are of the same period.
Within the chancel rails are two old chairs, one of the
time of Charles II., and the other of that of Queen
Anne.
About the middle of the fourteenth century a chapel
was built out on the south side of the nave, to which it is
open by two arches, which rest on a central octagonal
pillar. This chapel is lighted by two windows in its south
wall, each of two lights. Between the windows there is a
recess in the wall, in which lies a recumbent stone effigy.
The figure is that of a man, apparently of advanced years,
dressed from head to foot in ring mail. Over his armour
lie wears a long surcoat, which is gathered round his waist
by a belt. His head rests on two cushions. His right
hand grasps the hilt of his sword, whilst his left hand
holds the scabbard. His knees are guarded by caps of
plate mail, technicullycalled genouillieres. He wears spurs,
and his feet rest on an animal, which Surtees describes as
a lion. Over his left arm is a shield, which is suspended
from the right shoulder by a belt. The shield is charged
with three lozenges — the arms of the ancient family of
Aslakby, formerly lords of Aslakby, now called Aislaby,
in the parish of Egglesclitfe, and about a mile west of the
village. A sort of winged lizard is represented biting the
lowest point of the shield. The effigy cannot be assigned
to a later date than the early years of the fourteenth
century. It is evidently that of some member of the
family of Aslakby, but the early descents in the pedigree
of that house are too vague to enable us even to hazard a
guess as to the name of the Aslakby whom it represents.
There is a second effigy in the porch, which bears many
points of resemblance to the one just described. Very
probably this figure is also that of an Aslakby.
But to return to the chapel. On a desk over the first
named effigy are two chained folio books, both con-
siderably dilapidated. One is "The Works of King
Charles," and the other Bishop Jewell's famous
"Apology."
At or about the time when the chancel was rebuilt, the
nave was considerably altered. A doorway, now built
up, was inserted in the north wall. There are two
windows of the same period also in that walL At the same
time the chancel arch was rebuilt.
The tower is of the fourteenth century. The tracery of all
the four belfry windows, each originally of two lights, is
broken away. In the west wall of the lowest stage there
is an inserted window of Perpendicular character. The
belfry contains two bells. One of these, in Lombardio
capitals, bears the following inscription ; —
BANOT3 MAR03 OBA PBO NOBIS
(Saint Mark, pray for us). As will be noticed the C's and
E's are upside down. A very competent authority on
bells says of this one : — " Date probably 1400, perhaps
earlier. " Very likely it is contemporary with the tower
itself. The other bell bears no inscription beyond the
date, "1665." The tower staircase is enclosed to the
height of the second stage in a projecting turret at its
north-west corner.
The one notable name connected with Egglescliffe is
that of Isaac Basire, rector from 1631 to 1676, of whom
Mr. Welford gives worthy account in " Men of Mark "
(see Monthly Chronicle, 1888, p. 193.) Here, however, I
may be permitted to add a few sentences, supplementary
to Mr. Welford's notice of him.
During the civil wars of Charles L, Egglescliffe and the
neighbouring parish of Yarm, on the Yorkshire side of
the Tees, were the scenes of more than one important
struggle. Tradition has it that the north arch of the
ancient bridge was cut away and formed into a draw-
bridge, under Basire's direction ; and a letter addressed
to. the rector by Baron Hylton strongly confirms the
story. "I desire," he says, "you will be pleased to take
the pains to see the bridge drawn every night on Edge-
cliffe side ; which will conduce very much to the country's
and your safety." This letter was written on the 14th
February, 1643. The Scots appear to have been in
possession of Yarm from about the middle of September,
1640, and to have occupied it continuously. Despite the
draw-bridge, the Scots entered Egglescliffe, and, in the old
rectory, "in the highest story," a place in the wall,
" hidden by a sliding panel," used to be shown, in which
Basire was secreted when the soldiers were ransacking hitf
house in search of him. He, however, at length fell into
their hands, and was confined in Stockton Castle. He
escaped, but how I do not know. He fled to Prance, and
remained there and in other parts of the Continent till
1661. His wife stayed at Egglescliffe, tending her young
family, watching her husband's interests, and maintain-
ing such intermittent correspondence with him as the
troubled times permitted. In one of her letters she tells
him that "our dotter Mary is at horn with me . . I
found her all her close and paid Mr. Broune far teaching
her on the verginalls. " Of one of her sons she says,
" John is lerning fast to red a chapte in the Bibel agens
Easter, that he may have breches." In another epistle
she says, " I prais God I ham very wall, and I cro fat. .
John very much desires to see his father, for he sais he is
gon so far as he thinkes he knas not the way bak, or els
he wants a hors." One of the sons, Peter, afterwards
went to reside in France, whence be writes to his mother,
saying, '• And I, remembring the good cheese you make ;
if there be any ships which doe lade coales neare your
dwelling or at Newcastle, for to come directly to Roan
|i.e. Rouen], I intreate you to send mee one as bigy as
themoone." J. R. BOTLK. F.S.A.
August!
1890. f
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
371
RANCEPETH CASTLE stands about half-
way between Durham and Bishop Auck-
land, not far from the right bank of the
Wear. It is a comparatively modern struc-
ture ; the old castle, which was strongly fortified, and de-
fended by towers and a moat, having been nearly all
taken down in the early part of this century, and the
present edifice, which is equal in magnificence and
grandeur to any of the noble residences in the North
of England, erected on its site.
That portion of the old building which was suffered to
remain entire contains several fine apartments, particu-
larly the Baron's Hall, which is lighted at the sides by
stained-glass windows, and at the west end by a richly
painted window, representing, in three bfautiful com-
partments, three different views of the memorable battle
of Neville's Cross. These windows were inserted in 1821,
by Mr. Collins, of London, one of the chief restorers of
the long-lost art of glass-painting. The other windows,
by the same hand, contain full-length figures of the first
Earl of Westmoreland and his countess, and of the Black
Prince and his wife Joanna Beaufort, styled " The Fair."
The other apartments, says Mackenzie, "are of a very
noble description, and furnished in the most elegant
manner."
The old castle was erected, we are told, by a chief of
the ancient family of Bulmer, whose descendants were
seated here for many generations, till Bertram, their last
male representative, died. Bertram's daughter, Emma,
married Geoffrey Neville, the grandson of Gilbert de
Neville, or Neuville, who came into England with the
Conqueror. The issue of this match was a son, Henry,
and a daughter, Isabel. Henry, having been in arms
with the refractory barons in the seventeenth year of
King John, gave a hundred marks to regain the tyrant's
favour. As a security for his loyalty, he engaged to
forfeit all his possessions, together with his castle, to be
held at his Majesty's pleasure. He died without issue in
1227, and his estates devolved upon his sister Isabel, who
was espoused by Robert de Fitz Maldred, Lord of Raby,
by whom she had a son, Geoffrey, who, in honour of his
mother, assumed the surname of Neville. From him
sprang that branch whose principal seat was for many
ages at Raby, and whose descendants were Earls of
Westmoreland. The castle and lordship of Brancepeth
continued in the Neville family till they were forfeited
by Charles Earl of Westmoreland, and transferred to the
Crown, in the thirteenth year of Queen Elizabeth.
The castle and its appendages were sold in 1633 by the
king's commissioners to Lady Middleton, Abraham
Oosselis, and John Jones, who, three years afterwards,
conveyed them to Ralph Cole, of Newcastle, a successful
son of Vulcan, in trust for his son Nicholas, afterwards
Sir Nicholas Cole, whose son, Sir Ralph Cole, of Kepier,
in consideration of £16,000, together with an annuity of
£500 secured to himself for life, and £200 to his wife for
life if she survived him, conveyed the castle and estate,
in 1701, to Sir Henry Bellasyse, who died in 1719, leaving
an only son, William. This son died in 1769, when his
estates devolved upon his only daughter, and were after-
wards devised by her (1774) to Earl Fauconberg, who sold
them to John Tempest, from whom they were purchased
by William Russell, of Newbottle. Matthew Russell,
M.P., William's son and successor, had an only daughter,
Emma Maria, who was married on the 9th September.
1828, to Gustavus Frederick John James Hamilton,
seventh Viscount Boyne, whose only son, Gustavus Russell
Hamilton Russell, eighth Viscount Boyne, has now his
residence here.
Brancepeth is supposed to be a corruption of Brawn's
Path, in allusion to the number of wild boars which for-
merly infested the district, and for the purpose of hunting
which the Duke of Gloucester, afterwards Richard III.,
frequently resorted to this place, which belonged to his
maternal ancestors, the princely Nevilles. According to
an old legend, "a bristled brawn of giant si/.e," which
had long laid waste the circumjacent country, was de-
stroyed by one Roger de Ferie or Hodge of Ferry, and
eave occasion to the name. This tradition, however, is
of a very doubtful nature — not that there were never
wild boars more or less numerous in the county of Dur-
ham, especially after this part of the kingdom had been
turned into a wilderness by William the Conqueror, but
because both Brancepeth and the neighbouring township
of Brandon seem really to derive their names from the
Scottish or Irish abbot and confessor St. Brandan, who
is said to have been able to fly through the air in his
chariot, and who, moreover, setting sail on the broad
Atlantic with his monks, discovered Brazil, if old annal-
ists are to be believed, long before the days of Pedro
Alvarez Cabral.
at
j]ILD boars were at one time common inhabi-
tants of our British forests. The modern
names of many localities attest their presence
there down to a comparatively recent era.
Thus we have Brandons in Norfolk and Suffolk, War-
wickshire and Northumberland, as well as Durham ;
Branstons in Northumberland and Yorkshire ; a Brans-
dale, a Brandsby, a Brantingham, and a Brandsburton
in the latter county ; a Branthwaite in Cumberland ; a
Brandsfee in Bucks ; a Bransby in Lincolnshire ; a Brans-
combe in Devon ; a Bransford in Worcestershire ; a
Bransgore in Hants ; a Brantham in Suffolk ; and Bran-
stone or Braunstons in Leicester and Lincolnshire*.
372
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{Auenat
1890.
Then we have Wilberfoss or Wilberforce in the East
Riding ; Wilburton in Cambridgeshire ; and Wildboar
Clough in Cheshire, near Macclesfield.
It is possible, however, that some of the local names
compounded with Brand may refer to the "brave Earl
Brand, "who, according to an old Northumbrian ballad,
courted and ran off with "the king's daughter of fair
England," and who was slain, while carrying the princess
away, beside the river Doune, after he had killed fourteen
of his assailants.
At what time the brawn ceased to exist as a wild
animal in Britain is uncertain ; but in the tenth and
eleventh centuries it was protected by the law.
The adult male, in a wild state, was a solitary animal,
and, like all creatures affecting solitude, morose and
fierce. When attacked, it defended itself vigorously ;
and the boldest man, if unarmed, would be glad to get
out of its way. A whole neighbourhood was sometimes
kept in alarm by one of these ferocious animals, to
despatch which was fit undertaking for a dauntless hero.
The ancestor of the family of Swinton, in Berwickshire,
acquired his lands there through clearing the locality of
a number of wild boars with which it was anciently
infested.
When the great King Arthur made a sumptuous feast,
and held his royal Christmas at Carlisle, the bill of fare,
we are told by old chroniclers, was suited to thote
plentiful old times.
They served up salmon, venison, and wild boars,
By hundreds, and by dozens, and by scores.
How long the boar's head has been the appropriate dish
at an English Christmas no man can tell. According to
Aubrey, before the Civil War that brought in the
Commonwealth, the first dish that was brought to table
in gentlemen's houses at Yule was "a boar's head with
a lemon in his mouth." The inhabitants of Hornchurch,
in Essex, were formerly in the habit of paying their
great tithes on Christmas Day, when they were treated
by the lessee of the tithes, which belonged to New
College, Oxford, with a boar's head dressed, and gar-
nished with bay leaves ; as well as with a bull to bait.
On Christmas Day, at the Inner Temple, writes a
correspondent to Mr. Hone, "service in the church
being ended, the gentlemen presently repaired into
the hall and breakfasted on brawn, mustard, and
malmsey ; and at the first course, at dinner,
was served up a fair and large boar's head upon a silver
platter, with minstrelsy." At Queen's College, Oxford,
where a like custom prevails, it is represented by tradi-
tion as a commemoration of an act of valour preformed
by a student of the college, who, while walking in the
neighbouring forest of Shotover, and reading Aristotle,
was suddenly attacked by a wild boar. "The furious
beast," says Wade, in his "Walks in Oxford," "came
open-mouthed upon the youth, who, however, very
courageously, and with a happy presence of mind, is
said to have rammed in the volume, and cried Grcecum
estl fairly choking the savage with the sage."
"The Boar or Brawn of Brancepeth," says Surtees,
"was a formidable animal, which made his lair on Bran-
don Hill, and walked the forest in ancient undisputed
sovereignty from the Wear to the Gaunless. The marshy
and then woody vale extending from Croxdale to Ferry-
wood was one of the brawn's favourite haunts, affording
roots and mast, and a luxurious pleasure of volutation
(in plain English wallowing). Near Cloves Cross,
Hodge of Ferry, after carefully marking the boar's track,
dug a pitfall slightly covered with boughs and turf, and
then toiling on his victim by some bait to the treacherous
spot stood armed with his good sword across the pit-
fall, 'At once with hope and fear his heart rebounds.'
At length the gallant brute came trotting on his onward
path, and, seeing the passage barred, rushed headlong on
the vile pitfall. The seal of Roger de Ferie still remains
in the Treasury, exhibiting his old antagonist, a boar
passant. "
A large flat coffin-shaped stone in Merrington Church-
yard, with a rude cross upon it, having a sword on the
dexter and a spade on the sinister side, is supposed to
commemorate Hodge's exploit ; and perhaps the rustic
champion lies under it. Another stone, believed to be
the remnant of a cross, stands on the hill near the farm
of Cloves Cross, and may have been raised on the same
occasion. But more apocryphal is a rough, misshapen
stone trough at a house in Ferryhill, which popular tradi-
tion declares to have been used by the boar. Mackenzie,
in quoting the legend, sarcastically remarks " that the
name of the good-natured person to whose courtesy so un-
welcome a guest was indebted for the accommodation has
not been preserved.'' True it is, and of verity, nevertheless-
that Roger de Fery's posterity occur in the freehold re-
cords of the locality as late as 1617.
$ffvtft=<£0unti*|>
!ol)tt £tohoe.
THE MILLER AND HIS SONS.
j|HE miller has been, from time immemorial,
considered fair game for the satirist, and
our old English poet, Chaucer, in his de-
scription of one of the trade, says : —
A thief he was forsooth of corn and meal,
And that a sly, and usant for to steal.
This allusion to a custom supposed to be peculiar to
millers, both ancient and modern, gives the point to the
following ballad, which is one of the most popular of the
numerous songs written in ridicule of the trade.
Many different versions of it are in existence, and the-
iaso'.* }
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
373
tune also varies in different localities. Our version differs
both in tune and rhythm from the Lancashire copy, of
which it may interest the reader to scan the two last
verses : —
Now he called to him his youngest son ;
His youngest son was Will.
41 On the answer thou does give to me,
Depends who gets the mill."
" Oh ! if the mill were mine," said he,
'* A living I would mek ;
Instead of one-half, I would tek it all
And swear them out o' the seek. "
Then owd Jeremy he rose up in bed
To hear him talk so smart,
Saying, " Well done, Will ! thou's won the mill,
Thou art the lad o' my heart. "
The other two looked rather blue,
And swore it wur too bad ;
But little Will he won the mill,
And the devil, he got his dad.
The tune which we give is the one to which the song is
sung in the Liddesdale and Border districts, and is taken
from the manuscript of the late Mr. James Telfer, of
Saughtree, now in the possession of the Antiquarian
Society of Newcastle. It is evidently a slightly varied
copy of the old tune called "The Oxfordshire Tragedy,'
which Mr. William Chappell believed to have been one of
the ancient ditties used by the minstrels of the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries in chanting their lengthy
narratives at Christmas dinners and bride-ales.
There was a jol - ly mil - ler, and he Had
lus - ty Bons, one two and three. He
called them all and
asked their will, If
left his mill, If
that to them
left
mill
There was a jolly miller, and he
Had lusty sons, one, two, and three ;
He called them all and asked their will
If that to them he left his mill.
He called first to his eldest son.
Saying : " My life is almost run ;
If I to you this mill do make,
What toll do you intend to take? "
"Father," says he, "my name is Jack ;
Out of a bushel I'll have a peck
From every bushel that I grind,
That I may a good living rind."
"Thou art a fool," the old man said,
"Thou hast not well learned thy trade —
This mill to thee I ne'er will give,
For by such toll no man can live."
He called for his middlemost son,
Saying : " My life is almost run ;
If I to you this mill do make.
What toll do you intend to take?"
"Father," says he, "mv name is Ralph ;
Out of a bushel I'll take a half
From every bushel that I grind.
That I may a good living find."
"Thou art a fool," the old man said ;
"Thou hast not well learned thy trade —
This mill to thee I ne'er will give,
For by such toll no man can live."
He then called for his youngest son,
Saying : "My life is almost run ;
If I to you this mill do make.
What toll do you intend to take 1 "
"Father," said he. " I'm your only boy,
For taking toll is all my joy.
Before I will a good living- lack,
I'll take it all, and forswear the sack ! "
"Thou art the boy," the old man said,
"For thou hast right well learned thy trade;
This mill to thee I give," lie cried —
And then turned up his toes and died.
at tlu
ilcrrtli.
REFIXED to Holinshed's well-known
" Chronicles of England, Scotland, and
Ireland," there is an extremely curious
" Historical Description of the Island of
Britain," written by one William Harrison, about
whom very little is known. He was a native of
London, and was educated at Westminster Hall,
when the noted Alexander Nowell was master of
that seminary. He afterwards studied at both uni-
versities, but in what colleges is not certainly
known. He himself says that both Oxford and Cain-
bridge "are so dear to him that he cannot readily tell to
which of them he owes most goodwill." After leaving
Cambridge, he became domestic chaplain to Sir William
Brook, who was Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports,
and Baron of Cobham in Kent, and from whose
patronage it is believed that he received the living
of Radwinter in Essex, in February, 1558, which he
held till his death in 1592 or 1593. Anthony K Wood
says he obtained a canonry of Windsor, and was buried
there. He married a Picardian lady, and left several
children. Though he was the author of an important
topographical work, he does not appear to have been a
great traveller. Indeed, in the dedication of his " His-
torical Description," he says, "I must needs confess,
that until now of late, except it were from the parish
where I dwell unto your honour in Kent, or out of Lon-
don, where I was born, unto Oxford and Cambridge,
where I have been brought up, I never travelled forty
miles forthright and at one journey in all my life."
Harrison's " Description" appears to have been written
in the early years of Elizabeth's reign. It is not possible,
374
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I AllKUBt
1890.
within my present limits, to give even the briefest sketch of
its contents. They are of the most diversified character. The
topography of the country, its social, political, commer-
cial, and ecclesiastical institutions, the habits and customs
of the people, the manufactures and resources of the
nation, are all described. Indeed, it may be safely said
that we possess no picture of England and English life in
the days of " Good yueen Bess " which for completeness,
accuracy, and abundance of picturesque detail can be
compared with Harrison's "Description."
It is, however, with his notices of the "North Countrie"
that we are now concerned. His topographical account
of our island is included in a survey of the course of our
rivers and their tributaries. And, although he gives a
minute account of every stream which is of sufficient
magnitude to be marked on a county map, his references
to the character of the district through which it passes,
and to the towns and villages located on its banks, are not
numerous.
The Tweed he describes as "a noble stream." The
Coquet is "a goodly river." The Tyne is "a river
notably stored with salmon, and other good fish, and in
old time called Alan," and " ris«th of two heads" — the
North Tyne and the South. In describing the course of
the Tyne he mentions Jarrow, which he calls " Jerro or
Girwie" — "where Beda dwelled in an abbey — now a
gentleman's place, although the church be made a parish
church, whereunto diverse towns resort, as Monk Eaton
(Monktou), where Beda was born, which is a mile from
thence, South Shields, Harton, Westoe, Hebburn,
Hedworth, Wardley, Felling, Eollonsby, [and] the
Hed worths."
After mentioning Corbridge, "a town some time
inhabited by the Romans," he gives the following account
of the famed "thief and reaver " dales. " In this country
are the three vales or dales, whereof men have doubted
whether thieves or true men do most abound in them,
that is to say, Reedsdale, Tindale, and Liddesdale ; this
last being for the most part Scottish, and without the
Marches of England. Nevertheless, sithens that by the
diligence chiefly of Master Gilpin" — the celebrated
Bernard of Houghton-le-Spring — "and finally of other
learned preachers, the grace of God working with them,
they have been called to some obedience and zeal unto
the Word, it is found that they have so well profited by
the same, that, at this present, their former savage
demeanour is very much abated, and their barbarous wild-
ness and fierceness so qualified, that there is great hope
left of their reduction unto civility and better order of
behaviour than hitherto they have been acquainted
withall."
Harrison mentions the Wear as " a river well known
unto Beda, the famous priest, who was brought up in a
monastery that stood upon the banks thereof," referring,
of course, to the monastic house of Monkwearmouth,
wherein, there is good reason to believe, Bedo spent some
time before his removal to Jarrow. The Tees is spoken
of as "a river that beareth and feedeth an excellent
salmon."
One of Harrison's chapters is headed "Of the Wall
sometime Builded for a Partition between England and
the Picts and Scots," meaning what we generally desig-
nate the Roman Wall. This great barrier, he says, was
" no less famous than that which Anastasius Dicorus made
afterwards from the Euxine unto the Thracian Sea."
What we know as the vallum, he rightly ascribes to
Hadrian, and says it " was made of turf and timber." Of
its dimensions he gives a somewhat erroneous account.
According to him, it was "'four score miles in length,
twelve foot in height, and eight in breadth." But as to
its purpose he is doubtless correct. It was erected "to
divide the barbarous Britons from the more civil sort,
which were generally called by the name of Romans over
all." In his account of the wall of Severus he makes an
amusing mistake, confounding it with that of Antoninus
Pius in Scotland. " He (Severus) made another wall (but
of stone) between eighty and a hundred miles from the
first, and of thirty-two miles in length, reaching on both
sides also to the sea. " The wall of Antoninus, Harrison
imagines, "runneth within the wall, about an arrow shot
from that of stone. " As he proceeds the confusion increases,
for, he tells us, "betwixt Thirlwall and the North Tyne
are, also in the waste grounds, many parcels of that wall of
Severus yet standing, whereof the common people do
babble many things." No wonder that he should add,
"This only remaineth certain, that the walls made by
Hadrian and Severus were ditched with notable ditches
and rampires, made in such wise that the Scottish adver-
sary had much adoe to enter and scale the same in his
assaults." He sketches the topography of the walls of
Hadrian and Severus, and concludes his account of them
by saying, " As for the Roman coin that ia often found iu
the course thereof, the curious bricks about the same near
unto Carlisle, besides the excellent cornelians and other
costly stones already entailed for seals oftentimes taken
up in those quarters, I pass them over as not incident to
my purpose."
Harrison entitles another of his chapters "Of the
Marvels of England." The wonders he enumerates
include the fabled windy cavern of the Derbyshire Peak,
Stonehenge, Cheddar Cave, the one-eyed fish of the Dee,
the dropping and petrifying wells of Knaresborough, and
many others. Amongst the rest of his marvels he
mentions the famous Hell Kettles, near Darlington, of
which he gives the following account: — "What the
foolish people dream of the Hell Kettles it is not worthy
the rehearsal ; yet to the end the lewd opinion conceived
of them may grow into contempt I will say thus much
also of those pits. There are certain pits, or rather three
little pools, a mile from Darlington, and a quarter of a
mile distant from the Tees banks, which the people call
the Kettles of Hell, or the Devil's Kettles, as if he should.
August 1
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
375
see the souls of sinful men and women in them. They
add also, that the spirits have oft been heard to cry and
yell about them, with other like talk savouring altogether
of Pagan infidelity. The truth is (and of this opinion
also was Cuthbert Tunstall, late Bishop of Durham,
a man of great learning and judgment), that the coal-
mines in those places are kindled, or if there be no
coals, there may a mine of some other unctuous matter
be set on fire, which being here and there consumed, the
earth falleth in, and so doth leave a pit. Indeed, the
water is now and then warm, as they say ; and besides
that, it is not clear. The people suppose them to be a
hundred fathoms deep. The biggest of them also hath an
issue in the Tees, as experience hath confirmed. For
Doctor Bellowes, alias Belzis, made report how a duck,
marked after the fashion of the ducks of the Bishopric of
Durham, was put into the same betwixt Darlington and
Tees bank, and afterwards seen at a bridge [i.e.. Croft
Bridge] not far from Master Clervaux's house." (For an
account of the Hell Kettles, from the delightful pen of
the late James Clephan, see Monthly Chronicle, vol. i.,
p. 353).
Harrison only mentions one other North-Country
" marvel." Near St. Oswald's Chapel, above Chollerford,
the great battle between Kings Oswald and Cadwalla
was fought in the year 635. The victory of the Christian
army over that of the Pagans conferred on the place the
name of Hefenfelth, i.e. Heaven Field. Now, let us hear
Harrison : — " If it were worth the noting, I would also
make relation of many wooden crosses found very often
about Halidon, whereof the old inhabitants conceived an
opinion that they were fallen from heaven ; whereas, in
truth, they were made and borne by King Oswald and his
men in the battle wherein they prevailed sometimes
against the British infidels, upon a superstitious imagina-
tion that those crosses should be their defence and shield
aeainst their adversaries. Beda calleth the place where
the said battle was fought Heaven Field, It lieth not far
from the Pictish Wall, and the famous monastery of
Hagulstad." J. R. BOYLE, F.S.A.
Cfte
tfte
tft* Cftuusft,
IJO jay (Oarrului glandarius), sometimes
called the oak jackdaw and jay piet, shares
with the magpie the dangerous distinction
of being one of the most handsome of our
native birds. It is also the most rigorously persecuted.
Like the magpie, the jay is proscribed by game preservers,
as it occasionally preys on the eggs and young of game
birds; and gamekeepers have another and more sordid
motive for capturing or slaughtering it — the fact that the
bird brings a good price, being much prized by collectors
and professional bird-stuffers. In few localities, there-
fore, can the jay be said to be plentiful. Besides, it is a
shy, wood-loving bird, wary and skulking in its habits,
and it is oftener heard than seen in its haunts. In the
Northern Counties, as Mr. John Hancock tells us, it
is gradually disappearing. " This beautiful resident
species," he says, "once so abundant in the district,
has now almost disappeared from the neighbourhood of
Newcastle, and has everywhere become rare."
An observant naturalist, who formerly resided at
Shotley, writes as follows of the habits of the jays :—
"A singular and cunning habit is adopted by these
birds in the breeding season. From being the most noisy
and demonstrative birds that frequent our coverts at all
other times, when nesting they become mute, and it is
very rare, at that period, to hear them utter a scream,
although you may be quite close to their nests. This, no
doubt, is an instinct they possess in order to conceal
the whereabouts of their breeding hauuts, and to preserve
their helpless nestlings. Another peculiar habit of the
jays is their imitating, at times, the calls of other birds,
and even animals. A bird which frequented our coverts
a few years ago could imitate to perfection the aharp
bark of a fox terrier in full cry after its quarry. One
of my men when he first heard it, made sure there -\ver«
some poachers astir, and, quietly stealing through the
covert in order to detect them, found the noise was
occasioned by a jay, perched on the branch of a tree
close by, 'barking away,' as he told me afterwards,
'furiously,' aud he was so 'riled' at first at the bird
so deceiving him, that he was within an ace of shooting
it. However, after a little reflection, a kindlier spirit
prevailed, and he left it alone. Many a time afterwards
have 1 heard the same bird (presumably; in our covert.s
imitating the fox terrier, and the notes of birds besides,
and I have repeatedly stopped and listened to its clever
imitations of birds and quadrupeds. At times, too, I
have heard it give a loud whistle, just like a man ; aud
it could also imitate the romping noise of children
well."
The male aud female jays, like the magpies, are nearly
alike in size and plumage. The male weighs nearly seven
ounces ; length, one foot two inches ; bill, black ; from
its base a black streak extends backwards about one inch ;
iris, light blue. Forehead and crown, greyish and bluish
white, some of the feathers longer than the rest, streaked
down the middle with black, and the ends of those at
the back of the head tinged with reddish purple (theso
form a sort of crest, which the bird can raise or depress
at will ; nape, cinnamon colour ; chin, greyish white ;
breast, reddish buff colour ; back, cinnamon colour.
The wines extend to within two inches and a half of
the end of the tail. The greater wing coverts are barred
with black, white, and brilliant blue alternately, across
the outer webs, the inner being nearly black ; lesser
376
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{August
1890.
wing coverts, chestnut; primaries and secondaries,
dusky black edged with white. Tail, dull black, indis-
tinctly barred at the base, the outer feathers on each
side lighter than the rest and approaching to brown,
underneath grey ; upper tail coverts, white ; under tail
coverts, dull white ; legs, toes, and claws, light reddish
brown.
The chough (Pyrrhotorax graculus, Bewick ; Fregilus
graculus, Yarrell) has not been found breeding in
Northumberland and Durham, but sufficiently near not
to be overlooked. "The chough," Mr. Hancock tells
us, "must rank as a resident, as it breeds in the rocks
between St. Abb's Head and Fast Castle, Berwickshire."
In Cumberland, it used to breed in the cliffs on the sea
shore near Whitehaven ; but there, as elsewhere, it has
nearly been extirpated. On the South-West Coast of
Scotland, in Wigtownshire, the choughs were formerly
pretty numerous, and bred freely in the high cliffs near
the sea shore. Cornwall, on the picturesque cliffs, near
"dark Tintagel, by the Cornish sea," would seem to
have been the head-quarters of these birds, but even
there they are becoming scarcer every year, owing to
persistent persecution. Amongst the popular names of
the chough may be mentioned red-leg, Market Jew
(the name of a town in Cornwall), hermit crow, red-
legged jackdaw, Gesner's wood crow, Cornish chauk
or cliff daw, Cornwall kae or killigrew, and mountain
crow.
Bishop Stanley thus describes the habits of the chough
when domesticated : — "On a lawn where five were kept,
one particular part of it was found to turn brown, and
exhibit all the appearance of a field suffering under
severe drought, covered, as it was, with dead and
withering tufts of grass, which it was soon ascertained
the choughs were incessantly employed in tearing up the
roots of, for the purpose of getting at the grub. The
way they set about it was this : — They would walk
quietly over the surface, every now and then turning
their heads, with the ear towards the ground, listening
attentively in the most significant manner. Sometimes
they appeared to listen in vain, and then walked on, till
at length, instead of moving from the spot, they fell to
picking a hole, as fast as their heads could nod." In
their wild state they are very shy ; but in the breeding
season they will allow of a near approach. In autumn
and winter they keep together in families.
The flight of the birds is described as resembling that
of the rook. They flap their wings rapidly, and then
sail on outspread pinions for a considerable distance.
They do not perch on trees, but rest on rocks and cliffs,
where they nest; and when on the ground they walk
with a stately gait. Their food consists chiefly of grass-
hoppers, cockchaffers, and other insects, in search of
which they frequent the fields and follow the plough,
like the rooks. On the sea shore they feed on Crustacea
and garbage washed up by the tide; and they also eat
grain and wild fruits.
The male is nearly one foot five inches in length;
bill, red ; iris, red in the centre, surrounded by a circle
of blue. The whole plumage is black, glossed with
purplish blue. The wings reach nearly to the end of
the tail, which is of a more metallic lustre than the
rest of the plumage. Legs and toes, red ; claws, glossy
black, large, and much hooked. The female is a trifle
shorter than the male, and weighs about fourteen
ounces.
The nutcracker ( ffucifraga caryocatactet ) is a rare
casual visitor to this country, and it has only occurred
once in Northumberland. This solitary instance is men-
tioned by Mr. Hancock thus: — "In 'Selby's Illustra-
tions of British Ornithology,' vol. i., p. 368, it is stated
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
377
that this rare casual visitant was seen in Netherwittou
Wood, Northumberland, in the autumn of 1819, by his
coadjutor, Captain Robert Mitford, of the Royal Navy.
This speciea is not included, however, in Mr. Selby'a
catalogue."
Like the Corvidce, nutcrackers are shy and wary ; but
in their habits they more resemble the woodpecker than
the representatives of the crow tribe. They climb trunks
of trees, the tail being used, as with the woodpeckers,
as a support. They frequent the depths of the forest,
and shun observation, except when they are rearing their
young. They are easily tamed, but they have the un-
friendly habit of devouring any companions of their
captivity. The nutcrackers may be termed omnivorous
in their feeding, though their chief food seems to consist
of nuts — hence their common name — which, like the nut-
hatch, they fix in the crevice of a tree, and break open
to get at the kernel. They also eat the seeds of pine
trees, beech nuts, acorns, and the various kinds of wild
berries, as well as insects, bees, wasps, and beetles. The
note of the nutcracker resembles the word "crack,"
"crack," as also "curr," This latter is the spring, or
love note, of the bird, which it utters loudly, in its forest
retreats, when perched on the top of a high tree.
Mr. Hancock gives us an interesting account of the
"manners and customs" of a nutcracker which be kept
caged for some years. "I kept," he says, " a specimen of
the nutcracker in confinement for six years ; it was taken
on board a ship off the coast of Russia, in 1847. Its habits
were interesting and peculiar. It was put at first into a
cage with wooden ends, but in a very short time it was
seen with its bead through a hole it had made in one of
the ends. It was then removed into another cage, but
from this it soon relieved itself, though the cage was com-
posed almost entirely of wire. It broke through one of
the wooden horizontal bars that held the wires in their
places, squeezed itself out between them, and, escaping
into my museum, commenced without the least delay to
attack the bird cases, and would soon have done much
mischief had it not been immediately discovered. I was
absent at the time, and its depredations could only be
stopped by not allowing it to rest on anything composed
of wood. Wherever it alighted it at once commenced to
test, with rapid blows of its bill, the nature of the
material. It at length pitched upon a plate of guillemot's
eggs, and before it could be interrupted had smashed
every one. It then attacked the bones of a bird which
were awaiting articulation, and dispersed them in all
directions This was the first day's work of its domestica-
tion. Before it could be made secure the wooden bars
and every portion of the framework of the cage had to
be covered with tin. It was extremely restless and
active, and never settled when any one was present. It
never became very tame, and I could never get it to look
me full in the face. It always avoided my gaze by turn-
ing its head aside, as if it disliked to look directly at me.
Its voice was very peculiar ; it had an extremely harsh,
loud cry, resembling the noise produced by a ripping saw
while in full action. This cry was so loud that it could
be heard all over the house. It had also a sweet, low,
delicate, warbling song. .This was uttered only when
everything was perfectly quiet. The song was much
varied, and was continued for some time. So low and
delicate was it that it could only be heard when the bird
was close at hand, and the note eeemed as if it were
produced low down the throat. The song was occasion-
ally interrupted by a few creaking notes like those pro-
duced when a cork-screw is being used."
The male nutcracker measures one foot two inches in
length. The body of the bird is slender, the neck long,
the head large and Hat, with a long slender, and rounded
beak, the upper mandible being straight, or only very
slightly curved. The wings are of moderate size, blunt,
and graduated, the fourth quill being longer than
the rest ; the tail is short and rounded at its extremity ;
the feet are strong, and furnished with powerful toes,
armed with strong hooked claws. The plumage is thick
and soft ; its predominating colour is dark brown, with-
out spots upon the top of the head and nape, although
elsewhere each individual feather is tipped with an oval
mark of pure white ; the wings and tail feathers are of
a brilliant black, the latter being tipped with white at
their extremities ; the under tail-coverts are likewise
white ; the legs are brown, and the beak and feet black.
The wings extend to a width of about twenty-two and
a half inches ; the tail measures about five inches. la
the female the brown plumage has a tinge of red.
378
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f August
I 1890.
The weather was very wet the other night when a
workman stepped into a public-house in Newcastle.
" Marcy on us !" he exclaimed, " if this isn't the Deluge !
Wey, it's raining drops as big as shillings !" " That's
nowt,"said another workman; "when aa cam in, it wes
raining drops as big as eighteenpence !"
NOWT BUT SHOEBLACKS.
A Pelton Fell worthy went recently to Edinburgh with
an excursion. On his return, ho was telling some friends
at Chester-le-Street that the trippers landed at Edinburgh
at 4 o'clock in the morning. Being questioned as to how
and where they managed to tret anything to eat at that
time in the morning, he said, "Wey man, there was nowt
but shoeblacks ! "
HEXHAM.
An old hawker was overtaken by a thunderstorm, and
found it necessary to seek shelter in a farm-house near
Acomb. The subject of conversation was, of course, the
awful character of the storm. "It's nae wonner it's se
bad," said the hawker, as a Hash of lightning caused him
to blink his eyes, "when ye consider the wickedness o'
Hexham !"
THE PITMAN AND THE COXCEKT.
A pitman, meeting a friend, gave the following descrip-
tion of a concert he had attended the night before :—
" Man, Jack, it was really a grand affair. Ye should hev
hard a lad an' a lass singing a duet on the piano. Then
thor wes a chep wiv a wooden le? that played on the tin
whistle. It's a varry funny thing hoo a man wiv a
wooden leg or twe left airms is sae weel tyekeu wi' by the
public !"
THE LOST COW.
" Did thoo ever hear o' that cow — that yen thoo lost twe
years ago when thoo wes sleepin'in the hedge-back as thoo
wes coming hyem frae Dorham Fair?" asked a pitman
of his deputy who had meditated cowkeeping. " Hear
on't, man ?" was the reply. " Wey, aa hear on't ivvory
day : watch wor wife for that. She elwis fetches her ower
when thor's owt wrang !"
"TOSStJP."
On a certain race week, when most pitmen desire to be
present at the competition for the Northumberland Plate,
it was necessary that every man at a certain colliery
should go to work. Two lovers of the turf were, how-
ever, determined to be present. As they were wending
their way up the race-course, they saw the master of the
colliery approaching them. "How is this?" he queried ;
"you ought to be at your work." "Wey," said one of
the delinquents, "we wanted te gan te wark, sor; an'
we wanted te come te the races tee ; se we tossed tip
which it had te be, an" it cam doou for the races."
"That's all very well, but you probably had a two-
headed penny." "No, sor, it wes a fair toss." "What
did you throw up ?" " Wey, we hoyed a brick up. If
it stopped up, we went te wark; if it cam down, we
went te the races— an heor we are, sor !"
PIPEWEUGATE.
During a recent procession in the streets of Newcastle,
a policeman went up to an old woman who presided over
a temporary apple stall, and told her to move on. She
did not obey his order with sufficient alacrity; he there-
fore exclaimed : " Let's hev yor nyem and whor ye live."
"My nyeiu's Bella Morgan," was the reply, "an1 aa
live in PipewelUrate, Gyetsheed !" "What number ?"
"Thor's ne numbors." "Come, this winnet de; aa'll hev
te lock ye up!" "Thor's ne numbers at aall. Wey,
thor's ne doors te some o' the hooses in Pipewellgate !"
tints Camnuvtt&vics.
A WEARDALE STAY BUSK.
The Weardale stay busk, made by some youth wi»h his
pocket knife or jackylegs 162 years ago, a sketch of which
is here given, is an interesting relic of
olden times. I picked up the specimen
shown some twenty years ajfo in one of
the Weardale villages. It is made of
bard wood, and is bent inward. It is
about thirteen inches long by an inch
and three-eighths broad. A ridge runs
down the centre between the double
ornamentation. Like the old knitting-
sticks of former times, stay busks were
made by young lovers for presenta-
tion to their sweethearts, and the care
taken in cutting out each device, the
initials of the young woman, and the
date, shows that it was a labour of love
to make one of these (at that time)
indispensable articles of dress.
W. M. EGGLESTONE, Stanhope.
A NORTHUMBERLAND FARMER'S
WEDDING 140 YEARS .AGO.
On the 7th of June, 1750, was married
at Rothbury, Mr. William Donkin, a
considerable farmer, of Tosson, in the
county of Northumberland, to Miss Eleanor Shotton, an
agreeable young gentlewoman of the same place. The
entertainments on this occasion were very grand, there
being provided no less than 120 quarters of lamb, 40
quarters of veal, 20 quarters of mutton, a large quantity
of beef, 12 hams, with a suitable number of chickens.
There was also provided eight half ankers of brandy
made into punch, 12 dozens of cider, and a great many
gallons of wine. The company consisted of 550 ladies
NOR1H-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
379
and gentlemen, who were diverted with the music of 25
fiddlers and pipers. NIGEL, York.
OLD STREET CALLS IN NEWCASTLE.
It has occurred that it would be a great pity to lose
entirely the musical street cries of Newcastle-on-Tyne.
Few of them are heard now, compared with what there
used to be twenty years ago. I recollect the following : —
I I J * » J '
* el -I — «=
Will ye buy o - ny lairye new ta - ties ?
ira —
<n? * •
• i i i i
Will ye buy ony green peas?
Will ye buy o - By fish '
Here's cal- ler bar -ren! here's cal-ler fresh har-ren!
I— J— I __ I __ ! __ I- __ I
Fine lior - gun-dy pee-ors! fine Bor-gun -dy pee-ora
i
Fine boiled crabs ! Fine boiled crabs !
G. GREENWELL, Duffield, near Derby.
On the 10th of June, Mr. Joseph Ridley, a member of
the Durham County Council and of other local public
bodies, died at his residence at Tow Law. The deceased
was engaged in the building trade.
Mr. Percival Scott, formerly superintendent of the
Castle Eden division of the Durham County Constabulary,
from which position he retired about two years since, died
at his residence in Grange Road, West Hartlepool, on
the llth of June. The deceased was a brother of Mr.
Joseph Scott, superintendent of the Jarrow division, who
was so brutally murdered at Durham about two years
ago. (See vol. for 1888, p. 33*).
On the same day, died Mrs. Walter Scott, wife of the
well-known publisher and contractor, of Felling and
Newcastle.
On the 12th, Mr. Alexander Young, an alderman of
Richmond, died at the ripe age of 74. He filled the post
of Mayor of the ancient borough in 1863-4.
News was received on the 14th June of the death, at
Irrewarra, Colac, Australia, on April 30, of Mr. Andrew
Chirnside, a member of a well-known and highly re-
spected Berwickshire family.
Mr. Jeremiah Wear, head-master of the Throston
Board Schools, Hartlepool, died on the 15th of June.
Dr. Comthwaite, Roman Catholic Bishop of Leeds,
MR. THOMAS WAKKXSHAW.
and at one time secretary to Bishop Hogarth at Darling-
ton, died at hia residence iu Leeds on the 16th of June,
aged 72.
On the 16th of June, Mr. Jaines Richardson, senior
partner in the firm of Messrs. E. and J. Richardson,
leather manufacturers, Shumac Street, Elswick, New-
castle, was seized with a fit of apoplexy whilst at his
place of business, and died within an hour. He was 58
years of age. Like his ancestors, Mr. Richardson was a
member of the Society of Friends, and occupied several
positions in different agencies connected with that body.
On the 17th of June, Mr. Thomas Wakenshaw, a
veteran Northumbrian miner, died at his house at
Stakeford, near Bedlingtou, at the advanced age of
88 years. He had been
identified with many of
the labour struggles
which occurred during
the second quarter of
the present century.
Until his death he was
the only man in tile
district still living who
had passed through the
perils and the pains of
the battle for unionism
sixty years ago. He
was appointed the re-
presentative of Nether-
ton and Glebe Collieries
in 1831 and 1832 tj
attend the delegate
meetings of miners held in Newcastle. During ttie strike
of 1844, Wakenshaw earnestly supported the efforts of
Martin Jude, Mark Dent, Christopher Haswell, and the
other leading miners of that day.
Mr. Walter Wilson, senior partner in the firm of
Walter Wilson and Sons, tweed and hosiery manufac-
turers, Hawick, died at Orchard House in that town, on
the 18th June, in his 94th year. Mr. Wilson, who had
been a magistrate of Hawick for over half-a-century, was
a leader in the Reform struggle of 1832.
Mr. Thomas Uuckett died on the 23rd of June, at his
residence in Wharncliffe Street, Newcastle. Twenty
years ago Mr. Duckett came to Newcastle, and found
employment as a compositor in the Chronicle Office.
During that lengthened period he remained in the same
establishment ; and by his urbanity and kindly, genial
disposition he earned the respect and good will of those
with whom he came in contact.
On the 24th of June, died Mr. Thomas Belk, Recorder
of Hartlepool, at his residence in that town, Mr. Belk
was born at King's Villa, Pontefract, November 10, 1808,
and for over fifty years had been a leading resident of
Hartlepool. In 1839 he began to practise as a solicitor
at Pontefract, and soon afterwards he married Eve,
daughter of Mr. John Gully, M.P., of Ackworth Park,
Pontefract. (See Monthly Chronicle, 1888, page 74). In
addition to his recordership, he held the appointment
of Town Clerk until 1882, when he was succeeded by hia
son, Henrv. Mr. Belk was a local historian of great
celebrity, and a collector of rare coins, of which he had a
splendid cabinet.
The Rev. Thomas Frederick Hardwick, vicar of
Shotton, also died on the 24th of June, his age being
sixty years.
330
MON2HLV CHRONICLE.
I An jcust
On the 26th of June, news was received of the death,
in Australia, of Mr. John Thomas Patterson, a native of
Alnwick, and a brother of the Hon. J. B. Patterson.
Mr. Joseph Wilkinson, of the West Mill, Bishop
Auckland, died suddenly on the 29th of June, at the age
of 67 years. The deceased was a prominent Wesleyan,
and formerly took an active part in the local affairs of
the town.
On the 1st of July, Mr. John Richardson, a member
of the Morpeth Tuwn Council for a number of years, died
somewhat suddenly at Morpeth.
Air. William Crawford, secretary of the Durham
Miners' Association and Member of Parliament for
Mid-Durham, died at his residence in Durham on the
1st of July. Mr. Crawford was born at Whitley, in
Northumberland, in 1833, his father being a miner. He
gained some slight education in the village school at
Seaton Sluice, but at an early age began work as a
waggon-greaser in the north pit of Cowpen Colliery.
While engaged in this occupation, he met with an
.accident, from which he suffered more or less during
the whole of his life. Mr. Crawford was largely con-
cerned in the establishment of a miners' society for the
counties of Northumberland and Durham, being appointed
UK. WILLIAM CRAWFORD.
general secretary. When separate societies were formed
for each county, he remained for some time secretary
of the Northumberland Society : and when he resigned
that post in 1865 to undertake the secretaryship
of a co-operative society, he was succeeded by Mr. T.
Burc, now M.P. for Morpeth. Five years later he
became secretary of the Durham Miners' Union. Mr.
Crawford was corresponding secretary to the Durham
Miners' Federation Board, an official of the Miners'
National Union, and a member of the Parliamentary
Committee of the Trade Union Congress. He was
returned as Liberal member for Mid-Durham at the
general election of 1885, and he was also an alderman of
thf Durham County Council. The deceased gentleman
was twice married, and left a widow with three sons
and a daughter.
Mr. John Dodds, of Heathery Tops, near Berwick-on-
Tweed, well and widely known as a successful farmer and
stock-breeder, also died on the 1st of July. The deceased,
who was born at Milfield, near Wooler, was in his 74th
year.
On the 2nd of July, Mr. Henry West, who was for a
great many years directly connected with the temperance
work done at the Central Hall, died at his residence,
Clarence Street, Newcastle.
Mr. John Craster, superintendent of the Wellington
Farm Reformatory, near Edinburgh, also died on the
2nd of July. The deceased was a native of the North of
England, and was formerly head-master of the Newcastle
Boys' Reformatory.
The remains ot Mr. Robert Rennison, one of the last
of the tanners, a once flourishing industry at Alnwick,
Were interred in that town. The deceased, who was 70
years of age, had died a few days previously.
On the 6th of July, Mr. John Scott, rector of the
Corporation Academy, Berwick-on-Tweed, died at his
residence, High Street, in that town, at the age of 57.
On the 9th of July, the Rev. J. H. Guy, formerly
a Congregational minister, and a native of Newton,
Northumberland, died in Sunderland.
On the same day, at the age of 60, died Mr. T. D.
Pickering, assistant-overseer of St. Nicholas', Newcastle.
The death was announced on the 10th of July, of Mr.
Gray, late of Hepple, Coquet Water, Northumberland.
The deceased, who was for some years a bailie of Jed-
burgh, and had latterly lived with his son-in-law at
Hawick, was 85 years of age.
The death took place, on the 9th of July, of the Rev.
James Samuel Blair, vicar of Killingworth.
at
|tort^(!lottntrti ©tettrancejs.
JUNE.
12.— It was announced that, by her will, dated 1st
September, 1889, the late Pught Hon. Sarah Caroline,
Baroness Northbourne, of Betteshanger, Kent, and
Jarrow Grange, Durham, who died on the 21st January
last, had left personal estate valued at £139,997.
— During a performance at Sanger and Son's Circus at
Hexham, a bear was directed to climb a ladder on to a
heavy piece of wood which was supported by two
uprights about 20 feet from the ground. Several times
the animal refused to mount the ladder, but was
ultimately persuaded to go up. The bear was in the act
of leaving the last rung of the ladder when the structure
and bear fell heavily to the ground. The heavy piece of
wood and a portion of the uprights fell among a dense
mass of people, several of whom sustained severe shocks.
— At a meeting of the Northumberland County Council,
a motion was carried that the close season for wild birds
be further extended to August 31, special protection
being asked for the dotterel, eider duck, guillemot, gull,
kittiwake, oyster-catcher, puffin, razorbill, sea parrot, sea
swallow, and tern.
13. — Owing to a severe outbreak of pleuro-pneumonia
at Thirsk, fifty cattle belonging to Messrs. Smith, of
Holme, were destroyed.
— At a meeting at Middlesbrough between the repre-
sentatives of the Cleveland ironstone miners and the
ust\
10. f
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
381
Cleveland mineowners, the employers intimated that, on
the expiration of the existing wages arrangement on the
28th of June, the mine-owners would require a reduction
of 2d. per ton in miners' wages, and a corresponding
reduction in the wages of all other classes of men engaged
at the -mines.
14. — An inquest was held in Newcastle on the body of
a man named William Mason, aged 43, who died from
injuries received through jumping off the Redheugh
Bridge into the river Tyne on the llth.
— The annual gathering for out-door worship in com-
memoration of the visit of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A..
on June 17th, 1782, was held at Saugh House, Cainbo.
The Rev. James Barker, of Kirkwhelpington, conducted
the service.
15. — The first of a series of Sunday musical concerts
under the auspices of the Newcastle Sunday Music
League, was given on the Newcastle Town Moor.
16. — One man was killed and many injured at the
Newburn steelworks through the gearing of a heavy
girder falling on the men.
— The new church of All Saints', Harton, and a new
cemetery at Hebburn, were consecrated by Dr. Westcott,
Bishop of Durham.
— A large party of Swedish agriculturists, numbering
between sixty and seventy persons, who visited England
to ascertain the requirements of thia country in reference
to the importation of farm produce, were entertained by
the Mayor of Newcastle (Mr. Thomas Bell) to luncheon
at the County Hotel, Newcastle. In the evening the
visitors partook of a cold collation in the Banqueting
Hall, Jesmond.
17. — Miss Bessie May, third daughter of Sir Raylton
Dixon, of Gunnergate Hall, near Middlesbrough, was
marrried to Mr. Henry W, F. Bolckow, eldest son of
Mr. Carl Boickow, of Marlon Hall.
— In Bishop Cosin's Library, Durham, the Corporation
of that city, in accordance with the custom of centuries,
presented to the new Bishop of Durham an address of
welcome on his appointment.
— A two days' sale of valuable books was commenced
by Messrs. Atkinson and Garland at their rooms in
Pilgrim Street, Newcastle. The lots disposed of included
Thomas Bewick's "Land and Water Birds, "a collection
of 294 wood cuts, £7 10s.; Bewick's ''Quadrupeds," 225
China paper proofs, £8; Bewick's "Land and Water
Birds," and supplements, firs'; editions, 4 vols. in 2, New-
castle, 1797-1804-21, £12; Bewick's "Land and Water
Birds," thick royal paper, first editions, Newcastle,
1797-1804, £9; Bewick's "Fables of ^Esop," Newcastle,
1818, £9 2s. 6d. ; Bewick's " General History of Quad,
rupeds," Newcastle, 1807, £5 10s.; and Bewick's Works
and Memoirs, only 750 copies printed, 5 vols., 1885,
£6 10s.
18. — At a meeting of the Literary and Philosophical
Society, Newcastle, it was announced that a sufficient
sum had been raised by a committee appointed for the
purpose to effect the purchase of the series of water-colour
drawings of shells made by the late George Gibsone, an
architect and artist who flourished in Newcastle some
time ago, and offered to the town, upon certain conditions,
by that gentleman's representatives. It was resolved that
the drawings be acquired on behalf of the town, and a
committee was appointed to deal with the matter. On
the 5th of July, this committee, consisting of Mr. C. M.
Adamson, the Rev. B. W. Gibsone, Dr. Hodgkin, Dr.
Philipson, the Rev. T. Talbot, Mr. Alderman Stephens,
and Mr. Richard Welford, awarded the drawings as 11
present to the Public Library of Newcastle.
—At an adjourned meeting of the Stockton Town Coun-
cil, a letter was read from Major R. Ropner, offering to
pay the cost of a site for a public park for the borough.
A resolution thanking Major Ropner for his offer was
passed unanimously. Major Ropner is a shipowner at
West Hartlepool, and a shipbuilder at Stockton.
—The late Miss Robson, of Stanningcon Vale, be-
queathed by will £300 to local charities. That sum was
to-day handed over to the Rev. J. G. Potter for dis-
tribution among several local and other charities.
19. — Mr. Henry Morton Stanley, the. celebrated African
explorer, with Mr. Bonny, one of bis associates, visited
Newcastle, and was accorded a hearty reception by all
classes. He was met at the Central Railway Station
aboat 12'30 p.m. by the Mayor of Newcastle (Mr. T.
Bell), the Sheriff (Mr. Edward Culley), and other pro-
minent citizens. The two visitors were conducted to
carriages, and the party drove to the Mansion House,
amidst the acclamations of the people and the ringing
of bells. Shortly before three o'clock, the party pro-
ceeded to the Assembly Rooms in Westgate Street,
where a large and fashionable assembly had gathered.
Here the great traveller was presented with the
freedom of the city. In the evening of the same day,
Mr. Stanley lectured at the People's Palace, under the
auspices of the Tyneside Geographical Society. Later, he
was the guest of the Mayor at a conversazione in tho
Assembly Rooms, at which a large company of ladies and
gentlemen were present. Mr. Stanley's reception by the
citizens of Newcastle was most flattering. In passing
through Berwick, en route from Edinburgh, at an earlier
period of the day, the eminent explorer was presented
with an address from the Mayor and Corporation of the
ancient Border town. As a memento of his visit to
Newcastle, Mr. Stanley afterwards forwarded a suitably
inscribed copy of his work, "Through Darkest Africa,"
to the Tyneside Geographical Society.
20. — The Newburn Manor Schools, erected at a cost of
£4.000, defrayed by the Duke of Northumberland and
Messrs. John Spencer and Sons, Limited, were formally
opened by Earl Percy.
— The closing meeting of the nineteenth session of the
Durham College of Science, Newcastle, was held in the
Lecture Theatre, under the presidency of Dr. Hodgkin.
The annual report, re.id by Principal Garnett, showed
ti.e satisfactory progress of the institution.
— The majority of the volunteers belonging to the
Northern district went into camp at Morpeth, Newbiggin,
and other places, where they remained over the following
week.
21. — A special service was held in St. Margaret's
Church, Tanfield, when a new peal of six bells was
dedicated by the Right Rev. Dr. Sandford, coadjutor
Bishop of Durham. The total cost of buying and fitting
up the peal was £450, which sum was wholly raised by
subscription.
22.— A man named Patrick Boyle, of 21, Church Walk,
Bottle Bank, Gateshead, was arrested on a charge of
causing the death of a woman named Isabella Bone, or
Daglish, with whom he cohabited. He was afterwards
committed for trial.
— Bishop Smytnies, of Central Africa, preached to a
large congregation in St. Nicholas' Cathedral, Newcastle.
382
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{August
1890.
On the following evening, the right rev. prelate addressed
a public meeting in the Town Hall, Gateshead.
— Mrs. Head, wife of a shoemaker, residing iu Ramsgate,
Stockton, gave birth to triplets.
23. — It was announced that Mr. John Hancock, the cele-
brated naturalist, had presented 350 drawings of birds to
the Natural History Museum, Newcastle,
— Information was received that the Rev. W. H.
Connor, of St. Nicholas' Vicarage, Birmingham, had been
appointed to the living of St. Michael's Parish Church,
Alnwick, in succession to the Rev. Canon E, B. Trotter,
resigned.
—Dr. Robert Spence Watson, Newcastle, was elected
chairman of the committee of the National Liberal
Federation.
— The Earl of Durham was the recipient of a testi-
monial, consisting of a purse containing £329, to defray
his lordship's legal expenses in the action of Chetwynd r.
Durham.
— The Bishop of Durham paid his first official visit to
Gateshead, and was presented with a congratulatory
address by the Mayor and Corporation of the borough,
and with one on behalf of the clergy of the town.
24. — An inquest was held by the city coroner, Mr.
Theodore Hoyle, on the body of a child named John
Henry Grieves. The evidence disclosed a shocking state
of affairs. The boy's body was infested with maggots.
The jury returned a verdict of manslaughter against the
parents, whom the magistrates subsequently committed
for trial on the same charge.
— The directors of the North-Eastern Railway contri-
buted the sum of £250 towards the funds of the
Sunderland Infirmary, in consideration of the extra
expense the Institution was put to, and the additional
labour and anxiety caused to the staff by the care and
attention given to the cases arising out of the Ryhope
railway accident. (See Monthly Chronicle, 1889, p. 4-79.)
—The golden wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Win. Andersom
of Newcastle, was celebrated at their residence. Forest
Villa West, Forest Hall. During the afternoon they
were surrounded by the greater part of their family,
numbering 29 children and grandchildren.
— On this and the two following days the annual
midsummer races were held at Gosforth Park under
favourable meteorological conditions. The Northumber-
land Plate, which dates back to 1833, was won by a
horse named Houndsditch, the owner of which was Mr.
James Lowther, M.P. The attendance during the three
days was the largest on record.
— The ninth annual festival on the Town Moor, New-
castle, promoted by the North of England Temperance
Festival Association, was opened by Mr. Alderman
W. D. Stephens, and was continued on the 25th and
26th. The gathering, as usual, took the form of athletic
and military sports, juveniles' games, and treats to poor
children.
26. — Amongst the visitors to the Gosforth Races was
Prince Albert Victor.
27. — Mr. Augustus Harris, lessee of the Tyne Theatre,
Newcastle, and a member of the London County Council,
was elected one of the Sheriffs of London.
28.— The will of the late Mr. William J. Pawson, J.P.,
of Shawdon, Northumberland, was proved, the value of
the testator's personal estate being £86,384.
29. — Two valuable cows were killed by lightning during
the prevalence of a thunderstorm at Lamesley.
JULY.
1.— The foundation stone of a new church, dedicated
to St. Augustine, and situated in Brighton Grove, New-
castle, was laid by Mr. John Hall, J.P., in presence of
the Bishop of the diocese and a large gathering of local
clergy and laity. The architects are Messrs. Gibson and
Johnson, and the church, of which a drawing is affixed,
is intended to accommodate 900 persons.
— The body of a man named Robert Watson, of Castle-
ST. AUHUSTINE'S CHURCH, BRIGHTON GROVE, NEWCASTLE-ON-TTNE,
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
383
-town, Sunderland, who on the previous day had been
drowned in an attempt to swim across the river Wear,
was washed up by the tide near Grievson's Ferry.
2.— Agnes Pringle, a little girl 11 years of age,
accidentally fell into the river Tyne while playing on
Hillgate Quay, and was drowned, her brother George,
aged 14, having a narrow escape from a like fate in an
ineffectual attempt to rescue her.
3.— Mrs. Wilberforce, wife of the Bishop of Newcastle,
laid the foundation stone of St. Jude's Church, situated
at the corner of Barker Street and Clarence Street,
Shieldfield, Newcastle, a large number of clergymen and
others being present. A silver trowel, the handle of
which was made of oak from the old Tyne Bridge, and
which was the gift of the architect, Mr. Arthur B.
Plummer, was presented to Mrs. Wilberforce. The cost
of the building, excepting the tower, will be about
£3,000. The Rev. C. Digby Seymour is vicar-designate
of the new church.
A serious mishap occurred at Eston Steel Works,
Middlesbrough. During a violent thunderstorm one of
the iron roofs was struck by the lightning. It collapsed,
and in its fall injured several workmen.
5. — An advance of 2j per cent, was made in the wages
of the Northumberland miners.
— A " maiden session " took place at the South Shields
Police Court, there being no cases for trial, and the
presiding magistrate was, according to custom, presented
with a pair of white gloves.
— There was launched from the Elswick shipyard a
gunboat, built by the Elswick firm to the order of the
Inperiai Indian Government. Tlie vessel was named the
"Plassy,"by Lady Lumsden, wife of General Sir Peter
Lumsden.
— A reduction of 6| per cent, was found to have accrued,
under the sliding scale, in the wages of the Cleveland
blast-furnacemen.
7. — A new convent, dedicated to St. Anne, was opened
at the Church of St. Thomas of Canterbury, Wolsingham.
— George James Perkins, of Newcastle, beat easily
George Xorvell, of Swalwell, in a boat race over the Tyne
champion course, for £100 a-side.
— In the presence of the Mayor and members of the
Corporation, a new Post Office, erected at a cost of about
£5,000, was opened in Russell Street, South Shields, the
ceremony being performed by Mr. J. L. Lamb, Assistant-
Secretary to the Post Office, London, and a native of
South Shields.
— It was stilted that a model, Raid to be a cast of the
head of the Earl of Dervventwater, taken after his execu-
tion, had been presented to the Literary and Philosophical
Society of Newcastle, by Miss Cunlitfe, a Newcastle lady,
resident at Brighton.
8. — The twenty-sixth annual meeting of the North of
England Branch of the Medical Association was held ac
Darlington.
9. — There was captured in the salmon nets at Hallows-
tell Fishery, near the mouth of the Tweed, a finely
developed sturgeon, measuring 7 feet 4 inches in length,
and weighing 12 stones.
— The festival of church choirs of the Rural Deaneries
of Alnwick, Bamburgh, Bedlington, BolHngham, Car-
bridge, Hexham, Morpeth, Norham, Itothbury, and
Tynemouth was held in the Cathedral, Newcastle.
ST. JUDE'S CHUKCH, SHIKLDKIKLD. NEWCASTLE-O.N-TYNK.
384
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I Aufmit
\ 1890.
—At the Town Hall, Gateshead, the Mayor (Mr.
Aid. John Lucas), on behalf of the subscribers, presented
to Mr. Stephen Renforth a beautifully designed silver
medal and a purse of
gold, amounting to £10,
for his conspicuous
bravery in rescuing
twelve persons from
drowning in the river
Tyne. The testimonial
was the outcome of a
recital of the hero's
life-saving exploits
which had been pub-
lished in the New-
castle Daily Chronicle.
Stephen Renforth is a
boatman, and is a
brother of James Ren-
forth, the aquatic
champion, who died
so suddenly during the
Anglo-Canadian boat race on the Kennebeccasis river,
New .Brunswick, on the 23rd of August, 1871.
STEPHEN* RENFORTH.
General Occurrences.
JUNE.
11. — Mr. H. M. Stanley was presented with the free-
dom of the city of Edinburgh in the Grand Hall of the
Exhibition.
17. — It was announced that an agreement had been
effected between England and Germany respecting their
possessions in East Africa, the German boundary being
fixed on the north by a line cutting Victoria Nyanza in
two, and on the south-west by the Stephenson Road,
together with Lakes Nyassa and Tanganyika. By this
arrangement the Empire of Uganda is retained within
the British sphere of influence, and Mr. Stanley's latest
discoveries after leaving the Albert Nyanza are also
included. England assumed the protectorate over
Zanzibar, while Germany relinquished the Vitu territory,
north of Mombassa, thus allowing an extension of British
territory as far north as Abyssinia and Egypt. Subject
to the approval of the British Parliament, Heligoland
was to be ceded to Germany.
18. — Mrs. Wombwell, professionally known as Miss
Fanny Josephs, manager of the Prince of Wales Theatre,
Liverpool, died after a career on the stage of about thirty
years.
20.— It was announced that Sir Edward Bradford had
been appointed successor to Mr. Monro, as Chief Com-
missioner of the Metropolitan Police Force.
21.— Mr. Stanley was presented with the freedom of
the city of Manchester.
23.— At the Anti-Slavery Conference at Brussels, a
general Act, dealing with the slave trade in all its phases,
was signed by all the plenipotentiaries, except Holland.
— At a meeting of the Cabinet it was decided to
abandon the clauses of the Local Taxation Bill relating
to the licensing question.
27. — A new promenade on the north side of Scar-
borough was opened by Prince Albert Victor.
28.— Mr. Stanley's book, "In Darkest Africa," was
issued to the public.
—Major Panitza was executed at Sofia in accordance
with the sentence passed upon him by a court-martial,
which declared him guilty of conspiring to overthrow the
Bulgarian Government.
29. — By the order of the Queen, the old custom of
Sunday music was revived at Windsor Castle, a military
band playing upon the terrace in the afternoon. The
public was admitted to the grounds.
JULY.
1. — Serinus riots occurred at Leeds, owing to a strike
of the stokers at the gas works. The military were called
out, and charged tha mob. The riots were resumed again
the following day ; but a settlement was effected with the
strikers on the 3rd.
— A man named Eyraud, on being brought before the
examining magistrate in Paris, confessed to having mur
dered M. Gouffe, with the help of a woman named
Gabnelle Bompard.
2. — Owing to Mr. W. S. Caine having applied for the
Chiltern Hundreds, in order that he might teat the feel-
ing of his constituents upon the course he had pursued in
the House of Commons with respect to the licensing
scheme, a Parliamentary election took place at Barrow.
The result was as follows : — Mr. J. R. Duncan (Glad-
stonian Liberal), 1,994 ; Mr. Wainwright (Conservative),
1,862; Mr. Caine (Independent), 1,280.
5. — Sir Edwin Chadwick, the well-known sanitary re-
former, died at his residence, Park Cottage, East Sheen,
in his 90th year.
— Six Russians were sentenced in Paris to three years'
imprisonment each and a fine of 2,000 francs, for possess-
ing or manufacturing explosives.
— Several London policemen refused to go on duty
owing to a constable who had taken a prominent part in
recent agitations being transferred to another division.
— A disaffection was shown among the Grenadier Guards
stationed at Wellington Barracks, London, who, when the
bugle sounded the parade, made no response to the
summons. The cause of the men's action, it was said
was the excessive duties they had been called upon to
perform.
7. — Some 48 constables who had refused to go on duty
the previous night were dismissed from the metropolitan
police force. In the evening a large mob assembled be-
fore Bow Street Police Station, and serious disturbances
took place. The police were unable to hold the mob in
check for more than two hours, when the Life Guards
appeared on the scene and cleared the street.
8. — The disturbances in London were again renewed at
Bow Street, mounted police having to charge the crowd
before the street could be cleared.
9. — A free tight took place at the London Parcels
Post Department between the members of the Post-
men's Union and the relief men that had been engaged
on account of a threatened strike. The mails were
delayed for several hours. About a hundred of ^he
men who caused the disturbance were summarily dis-
missed.
Printed by WALTER SCOTT, Felling-on-Tyne.
ttbe
Chronicle
OF
NORTH-COUNTRY*LORE*AND*LEGEND
VOL. IV.— No. 43.
SEPTEMBER, 1890.
PRICE 6n.
Clfbetantr
antr a CDlt&clattfr
1»ii % fate lames ffilepljan.
j]T is now considerably more than a century
since the rumour of a dreadful murder
found its way to the outer world from the
then secluded north-eastern nook of York-
shire. The crime by which David Clark had perished
(in 1745) at Knaresborough was committed several years
before; but his body slept in St. Robert's Cave, and
Eugene Aram had not yet "set out from Lynn with
gyves upon his wrists." Some five years prior to that
fatal march of 1758, the Cleveland tragedy had fallen
out, and was followed by swift retribution. The deed
done on the Nidd, commemorated by the late Lord
Lytton and Thomas Hood, has a place that will never
be lost in English literature, and is everywhere familiar
to the human mind. The threefold horror of the year
1753, although it became the burden of a drama, is far
less known.
Ingleby Greenhow, lying amoncr the Yorkshire Hills
in wooded and watered loveliness, was enrolled by the
Conqueror in Domesday Book. Dromonby, and Great
and Little Broughton, closely neighbouring hamlets,
share its antiquity and its picturesque setting; and
the market town of Stokesley, at the confluence of the
Tame and the Leven, is not far away. Here, 'mid the
soft shadows of the surrounding slopes, when Easter was
drawing nigh, desolation overtook a harppy family, by
the hand of one who was bound by sacred ties to shield
it from harm. Thomas Harper, a substantial farmer,
dwelt at Ingleby with a son and daughter, and had also
under his roof a maid-servant. A married daughter
lived with her husband at Great Broughton ; and they
had one child. It was a custom of the country to have
on the table, on Good Friday, as Lenten fare, a
plumcake of goodly dimensions, to the enjoyment of
which friends and neighbours were invited. The
Harpers had their cake prepared, and several of their
acquaintances were summoned. Fortunately, however,
as it turned out, only one guest came, who partook
sparingly. The maid, distrusting the taste, advised
that it be not eaten : she thought it contained something
amiss. But her master made light of her fancy; and
at six o'clock in the evening he died. His daughter
Anne survived no more than three hours : his son
William, by six in the morning, was also dead. Such
was the domestic destruction of Friday and Saturday,
April 20 and 21, 1753.
An inquest was held on the latter day, and a verdict
of "Wilful Murder" was returned ; but the crime was
fastened upon no one. If suspicions were entertained,
the circumstances supplied no certain clue to the culprit.
Conjecture was clouded and cautious. Easter Sunday
came, and was passing away, when the son-in-law,
William Smith, disappeared. His flight was at once
construed into evidence of guilt; and instant measures
were taken for his apprehension. A reward was offered
in the newspapers. He was described in the advertise-
ment as of middle stature, swarthy in complexion, sullen
of countenance, and down-looking; his age about 22.
The coat he commonly wore was brown ; and his wig
was of the same colour. Ten guineas would be given,
25
386
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/September
I 1890.
by Mr. Lawson, of Stokesley, to whomsoever brought
the fugitive to justice. Remorse of conscience, however,
and not the constable, delivered him into custody. No
pursuer overtook him. Voluntarily he came home ; and
on Friday, the 4th of May, a fortnight after the murder,
he was found near the door of his father in Broughton,
at one o'clock in the morning.
At Great Ayton, on the same day, the prisoner under-
went examination before a Bench of Magistrates. Mr.
Beckwith was one of them ; Mr. Scottowe another ;
and many a reader will call to mind that at this time
the father of James Cook, the great circumnavigator,
was Mr. Scottowe's farm-bailiff, and lived in a house he
had built for himself in the village, with his initials
and those of his wife Grace carved over the door. In
the presence of the county justices Smith was silent.
He held his tongue as to the death of his relatives,
whose deplorable fate had set so many tongues in
motion. He was remanded, and committed to the
keeping of Henry and Samuel Hebburn and John and
James Watson. At Stokesley, to which town he was
forthwith conveyed, he confessed in the night that he
had mixed arsenic in the flour of which the cake was
made. He also stated that he had pat arsenic, six
weeks before, among the oatmeal used by the family in
thickening their broth. Next day, May 5, he was
again brought before the justices, and now repeated his
acknowledgments, and said, further, that his intention
had been to go to Ireland ; but his mind misgave him at
Liverpool, and he resolved to come back to his father's.
On Sunday, the 6th, he was committed to York Castle
for trial at the assizes.
There he lay prisoner over the summer, awaiting the
coming of the judges ; and in the Gentleman's Magazine
we 6nd, under the date of York, August 14, a record
of his trial, conviction, and execution, viz.: — "Yesterday,
William Smith, of Great Broughton, farmer, was con-
victed before Mr. Sergeant Eyre, for poisoning his
father-in-law, Thomas Harper, and his son and daughter.
The witnesses fully proved the prisoner guilty; and he
was executed this day, and his body given to be
dissected. He absolutely denied the fact, though upon
his first apprehension he had readily confessed all the
circumstances of it."
His doom was pronounced under the then new statute,
25 George II., cap. 37, (1752), "An Act for better
preventing the horrid crime of murder." "Whereas
the horrid crime of murder," says the preamble, "has
of late been more frequently perpetrated than formerly,
and particularly in and near the metropolis of this
kingdom, contrary to the known humanity and natural
genius of the British nation ; and whereas it is thereby
become necessary that some further terror and peculiar
mark of infamy be added to the punishment of death
now by law inflicted OQ such as shall be guilty of the
said heinous offence, &c." Sentence, therefore, to be
pronounced immediately after conviction; "in which
sentence shall be expressed, not only the usual judgment
of death, but also the time appointed hereby for the
execution thereof, and the marks of infamy hereby
directed for such offenders, in order to impress just
horror on the mind of the offender, and on the minds
of such as shall be present, of the heinous crime of
murder." Execution to take place the next day but
one after conviction. The judge to have power to
appoint the body to be hung in chains. "In no case
whatsoever the body of any murderer shall be suffered
to be buried, unless after such body shall have been
dissected and anatomized as aforesaid ; and every judge
or justice shall and is hereby required to direct the
same to be disposed of as aforesaid, to be anatomized,
or to be hung in chains, in the some manner as is now
practised for the most notorious offences."
It is an instructive commentary on the expectations
of the lawmakers of the reign of George the Second, who
devised "some further terror and peculiar mark of
infamy" for "better preventing the horrid crime of
murder, " that within ten days of the Cleveland tragedy
Anne Williams was burnt at a stake near Gloucester
for poisoning her husband, and that within eight days
of Smith's execution at York seven malefactors, three of
them murderers, were hanged at Tyburn. So vain is
the experiment of deterring from crime by terror and
severity. Time brought the legislation of 1752 to
nothing ; and now, when one " moral lesson " after
another has had its day, not only are dissection and
the gibbet unknown to our criminal code, but even
public executions have ceased to be; a statute having
been made in 1868— (31 and 32 Viet., cap. 24)— "to
provide for carrying out capital punishments within
prisons." And, moreover, the penalty of death, once
inflicted for offences small and great, is now confined
to the one great crime of murder.
The crime of the Broughton farmer became the subject
of a drama, from which it would appear that his unhappy
wife had married, unequally and unworthily, against her
father's will. Harper is made to say of his unmarried
daughter —
This child's obedience makes a large amends
For what another disobedient daughter did.
Ah, Rutina ! thou'st wrecked a father's peace.
One or two other facts may be gathered from the poet's
pen, to eke out the scant particulars we have been enabled
to glean from the publications of the day. The maid-
servant is represented, for example, as having seen the
son-in-law in suspicious nearness to the store of flour from
which the cake was made ; and where reference is made,
in Act V., to the recovery of the visitor — a " courteous
lady" having "interposed her aid," and "relieved the
swain " — a foot-note names this Good Samaritan as
"Lady F ."meaning, doubtless, Lady Foulis, wife of
Sir William Foulis, Bart., the Lord of the Manor. A
September '
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
387
" sage physician" had been called in, whose good offices
were not in vain.
The dramatist was Thomas Pierson, a native of
Stokesley, where his first publication appeared in 1783,
viz. : — "Koseberry Topping," printed by N. Taylerson.
His next, a volume of "Miscellanies," was printed at
Stockton, by Robert Christopher, in 1786, and contained
(with "A Poem on the Late Peace" and "A Poem in
Praise of Stockton") his tragedy of "The Treacherous
Son-in-Law."
The " Biographia Dramatica "—(we quote the edition
of 1812) — makes a note of the author's works, and states
that he "was formerly a blacksmith, a watchmaker, a
schoolmaster, &c., at Stokesley in Cleveland. He after-
wards had a little place in the custom-house at Stockton,
where he died the 8th of August, 1791." His tragedy
" was performed at Stokesley under the author's inspec-
tion." His "Roseberry Topping" was reprinted at
Stockton, in 1847, by Jennett and Co., under the editor-
ship of John Walker Ord, the historian of Cleveland,
who prefixed a kindly notice of the writer, in which he
says: — "The style of his composition is throughout
vigorous, manly, and unaffected ; the versification
copious, harmonious, and correct ; whilst a healthful
imagination and playful fancy render the poem at once
elevating and attractive." Among the engraved illustra-
tion! of the little volume is one of "Ingleby Greenhow
Church"; and from the adjoining pages we make the
following extract : —
Fond Muse, come forward ! pass the sylvan glade
To Dromonby, and Kirby's site survey ;
At Broughton call; from thence to Greenhow glide,
Observe its clime, its full extent, and soil.
This corner of the county, obscure nook
Of York's North Riding, cautiously describe.
"Obscure nook, "indeed, ""this corner of the county1'
was, when Pierson wrote his poem on that picturesque
mount, "Roseberry's rude rock, the height of Topping."
He discourses, in 1783, of the pathless desert, the imper-
vious glen, the wilderness, the broken road : —
More to the south, rich Bilsdale lengthened lies,
A fertile vale, with sloping mountains graced.
The moor's ascent — (that craggy ridge o'ercrown
With weeds, wild fern, coarse brake, black heath, and
moss) —
Supplies the hamlet with its fuel brown.
Carlton high hill, or Kirby peak, the height
Of Broughton brow, here obvious meet the eye.
Those hills, like posterns, lead to caverns dire,
To dreary deserts, bogs, and broken roads,
Impervious glens, pits fathomless and foul ;
O'er precipice, morass, by Westerdale,
By Castleton, the pathless desert leads ;
To Farndale Gill the wilderness extends,
From thence to Whitby or to Scarborough spreads.
Smollett has told us how it fared with him, prior to
1771, in an excursion over the country described by
Pierson. Leaving Scarborough betimes, he set out over
the moors by way of Whitby. Not reckoning of the
roads, he purposed sleeping on the Tees; but, "crossing
a deep gutter made by a torrent, the coach was so hard
strained that one of the irons which connect the frame
snapped, and the leather sling on the same side cracked
in the middle." The nearest blacksmith had to be called
in ; and Guisbrough, not Stockton, was the novelist's
resting place for the night.
The iron ore of the district was slumbering in its
ancient bed. The sounds of the busy world beyond
were faint or inaudible in the ears of the inhabitants.
The snort of the iron horse was unknown. There was
no postman's knock. Cowper, longing for " a lodge in
some vast wilderness, some boundless contiguity of
shade," would have found among the shadows of Rose-
berry the calm retreat for which he sighed. The "folio
of four pages," with its news of the world, would not
have broken upon his solitude. Silent and serene might
have been his hermitage.
But a century has been added to the account of time ;
and not the Criminal Code alone, but the whole aspect
of England, is changed since the days of Cowper and
Smollett. A revolution has com« over Cleveland and the
world in the years that have run their course from the
time when Pierson wrote of Roseberry ; and the contrast
is made apparent by the features that are absent from his
picture. The far-stretching wires and rails have no note
in the poet's song. He depicts the outspread canvas of
"a fleet of sailing ships" on the ocean, and throws in
the "smaller vessels" that glide along the Tees. But no
steam-ship is on the waters, no locomotive engine on the
land ; and the populous borough of Middlesbrough is
without mention in the North Yorkshire poem. When
Pierson had pen in hand, the parish by the river had but
a solitary household; and its population is now numbered
by teeming tens of thousands !
£rnrtmt at tiu
j]ILLIAM CAMDEN, "the father of English
topographers, " was born in the Old Bailey,
London, on the 22nd May, 1551. His father
followed the occupation formerly known as
that of a painter-stainer, but is believed to have died
whilst the historian was yet a child. The son was
admitted into Christ's Hospital within a few years after
the establishment of that institution. He was subse-
quently placed in St. Paul's School, whence he removed
to Oxford, where he appears to have studied in more than
one college. He left the university at the age of twenty,
and was appointed under-master of Westminster School.
It was during the time he held this position that his prin-
cipal works were written. They brought him fame, and
the friendship and correspondence of the learned of his
day. He, though a layman, was made the prebend of
Ilfracombe, and in 1592 the head-mastership of West-
minster School was conferred upon him. He was also
388
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f September
raised to the dignity of Clarencieux King-at-Arms. He
was never married. He died at Chiselhurst, in Kent, on
the 9th November, 1623, and was buried in Westminster
Abbey. His monument, adorned with his bust, yet re-
mains. He accumulated wealth, and a little before his
death founded a historical lecture at Oxford, now known
as the Camden Professorship of History.
His great work is the " Britannia," a survey and topo-
graphical history of the British Isles, written in elegant
Latin. It was first published, as a small quarto volume,
in 1586. Successive editions, prepared under the author's
hand, increased in bulk until the work became a large
folio. His first translator was Philemon Holland, who
was born, singularly enough, in the same year as Camden
himself. Holland's translation of the "Britannia" was
first published in 1610. Its great merit is that it faith-
fully gives us Camden's work in the English of Camden 's
day. The " Britannia " ha? had more pretentious editors
than Holland, chief amongst whom are Bishop Gibson
and Richard Cough, in whose enlarged folios the original
Camden is almost lost. All our extracts are taken
from Holland's translation, the spelling only being
modernised.
The arrangement of Camden's great work is peculiar.
After several introductory chapters on "The First Inhabi-
tants of Britain," "The Manners and Customs of the
Britons," "The Romans in Britain," &c., &c., he divides
his account of the kingdom according to the divisions of
the ancient British tribes, with sub-divisions appropriated
to each county. His account of " the Bishoprick of
Durham " occurs in the section of his work devoted to the
Brigantes, and that of Northumberland in the section
devoted to the Ottadini.
There is nothing to show that Camden ever set foot in
the county of Durham. His description of the bishoprick
fills ten folio pages, and it would be impossible to gi ve
even an abstract of their contents within our limits. All
that we can do will be to select a few of the most remark-
able passages. He speaks of the eastern side of the county
as " yielding plenty of sea-coal, which in many places we
use for fuel." Of this now well-known substance he gives
a singular account. " Some will have this coal to be an
earthy black bitumen, others to be Oagatfs, and some
again the Lapis Thracius ; all which that great philo-
sopher in minerals, George Agricola, hath proved to be
one and the same thing. Surely this of ours is nothing
else but bitumen, or a clammy kind of clay hardened
with heat under the earth, and so thoroughly concocted ;
for it yieldeth the smell of bitumen, and if water be
sprinkled upon it, it burneth more vehemently and
the clearer ; but, whether it may be quenched with oil
I have not yet tried."
Camden gives an account of the Hell Kettles, near
Darlington, which differs materially from that quoted
from Harrison on page 374. Speaking of Darlington, he
says, "In this town-field are three pita of a wonderful
depth. The common people call them Hell Kettles,
because the water in them, by the antipcristasis or rever-
beration of the cold air striking thereupon, waxeth hot.
The wiser sort and men of better judgment do think they
came by the sinking down of the ground, swallowed up
in some earthquake, and that by &• good probable reason.
For thus we read in the Chronicle of Tynemouth : ' In the
year of our Lord 1179, on Christmas Day, at Oxenhall in
the territory of Darlington, within the Bishoprick of Dur-
ham, the ground heaved itself up aloft like unto a high
tower, and so continued all that day, as it were unmove-
able, until the evening, and then fell with so horrible a
noise that it made all the neighbour dwellers afraid : and
the earth swallowed it up, and made in the same place a
deep pit, which is there to be seen for a testimony unto
this day."'
These are not the only marvels of the county. In his
account of the river Wear he tells us that, below Brance-
peth, it "runneth down much troubled and hindered in
his course with many great stones, apparent above the
water, which, unless the river do rise and swell with great
store of rain, are never over covered ; and upon which (a
thing that happeneth not elsewhere) if you pour water,
and temper it a little with them, it sucketh in a. saltish
quality. Nay, that which more is, at Butterby, a little
village, when the river in summer time is very ebb and
shallow, there issueth out of these stones a certain salt
reddish water, which by the heat of the sun waxeth so
white, and witball groweth to a thick substance, that the
people dwelling thereby gather from thence salt sufficient
for their use."
In his account of Durham he mentions the spires which
formerly surmounted the western towers of the Cathedral,
and which are shown in certain old engravings. He also
tells us that " when the bishoprick was void" — that is,
between the death of one bishop and the appointment of
a successor — the keys of Durham Castle "were wont by
ancient custom to be hanged upon St. Cuthbert's shrine."
In his notice of the church of Chester-le-Street,
he alludes to the monuments of the Lumleys. Lord John
Lumley, he tells us, "placed and ranged in goodly order
the monuments of his ancestors in a continued line of suc-
cession, even from Liulph unto these our days ; which
[monuments] he had either gotten together out of
monasteries that were subverted, or caused to be made
anew."
Camden concludes his section on the county of Durham
by enumerating the bishops whom he considers to have
been "most eminent." These are Pudsey, Bek, Wolsey,
and Tunstall. To the last he bears a well-merited testi-
mony. " And Cuthbert Tunstall," he says, "who died in
our time, for singular knowledge in the best sciences,
sincere holiness of life, and great wisdom, approved in
domestical and foreign employments, was — without
offence be it spoken— equivalent to them all, and a singular
ornament to his native country."
September 1
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
389
In the section on Northumberland, which occupies
twenty pages, there are several allusions which show that
the great antiquary visited some parts at least of this
county. He associates the character of the country with
the character of the people in a singular way, "The
ground itself," he says, "for the most part rough and
hard to be manured, seemeth to have hardened the in-
habitants, whom the Scots, their neighbours, also made
more fierce and hardy." So inured are they, and neces-
sarily so, in the arts of war, that "there is not a man
amongst them of the better sort that hath not his little
tower or peel."
Some of Camden's references to the Roman Wall are
extremely valuable. For instance, he tells us that, in the
neighbourhood of Carvoran, near Bardon Mill, "upon a
(rood high hill, there remaineth as yet some of it, to be seen
fifteen foot high, and nine foot thick." In the same
neighbourhood is Busy Gap, "a place, " he tells us, "in-
famous for thieving and robbing, where stood some castles,
chesters they call them, as I have heard ; but," he adds,
" I could not with safety take the full survey of it for
the rank robbers thereabout."
Camden, like all the early topographers, has a dreary
account to give of Redesdale and Tindale. The former,
he says, is " too, too void of inhabitants by reason of de-
predations. Both of these dales," he continues, "breed
notable light-horsemen ; and both of them and their hills
hard by, so boggy and standing with water in the top that
no horsemen are able to ride through them : whereupon —
and that is wonderful — there be many very great heaps of
stone, called laws, which the neighbour inhabitants be
verily persuaded were in old time cast up and laid
together in remembrance of some there slain. " He tells
us of an extraordinary tribe which frequented these locali-
ties. " Here everywhere round about, in the wastes, as
they term them, as also in Gilsland, you may see, as it
were, the ancient Nomades, a martial kind of men, who
from the month of April until August, lie out scattering
and summering, as they term it, with their cattle, in little
cottages here and there, which they call sheals and
shealings."
At Haydon, the Tyne "runneth under the wooden
weak bridge." " All the glory " that Hexham then had,
in Camden's estimation, was " in that ancient abbey, a
part whereof is converted into a fair dwelling-house,
belonging to Sir John Foster." The abbey church is " a
right stately and sumptuous building." Corbridge "can
show nothing now but a church, and a little tower hard
by, which the vicars of the church built, and wherein they
dwell." At Bywell, " there is a very good weir for the
catching of salmons; and two solid piles of most firm
stone, which in times past supported the bridge, stand up
in the midst of the river."
At length the antiquary reaches Newcastle, which
" sheweth itself gloriously, the very eye of all the towns
in these parts." It is "enobled by a notable haven,
which Tyne maketh, being of that depth that it
beareth very tall ships, and so defendeth them that
they can neither be tossed with tempests, nor driven
upon shallows and shelves " ; — a very different account, by
the way, from that which honest Ralph Gardner had to
give less than a century afterwards. The town, Camden
tells us, has "by little and little increased marvellously in
wealth, partly by intercourse of traffic with the Germans,
and partly by carrying sea-coals, wherewith the country
aboundeth, both into foreign countries, and also into other
parts of England." After being fortified, the town " hath
with security avoided the force and threats of.the enemies
and robbers which swarmed all over the country, and
withal fell to trading and merchandise so freshly, that
for quick commerce and wealth it became in very flourish-
ing estate."
Two or three brief references to other places must bring
our notice of Camden to an end. Tynemouth, he tells us,
" takes great glory in a stately and strong castle." The
hermitage of Warkworth he describes as " a chapel, won-
derfully builboutof a rock hewn hollow, and wrought with-
out beams, rafters, or any pieces of timber. " The course of
the Tweed " wandereth with many a crooked winding, in
and out, among the rank riders and borderers — to give
them no worse term — whose manner is, as one saith, to
try their right by the sword's point."
,T. R. BOYLE, F.S.A.
SUtttouIt
in tftc
(Ecntuvg.
CURIOUS manuscript in the possession of the
Duke of Northumberland was printed in Lon-
don in 1768. It was entitled "The Regula-
tions and Establishment of the Household of Algernon
Percy, the Fifth Earl of Northumberland. Begun,
Anno 1512." Of this paper only a limited number of
impressions were printed, and copies are now exceed-
ingly rare. The document sets out with a list of the
horses kept at Alnwick for the use of the earl and
his family, and this list, apart from its local associa-
tion, is interesting as throwing a side light on the habits
of that time, and as showing the different sorts of horses
then in use amongst the nobility.
"This is the ordre,"so begins the list, "of the chequir
roul of the nombre of all the horsys of my lordis and my
ladys, that are apoynted to be in the charge of the hous
yerely, as to say : geutil hors, palfreys, hobys, naggis,
cloth sek hors, male hors. First, gen till hors, to stand in
my lordis stable, six. Item, palfreys of my ladys, to wit,
oone for my lady, two for her gentill-woman, and oone for
her chamberer. Four hobys and naggis for my lordjs
oone saddil, viz., oone for my lorde to ride, oone to lede
for my lorde, and oone to stay at home for my lorde.
390
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{September
1890.
Item, chariot hors to stond in my lordis stable yerely.
Seven great trottynge hors to draw in the chariott, and a
naff for the chariott man to ride ; eight. Again, hors for
my lorde Percy, his lordships son and heir. A grete
doble trottynge hors for my lorde Percy to travel on in
winter. Item, a grete doble trottynge hors called a
curtal, for his lordship to ride on out of townes. Another
trottynge gambaldynge for his lordship to ride upon when
he comes into townes. An amblynge horse for his lord-
ship to journey on dayly. A proper amblyng little nag
for his lordship when he gaeth on hunting or hawking.
A gret amblynge gelding, or trottynge gelding, to carry
his male."
Amongst the horses in this catalogue are some whose
descriptions seem to modern ideas as curious as the
special services for which they are designated. It of
course has to be remembered that in the early days of
the sixteenth century coaches were unknown, and that
journeys of any duration were all undertaken on horse-
back. When "mylordis" and "my lady" went from
Alnwick to court, they were accompanied by a number of
horses bearing their luggage and servants, though even
the highest and wealthiest nobility in those days moved
from place to place with less impediment in the way of
clothes chests and portmanteaus than besets the yearly
migration of the tradesman and his wife to the seaside in
the present day. The "gentill hors," which heads the
list, was the equivalent of our modern thoroughbred. He
was the animal of superior breed and extraction, and was
denominated "gentill" in contrast to nags of ordinary
birth. In Italy at the present time the Italians call
their families of .noblest breed "razza gentile." These
horses wert; kept for show and ceremonial use generally,
ttoough they were all trained so as to be available in war
or in the tourney lists.
Palfreys are tolerably well known from the frequency
with which this description of horse is mentioned in the
history and romances of the Middle Ages. They were an
easy conditioned horse, which from their gentleness and
agreeable paces were used on ordinary occasions by
military persons, who reserved their "gentil horses " for
the battle or tournament. These qualities also made the
palfrey a lady's horse, and as the fair sex. in default of
coaches, were obliged to make all journeys on horseback,
the palfries were usually reserved for the ladies of the
household when on travel. " Hobbys"' were strong active
horses of rather a small size. They are said to have
originally come from Ireland, but they became so much
liked and used as to become a proverbial expression for
anything of which people are extremely fond. " Naggis "
were very similar in size, quality, and employment to the
hobbys ; while the cloth sek horse was a cloak-bag horse,
and the male horse one that carried the portmanteau.
Horses to draw the chariot were not, as might be as-
sumed, coach horses, but real waggon horses, the word
chariot being from the French word charrette, from
whence our word cart is derived. A "gret dobla
trottynge hors " was a tall, broad, well spread horse,
whose best pace was the trot — double signifying broad,
big, swelled out, from the French, who say of a
broad loined filleted horse that he has "lee reins doubles "
and "double bidet."
Wtxvti £30 in Urrrtft
condition of society generally has changed
greatly since "seventy years ago." The
relations that existed between master and
man, mistress and maid, families and servants, have
undergone an entire revolution. Servants and appren-
tices were then received into the homes of their masters
and mistresses, not as mere hewers of wood and drawers
of water, but as component parts of the household.
Under such beneficent influences, the domestic servant
usually remained with the family until she married,
and even that ceremony took place from the house of
her master or mistress ; while the apprentice remained
with his old master till the latter died, when, in ninety-
nine cases out of a hundred, he succeeded him in the
business. Such would appear to have been the feelings
of mutual attachment that existed in the household of
a good old Quaker family of the name of Flounders,
who kept a butcher's shop at No. 2, Duke Street, North
Shields, "seventy years ago."
The story runs that the servant maid of the family,
having been sent to the neighbouring pant for water,
did not return in due course. The household, becoming
alarmed at her protracted and unaccountable absence,
called into requisition the services of the then public
bellman— George Moore— a man of most eccentric
demeanour generally, and one of whose characteristic
weaknesses was an inordinate indulgence of his taste
for belles httres. This worthy, then, having put his
notice into rhyme, commenced his perambulation of the
town, " crying " the girl after the following fashion : —
Lost, stolen, or strayed,
Or privately conveyed,
Mr. Flounders' servant maid :
Whoever shall return the aforesaid
Shall be handsomely repaid.
But another view of the same story is current — that the
"crying " of the maid was a touch of humour on the part
of Mr. Flounders to bring the girl home after an over-
long gossip at the pant !
This George Moore, strange and eccentric though
he was, had a rival in the "crying" profession, with
whom he was continually waging war. Moore affected
an official uniform of original shape and make, and
stuck to the orthodox bell. Roller, his rival, was an
old army man, who attracted public attention to his
September '
1890. j
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
391
announcements by means of a shrill bugle-call at the
street corners. Many were the wordy collisions that
occurred between the two old fellows. Roller had a
stock announcement that he always delivered with
much pride and in stentorian tones, something after
this manner : — "On such a date, will be run from the
George Tavern, King Street, a number of handsome and
comfortably cushioned brakes, with pic-nic parties, to
the lovely seat of the noble Lords of Delaval; whoppers
so much, clappers so much " — which latter, being inter-
preted, was understood to mean adults and youths.
About this time, too, there was a publican named
Maughan, who had a house on each side of the river —
one at North Shields, the other at South Shields.
Maughan sold his ale at lid. a gill, and was in the
habit of going over periodically to his South Side house,
in a sculler boat, to bring back the large accumulation
of farthings to bank on the North Side. This was the
circumstance that on one occasion bestowed good fortune
upon one of the oldest living tradesmen of North Shields.
When. Maughan was stepping out of the sculler boat one
day, the large brown paper bag in which he carried his
farthings gave way, and the whole of the coins fell into
the river. Our old friend, who was then but a very
young lad, and who — to use his own expression— "could
take the water like a duck," chanced to be playing rxbout
the riverside, saw the coins through the clear water, and
began to make preparations to appropriate them. He
had not got far with the undressing process, however,
before he was hailed from the wharf, and was accosted by
Maughau. "What are you up to there, young K — ? " he
shouted. "Them fardens is mine, and aa's watching
them. You can have aall that may be left when aa've
finished." The lad slowly began to don his clothing,
with a disappointed visage.
Not to lose a chance of some of the much-co>-eted
farthings, however, he told his brother of the circum-
stance, and together they went down after dark to the
scene of the hidden treasure. They dragged and dragged
till their young limbs ached again. The brother at last
gave up in despair, and our friend threw his last drag
before he, too, should follow his example and desist,
when, lo ! up came a farthing. Overjoyed even at such
a measure of luck, the boys made their way home, and
showed the "farthing" to their father, with a recital
of the circumstance that had led to the possession of it,
for a farthing was a farthing "seventy years ago."
The old gentleman could scarcely control his excite-
ment. "Come with me, lads; come with me," cried
he, seizing them and carrying them off with him to
Maughan's public-house. " Hev ye fund all yor fardens,
Mr. Maughan ?" queried the father. " Aye, aa've getten
them all tiv one, aa wad say," answered Maughan.
"Wey, then, aa've getten the one," cried the father,
excitedly ; " gie's a glass o' rum, and change that ! "
Maughan supplied the rum, and proceeded to change
the sovereign — for such the supposed " farden " was —
in some astonishment. "Nay, Mr. Maughan, it's yor
aan, sor ; ma lad fund it in the river." And then he
described the whole affair. "Wey," said Maughan,
"there was ne sovereigns amang ma fardens te ma
knowledge, and in any case aa towld the kid he could
hev aall aa left ; so here's his sovereign, and welcome,
an' ye deserve the glass o' rum for yor honesty."
And so he did. The sovereign was laid by as a "nest
egg " that was destined by the honest father to hatch
into a fortune for our friend. That fortune, he tells us,
was never realised ; but he has never wanted, and now
looks hearty and well in his green old age, whilst the
lesson he derived from the incident has been a refresh-
ing and encouraging influence in his daily dealings with
the world. J. H. M.
&artfcttrn .
j]ARTBURN is one of the finest little places
in Northumberland. It is small as regards
population and extent of dwelling accom-
modation, for there are in it only eight
houses, one of which is the vicarage. But in romantic
beauty and delicious, charming solitude llartburn would
be difficult to beat even in wide England. The village is
nearly nine miles west of Morputh, and is situated in a
swelling country above the steep banks of the Hart Burn,
a tributary of the Wansbeck. Hartburn is chiefly known
to the outside world through two of its quondam vicars--—
the Ven. Archdeacon Sharp (father of the celebrated
Granville Sharp), who improved and made .what they
are the delightful walks along the magnificently wooded
banks of the Hart, and the Rev. John Hodgson, the
historian of Northumberland. The present vicar is Mr.
Kershaw, to whom we go for the keys of the church, and
also to enjoy the view from the front door of his house.
This view can be got only from the one spot, and is
probably, of its kind, unequalled in the district : looking
down the lawn, which is closed in on each side by fine
trees and shrubberies, and the garden, which is gay with
many flowers, you have the old-fashioned church, with
several branching trees about it, and the pretty graveyard,
and, beyond, a magnificent peep view of the distance.
The vicarage itself is a very old house, and some parts of a
tower are to be found in the kitchen and in one of the
bedrooms. There is another Gothic tower in the village,
a romantic building of great age, formerly converted into
a school, now used as a residence for the schoolmaster.
Its venerable appearance is rendered all the more attrac-
tive by thick ivy which covers the walls.
The church, however, to a great extent, monopolises th«
attention of those fond of antiquarian research, no matter
in how amateurish a way. It is a spacious building, with
a square tower and flat roof, the latter supported by two
392
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/September
\ 1890.
rows of very old pillars — so old that their foundations
have slightly altered, so that no one pillar in the church is
perpendicular and none leans in the same direction as any
'other. Several quaint and interesting bits of carving are
found on these columns, and on one is the representation
of a fish, among the earliest emblems of Christianity.
The shafts also appear to have been reduced in
girth by tome prentice hand, and have been cut
all crooked. The roof also is crooked, and it is a
crooked church altogether, but none the less interesting
for that.
All will admire the lovely marble monument by
Chantrey in the chancel, erected to the memory of Lady
Bradford, the wife of General Sir Thomas Bradford, who
led one of the brigades in the Peninsular War, two of his
banners, faded and tattered, being still preserved in the
church. Then there is the tombstone of Hodgson, the
historian : —
In cctmitcrio
quod extra jacent sepulti
JOHiXXKa IIODOSOH, A.M.,
Hujus ecclesia vicarius cui plurimum
debet Northumbria
qualis erat testatur vita in puMicum cdita
obiit XII Junii anno salutis
MDCCCXLV.
fctatis suae LXV.
The font in the church is a plain and curious one,
evidently of great age. It ia a simple basin, unadorned by
any unnecessary carving, standing on a centre shaft and
three pillars, and these rest on a base of three circular
steps, the three being
probably emblematic
of the Trinity. In the
churchyard are several
interesting grave-
stones, one bearing a
carving of two spades,
obviously being that
of a sexton. Almost
buried in the turf, too,
is a fine Saxon stone
coffin, with a special
place carved out for
the head. The grave of the historian Hodgson, whose
memorial tablet is in the church, is to be found in the
churchyard.
Leaving the church, we go towards the wood, which is
part of the glebe lands. You enter by a small wicket
near the Gothic tower, and immediately find yourself in
a luxurious wood, the path through which takes you to the
brink of a steep precipice, at the foot of which the Hart
babbles in its rocky bed. All kinds of trees are in pro-
fusion, and some of the finest are firs and larch,
which tower to a great height with stems perfectly
straight. There are four remarkably lofty firs planted at
the corners of a square, at such a distance that their
branches form a canopy overhead, under which Dr. Sharp
used to have a small pavilion, where doubtless he would
r
September \
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
393
spend many an afternoon in reading and contemplation.
Two other magnificent firs, straight as an arrow, are
supposed to be the biggest firs in the county : hence
they are called the King and Queen of Northumberland.
Gradually the walk brings us down the richly wooded
bank to the brink of the stream, and here is the grotto,
also a bit of Archdeacon Sharp's work, though it is only
in part artificial, nature having suggested the idea and
partly carried it out. There seems once to have been
a quarry here, and a chamber has been cut out of the
solid rock, and then it has been walled up, with neat
masonry, to represent a hermitage. The place is most
romantic and picturesque, and reminds one of the similar,
though larger, hermitage at Knaresborough. It is sur-
rounded with trees and flowers and ferns, aud grasses
grow on the sides of the cliff, so that the whole is now
overrun by nature. Inside, the chamber is neatly built,
possessing even a fireplace, and a fine one too. Under-
neath the footpath is a subterranean chamber leading
from the grotto to the river, the place having been used
as a dressing-room for bathers. A deep pool has
been hollowed out in the bed of the burn, so that there is
plenty of room for a cool and enjoyable bath.
Bolam, which lies a few miles to the south of Hart-
burn, is a small, irregular village, with nothing in it
worthy of special note but the church ; though the pretty
woodland scenery that surrounds it on all sides and the
unique view northwards must be counted among its
charms. The church is an ancient one, and contains a
Knight Templar's effigy in stone. The whole edifice is
very interesting, and parts of an old Norman building
remain. In the village are two camps, variously conjec-
tured to be of Roman and Saxon origin. There used to be
a castle, on the site of which Bolam House now stands.
This was surrounded by a double vallum and ditch, traces
of which are still to be seen. Not far from the village,
too, is the track of the old Eoman road, the Devil's
Causeway, an offshoot of Watling Street.
The view northwards and westwards from the church-
yard at Bolam is splendid. No draughtsman, no painter,
either in words or in oils aud pigments, can at all
adequately represent it as we saw it in the calm, clear
light of a sweet summer's evening. V.
STite JUaftcrf at
jjN the 2nd June, 1827, there died, in the
city of New York, an aged gentleman
named John George Leake. He had for
many years lived the life of a bachelor
rec'.use, having, so far as was known, no near
relatives, and maintaining but little intercourse with
his neighbours. His humble wants were attended to
by one male and one female servant. He had one
friend named John Watts, and, with the exception
of his broker and his doctor, this gentleman was the
only person ever admitted to his house during the
later years of his life.
The gossip of the locality set him down as a wealthy
394
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{September
1890.
miser, and this was true; but when his life was ended,
the public had satisfactory reasons for regarding him as
having been a very philanthropical misanthropist. If
his iron chest contained bonds, title-deeds, jewellery,
and gold, it also contained a will, over the generous
dispositions of which the old man's heart must have
gloated quite as fondly as it could do over the accu-
mulated treasure. He exhibited the traditional instincts
of the miser so far as to visit day by day the secret and
well -guarded receptacle of his riches ; but there can be no
donbt that he estimated each coin and each parchment
by the blessings they might bring to mankind after he
was gone. Shortly before his death he had been assisted
by his domestics to pay a farewell visit to his secret hoard,
and on that occasion he had possessed himself of certain
papers which he carefully committed to the flames. What
these papers were can only be conjectured, but there is a
strong probability that they would have supplied clues to
his origin and connections, and by destroying them he
hoped to preclude litigation when he should be no more.
If that was his object, his prudent arrangement signally
failed. He was by profession a lawyer, and it has almost
passed into a proverb that lawyers are careless in the
matter of their own testamentary arrangements.
When he died, his treasure chest was opened by his
one friend, Mr. Watts, in the presence of the servants,
and between the leaves of a farm book was found an
elaborate and neatly-engrossed will ; but, unfortunately,
it was neither attested nor signed. The will purported
to bequeath all his real and personal estate to Robert
Watts, the son of his friend, on condition that he took
the surname of Leake. Failing this, or in case of his
death before attaining the years of majority, the whole
of his property was to be vested in trustees for a great
and noble purpose. The trustees were all official — that
is to say, they were to be holders of certain offices, and
their successors. These officers were the Mayor and
Recorder of New York, the rector and churchwardens
of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and the eldest or
presiding ministers of the Dutch Reformed and Presby-
terian Churches in that city. The whole estate was to be
administered in such wise that, while the principal
remained intact, the interest, rents, and profits were to
be devoted to the erection and maintenance of an orphan
house. All parentless children, without reference to the
religion or native place of their dead parents, were to be
eligible, and they were to be wholly maintained until
they arrived at an age for going into trade or service.
The will was, of course, little better than waste parch-
ment as regarded the landed property held by the
deceased ; but, after much discussion in the law courts of
the United States, it was decided that the real estate
must escheat to the State, while the personal estate
should pass in accordance with the clearly expressed
intentions of the devisor.
Shortly after this decision, young Robert Watts died.
He had survived his majority; but, having failed to
change his name, he was not in a position to devise
any interest in the Leake property. His father was
advised that he might inherit if he complied with the
condition by changing his name ; but, emulous of the
fame his deceased friend would derive from the conse-
cration of his wealth to the service of the orphan, he
surrendered all pretensions to kinship; and in reward
for his generous concession, his name was by Act of
Congress permanently associated with that of Leake in
the designation of the orphanage, which, however, owing
to the restriction from using any part of the principal,
the trustees were not able to erect for many years. It
was not, indeed, until 1843 that the magnificent Leake
and Watts Orphan House, for 400 children, was opened.
The unselfishness of Mr. Watts did not deter certain
other parties from pressing their claims, real or imagin-
ary, on the notice of the courts. From Newcastle-on-
Tyne came Mr. Joseph Wilson to try bis luck. From
Devonshire came the Rev. W. Leake on a similar errand.
Three Americans advanced pretensions more or less
plausible. But the main body of claimants came from
the land of clans and cousinship. Scotland furnished
twenty-one relatives of somebody or other who might
or might not turn out to be identified with the Leake
of New York who had left such a heap of bright dollars
behind him. All the claims of all the claimants were
referred to a committee of the New York House of
Assembly, and after eleven years of patient investigation
they reported that it was impossible to say who were
the grandparents of the deceased John George Leake.
The English claimants were dismissed with the remark
that they had no evidence of identity to offer beyond the
fact that Leake's father had lived for a short time at
Bedlington after his return from military employment
at Cape Breton. The Scotch claimants were divisible
into three classes, each of which represented a different
family of Leakes, Lakes, or Leaks, and claimed accord-
ingly. The committee declined to estimate the relative
worth of the several claims, contenting itself with de-
claring that none of the claimants had proved any case
for setting aside the informal will. Public opinion was
thoroughly with the committee when it dwelt on the
absurdity of surrendering the property to people who
had no manner of claim upon the testator founded in
natural affection, and who by their own admission never
knew of his existence till he had passed away ; especially
as there was evidence to show that Leake himself often
mourned the fact of his lack of relatives, and had sought
to remedy this lack by perpetuating his name in the
family of his earliest, latest, and almost only friend,
John Watts, whose sister had married his brother
Robert William, with whom he formed a friendship
while yet they were boys at Bedlington, and who was
his fellow-clerk in the office of Mr. DuanO) barrister,
residing in Pilgrim Street, Newcastle, as far back as
September", 1
1890. ]
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
395
1768. It was on the recommendation of this committee
that the bill was passed which finally disposed of the
matter in favour of the poor orphans. Thus the cloud of
claimants was scattered for ever.
Yet it is scarcely conceivable that John Watts could
not, if he had been so inclined, put the committee on the
right track. He must have known many clues to the
truth, if not, indeed, the whole facts of the case. How-
ever, he must have preserved a decorous silence, and,
perhaps, all things considered, it was as well that he did.
But that is no reason why others should hold their peace
if they have anything to telL Whatever is said now can
have no effect on theLeakeand Watts Orphanage ; but it
connot fail to interest large numbers of people to learn
something of the connection that existed between the
benefactor of New York and the ancient shire of Bedling-
ton. We propose, therefore, to sketch the life of the
father of John George Leake, who figures alike in local
and imperial history as Commissary Leake.
The fountain head of the family, so far as it can be
traced, was William Leake, of Newcastle, a wealthy
maltster, who spelt his name Leek, and who held landed
property in the parish of Long Benton. His youngest
son, by a first marriage, was Robert Leek or Leake.
This youth quitted home at an early age for a military
career. Probably his father's second marriage had some-
thing to do with his unsettled disposition. At all events,
he was a trooper in the King's Life Guards during the
Dutch campaign, and was severely wounded at the
battle of Dettingen, where King George the Second was
in command. The engagement had been so fearful that
at nightfall both armies retired from the field without
much certainty as to the real issue of the fight — the French
retreating to Offenbach, and the English to Hainau.
Thousands of slain and wounded were left uncared for
through the stormy night. In the morning, a detach-
ment of the French returned to bury the dead and
succour the wounded. The English wounded were made
prisoners. Their wounds and long subsequent exposure
to the pelting rain brought on a malignant fever, and
poor Leake had a narrow escape for his life. Indeed, he
was accustomed to attribute his recovery to the assiduous
kindness of a Dutch woman and her daughter. When at
length he was restored to liberty and some measure of
health, it was remembered of him that he had exhibited
great valour and sustained all his injuries in his efforts to
save the standard from falling into the hands of the foe.
The king himself having been in command was an addi-
tional reason for marking such heroism with the royal
favour. He was, however, not promoted until some time
later.
Instead of returning to Newcastle, or Benton, or Bed-
lington, where his father was residing with his second
wife and family, he retired to Campsie, near Stirling,
where he occupied himself with school-keeping. Here he
was quietly pursuing his new calling in 1745, when the
irruption of the Pretender into the Lowlands threw the
whole kingdom into confusion and alarm. The militia
were of course called out for active service, and, natur-
ally, an old soldier, and, moreover, one who had sustained
honourable wounds under the very eye of the Hanoverian
king, would be sure to find something to do. He was
presented with a commission as second lieutenant of
the company commanded by Mr. James Dunbare of
Mochrum. Events hurried to a crisis with storm-like
rapidity ; but the brave lieutenant was equal to the occa-
sion. He was employed as artillerist in the defence of
Stirling Castle, under the command of Major-General
Blakeney. The siege being raised by the rebels on the
approach of the Duke of Cumberland, the garrison was
embodied with the duke's army, and Leake was trans-
ferred to field-service. It is almost certain that he dis-
tinguished himself at the decisive battle of Culloden.
When the war was over, Leake returned to England ;
but in the course of a few months he was appointed Com-
missary at Cape Breton. His commission was dated 18th
February, 1747. He held this post nearly three years,
when he was put upon half-pay, and on his return to Eng-
land he married. After some six years of rest and
domestic happiness on his small estate at Bedlington, he
lost his wife. In Bedlington Churchyard is a tombstone
with an inscription as follows : — "Here heth the remains
of Margaretta, the beloved wife of Robert Leake, Esq.,
Commissary-General of his Majesty's forces in North
America, who departed this life the 12th May, 1754,
aged 32 years. Also Edward, their youngest son."
Three months later, 1754, Captain Leake was once more
summoned to active service, this time as commissary in
the army of General Braddock. After the disaster of the
Monongahela, he became Commissary-General for the
Colonies.
Captain Leake had left three sons in England, of whom
the eldest was John George. Of the three sons, two were
educated at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle, living
with Mr. Doubleday in the Forth at the time ; and John
George studied for the legal profession under the celebrated
Matthew Duane. (See ante, page 302.) These children,
so far as can be ascertained, he never saw again.
When he settled in New York, he married a second
time, but he had no family from this union. At the close
of the year 1773 the Commissary passed away, universally
respected. The New York Gazette of 3rd January, 1774,
thus alluded to the event : — " Tuesday morning last died
at his seat in the Bowery, in the 54th year of his age,
Robert Leake, Esq., Commissary-General of North
America. He was long a faithful servant to the Crown,
a loving husband, tender parent, one of the best masters,
and a friend to all tradesmen. His remains were interred
in the family vault in Trinity Church yesterday evening,
attended by a great concourse of the inhabitants and of
the military." It would seem from this that the Com-
396
MON1HLY CHRONICLE.
/September
\ 1890.
miasary was not only a person of official importance, but
also of wealth.
Some time after his decease, his son, John George, pro-
ceeded from England to take possession of his rightful
inheritance, and he managed, as we have seen, to make
such good use of his property that he died a millionaire
some fifty-three years later.
ffintsnmt Qtamtittt,
MADAMK TOMSETT.
j]ADAME TOMSETT, a well-known Tyneside
soprano, is a native of Sunderland. At an
early age she was found to possess a pheno-
menally full and round voice. Before reaching her
teen.s she was taken in hand by Canon Bamber for his
choir at the Catholic
Church, Bridge Street,
Sunderlaucl, where she
was a leading singer
for some years. She
first took lessons with
the late Mr. Robert
Ferry, a prominent
local basso, who sub-
sequently engaged her
to lead the chorus of
the Sunderland Phil-
harmonic Society. On
the occasion of that
body giving a per-
formance of Handel's
"Alexander's Feast," the solo soprano from London
became indisposed before the concert commenced, and,
at a moment's notice, Hiss Tomsett was called upon
to take her place, which she did with the greatest
credit and to the satisfaction of the audience.
After remaining with Mr. Ferry for some time, it
was decided to send the youthful vocalist to London
to acquire a thorough musical training. She was placed
under the late Dr. Wylde, principal of the London
Academy of Music, where she also received lessons in
singing from Signor Lablache, who entertained a high
opinion of her Vocal powers. After barely nine months
tuition, she was entered as a candidate to compete for
the Crystal Palace prizea at the National musical
meetings, among other competitors at that time being
Miss Leonora Braham, Miss Bolingbroke, Miss Adeline
Paget, Miss Jessie Jones, Mr. Leslie Crotty, and Mr.
Herbert Thorndike. Notwithstanding that she had had
much less experience than the other competitors, she
managed not only to sing into the first half-dozen who
were selected for final adjudication, bat carried off the
certificate for "excellence in singing, voice, and expres-
sion " (similar to that won by Mr. Crotty in the baritone
class), which certificate was signed by the judges. Sir
Julius Benedict, Luigi Arditi, and Wilhelm Ganz. The
London papers were very lavish in their praise of the
wonderful progress the Sunderland soprano had made
in so short a time. The Stcmdard said :— " Miss Tomsett
was nervous, but the resonant qualities of her beautiful
ringing voice completely filled the Crystal HalL This
young lady is a student of the London Academy, and
her progress is nothing short of marvellous, considering
that she has received scarcely a year's tuition. A
brilliant future is before this vocalist if she but
husbands the splendid resources at her command."
Miss Tomsett afterwards sang with great acceptance
at Gresham College for Dr. Wylde ; at the St. James's
Hall and Crystal Palace concerts with Mr. Mann's
orchestra (notably on the occasion of the first visit of
the Shah of Persia) ; at operatic recitals with Madame
Elena Coraui and Mr. J. W. Turner ; at Signor Arditi's,
and elsewhere. Instead of remaining in London, how
ever, she returned home, and her services have since been
much in request for oratorios and concerts in the North of
England and in Scotland. For some years she has been
principal soprano at St. Michael's Catholic Church, New-
castle. She married a local journalist, Mr. William Heenan,
and has a daughter who is already a talented pianist.
The accompanying portrait is from a photograph by
Mr. James Bacon, of Northumberland Street, Newcastle.
QTuatr
JRACTICAL jokes in pottery, known as toad
mugs, were familiar to our grandfathers.
But they are now mere curiosities, preserved
here and there by old people among other
relics of the past. Two facts seem to be certain about
them — first, that they were largely manufactured in the
North of Enjrl.ind. chiefly in Newcastle ; and, second,
that they were generally decorated with rough drawing)
illustrative of the naval prowess of Great Britain.
The sketch here given shows the interior construction
September 1
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
397
of the toad mug. A moulded figure of a toad was at-
tached to the side of the vessel, so that the drinker as
he drained the contents of the mug only became aware
that his friends were having a joke at his expense when
he had nearly finished his draught. The earthenware
reptile, it will be seen, was sufficiently natural to startle
and disgust the unhappy person upon whom the hoax
had been played. The drawing here given was made
from a mug which was lent to us by Mr. K. Sheel, of
Low Fell, Gateshead.
As to the exterior decorations of these singular mugs,
the following extract may be quoted from an article on
"Carious Old China "which appeared in All the Year
Bound for 1875 :—
In a pint mug of coarse ware, coated outside with
orange-coloured enamel, appeared two full-length portraits
of Lord Rodney, and an oval medallion, with a ship laid
on in cream-coloured paste, tinted green. The vessel re-
presented is De Grasse's flagship, Ville de Paris, taken by
Rodney in 1782. The famous "Rodney jug," made at
Derby, is richly ornamented, and, by a quaint fancy, the
head of the hero, topped by a mighty three-cocked hat.
is made to form the spout. Liverpool, Newcastle, and
other English potteries never tired of doing homage to
Britannia, the Wave Ruler. Punch bowls were painted
with a ship in full sail, and, above it, the rather mildly
punning motto, "Success to Friend"; and quart mugs
were painted in black, with Duncan's ship, the Venerable,
towing De Winter's ship, Vryheid, and inscribed with the
following verse : —
Vain are the Boasts o! Belgick's sons,
When faced by British ships and guns—
Tho* de Winter does in Autumn come,
Brave Duncan brings his harvest home,
As might have been expected, the gallant Nelson figured
on pint and quart mugs, with " Victory," and other
mottoes. His glory was also set forth in those curious
mixtures of sentiment and fancy, called "frog mugs."
The exterior of the Nelson " frog mug" is painted black,
with monument and trophies in honour of Lord Nelson,
while in the inside lurks a roughly-modelled frog-coloured
" proper." The reptile is represented climbing up the
inside of the vessel, so that as the liquid is drunk the
creature appears to be leaping into the drinker's mouth.
Jokes against tithe-collecting clergymen, Scotchmen, and
printed on a barrel-shaped pint mug ; the con-
struction of the bridge over the Wear at Sunder-
land was also celebrated in poetry and pottery ;
the life of the sailor and eke that of the farmer
were extolled in the like fashion. But the happiest
efforts of the potter were dedicated to events of great
national importance. A quart jug in white ware is
decorated on one side with a haymaking scene ; on the
other side is John Bull seated on a column inscribed
"The British Constitution," and looking across the
Channel at Napoleon weeping at the loss of the flotilla by
the aid of which he hoped to invade England. The Em-
peror cries, "Oh, my poor, crazy gunboats! why did 1
venture so far from home ? " and John Bull replies, " I
told you they would be all swamp'd, but you would be so
d d obstinate." The whole is inscribed "Patience on
a Monument Smiling at Grief," with the following dis-
tich : —
The mighty chief, with fifty thousand men,
March'd to the coast, and march'd back again.
Ha ! ha ! ha !
The mug figured in our third illustration was manufac-
tared to commemorate the gallant exploit of Jack Craw-
ford, the Sunderland sailor, in nailing the colours to the
mast at the Battle of Camperdown.
in
others, were embodied in china and pottery. " Here's
to the Maiden of Bashful Fifteen," was straightway
N the northern parts of Lancashire and York-
shire, pack horses (galloways) were used as a
means of conveying merchandise, such as coal,
wool, lime, malt, and corn, until about 184-0, when the
Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway was opened. A
"gang of galloways" consisted of twelve or fourteen
horses. They always walked in single file, the first horse
wearing a collar of bells, and being known as the "bell
horse." They would start on a journey at four o'clock in
the morning, each horse with a pack upon its back,
secured there by a "wanta" — a broad webbing belt, with
ropes and hooks at both ends. First the webbing went
under the horse, for ease; then the ropes went over the
398
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{September
1890.
pack, under the horse, and fastened to the hooks. When
light flag-stones or slatea were required to be carried, a
" hook seam " was attached to the pack saddle by means
of a staple.
After starting, the horses would generally be allowed
to eat grass by the roadside, or in the open spaces, as they
went along ; but when the drivers considered they had
had sufficient, they would put on the muzzles, which
were like those of dogs, only a little more square. If the
bell horse, while grazing, happened to get behind the
others, as soon as it was muzzled it knew that the real
travelling for the day had commenced, and would bore
and push until its own honoured place as leader was
gained. The bells that it wore were seven in number-
one ordinary shaped bell in the middle, and three round
ones on each side. These had a small slit at the bottom,
through which a little molten metal had been poured
to form a tongue. The bells were fixed to a leather
collar, which was fastened to the top of the pack saddle,
and hung loosely across the shoulders, so that they rang
with every movement of the horse. Occasionally the men
would walk a mile ahead in order to have a pipe and
pint at some well-known public-house. The "gals " quite
understood this proceeding, and (if they were muzzled)
would jog along as if the drivers were by their sides.
If the drivers were going on more than one day's
journey, they would " put up " for the night at some
wayside inn. First they would unfasten the " wantas,"
throw down the packs in a sheltered yard, take off the
muzzles, and turn the horses into the "croft" or
"paddock." Next day they would be up and away
again very early. The roads they travelled were flagged
in the middle with one broad stone, and were known as
"Bridle Styles." I have heard them called "saddle
roads," on account of the stones becoming so worn that
they resembled a saddle, and also "Roman roads,"
because the Romans laid the long line or single stones
for water to run down.
Filling the packs and loading the "gals" was very
heavy work ; consequently, the farmers selected strong
men for drivers. Their meals consisted chiefly of hung
beef and fat bacon fried together, with about two quarts
of "home-brewed" and thick oat-cakes. While this was
being eaten, the farmer's wife would make the "whaff."
This was done by putting oatmeal, treacle, and cream
into the same pan ; after frying a little while, it was
rolled into balls, and eaten either hot or cold. The
drivers generally dressed in knee breeches and calfskin
vests, and always carried a good-sized thick stick.
When they were returning from a journey, their wives
listened for the tinkling of the bell horse, as a sign to
prepare the supper, which would be ready when they
arrived home.
A friend, whose father kept pack horses, has given
me most of my information. His father's "gals," he
told me, generally carried malt, but sometimes they
took coals to the out-of-the-way houses on the hill-sides
and on the moors, where horses and carts could not go.
Such events were always marked by some little festivity
by the farmers, for to have a "gang of coal " was con-
sidered quite an event. In the " clipping time " donkeys
also were used as carriers, when sometimes as many as
forty packs of wool would be carried at once.
S. EMILY LUMB.
[]AMES ALEFOUNDER was the first postman
ever employed in Newcastle. A lithograph,
published in July, 1824, has preserved his
dress and features. The postman is there represented to
be delivering a letter addressed to H. P. Parker at the
door of the artist in Brunswick Place, where also T M.
Richardson then resided. From this circumstance it is
presumed that the drawing was made by Parker. Our
September 1
1890. f
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
399
sketch of Alefounder is taken from a copy of the litho-
graph, loaned to us by Mr. Matthew Mackey, Jun.
UR North-Country records contain the names
of few, or, indeed, of any, women who have
excelled in painting. But within recent years
number of students, who have done credit to the teach-
ings of their masters. Amongst them may be mentioned
Miss Agnes Pringle, daughter of Mr. Thomas Pringle,
who was associated for many years with the Tyneside
firm of Hawks, Crawshay, and Co. Miss Pringle's first
lessons were received from Mr. Way when she was
about twelve years of age. She also studied under Mr.
Robinson Elliott, without, however, severing her con-
nection with her first master. Miss Pringle entered
the Royal Academy in January, 1882. Towards the close
of her first year she gained the first medal for the best
set of drawings from the antique, also the premium for
the best drawing of a statue. In 1883 she again secured
the premium for the best model of a statue. Miss
Pringle's pictures have since been seen in the exhibitions of
the Royal Academy, the Royal Institute of Painters in
Water Colours, the Royal Society of British Artists, the
principal provincial exhibitions, and many private metro-
politan galleries.
, Castle, atttf
there have issued from Schools of Art, such as that
directed by Mr. William Cozens Way in Newcastle, a
j]ELSAY VILLAGE, situated some thirteen
miles to the north-west of Newcastle-on-
Tyne, is notable for nothing in particular,
except the arcaded construction of some
of its houses (shown in our engraving) and the fact
that the only inn it contains is a temperance hotel. It
is the castle and the hall near at hand that impart
interest to the village.
Though little remains of Belsay Castle but the keep,
400
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{September
1890.
an engraving of which appears on page 403, the
massive walls, topped by turrets sixty or seventy
feet in the air, have a majestic appearance. To the
keep have been added residential buildings at various
dates, the whole being surrounded with trees and garden
shrubs. (See Monthly Chronicle, 1888, page 4-4-0. ) The
castle itself dates from the reign of Edward III. ; but
the Middleton family possessed the estate much earlier,
in the twelfth century at least. In the thirteenth
century Edward I. on his way to Scotland was the
guest of the Middletons of Belsay ; but in the next
reign their relations with royalty were of a much
more unpleasant nature, for Sir Gilbert Middleton
rebelled against the king, and, after playing the very
deuce in Northumberland and Durham, was caught
and executed, and had his property confiscated. By
marrying the sole heiress of the new occupants of
the estate, however, a descendant regained Belsay
for the Middletons, and they have been there ever
since.
Halfway between the ciistle and the hall, there ia a
curious wall built of stones with interesting carvings
taken from the castle over a hundred and fifty years
ago. If we go close to the entrance to the gate
opening into Bantum Wood by the side of the road,
we can see two stone figures built into the wall.
Thesn are the torsi of warriors that probably stood
at one time on the battlements or over the gateway
of the castle, but they have been in their present
position well nigh two hundred years. To the east
of the castle, also in a field, and close to the hedge-
side, is an old market cross — an ancient looking obelisk
that has probably been removed to its present position
for the sake of protection.
In various parts of the grounds there are some magnifi-
cent trees of different kinds. At the east front of the
castle is the sturdy wreck of an old walnut tree, still
green and flourishing, though one-third of it has been
removed. Further away is a fine hedge of holly
trees over forty feet high. Round the castle there are
a number of fine elms, planes, and sycamores. In the
old castle garden are the remains of what must!
have been a very fine cedar of Lebanon. This tree
still gives one an idea of how it formerly spread out its
green, broad branches, covering an immense space ; but
the snows of the Xorth of England were too much for it
to bear, and it broke down under the burden.
Belsay Hall is south-east of the castle. It stands on
rising ground, surrounded by a fine terrace ; below, the
ground falls away from it, opening out into a deep
wooded basin, full of trees, shrubs, and rocks, with
wooded hills in the distance, and, on the right, a pros-
pect of the pretty lake and Belsay Crags beyond. Sir
Charles Miles Lambert Monck, who travelled much in
September \
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
401
Asia Minor and Greece, and lived some time in Athens,
built the mansion from his own designs, and it is a
building of simple beauty, one of the features notice-
able in it being the large size of the stones used in
its construction. It has a very tine cornice and entabla-
ture.
Close to the garden at the west end of the house is the
Quarry whence the stone was hewn for building the
hall. Sir Arthur Middleton, the present owner of the
estate, is fortunate in having had ancestors with a
taste for arboriculture ; and the result of his
predecessors' love of trees is seen in the present
beauty of the grounds. For nearly a mile the stone
has been taken out of the solid rock in deep.
narrow cuttings, winding in and out, and interlacing
almost after the fashion of a maze. The entrance to the
Quarry is through a lofty arched tunnel in the stone, and,
apparently keeping guard, several majestic trees rear their
proud heads on high. Outside and inside the Quarries
there is an amazing variety of tree life, and the different
tints of the foliage blend and contrast most picturesquely.
Underwood, ferns, brackens, shrubs, and tall, stately
trunks commingle an all sides, and are allowed to run
at random, giving the place a wild and natural look.
Yews, hollies, mountain ashes, silver birches, elms, planes,
different firs, and other coniferae, wave their branches
promiscuously in the sweet air, laden in summer with
the scent of the rhododendron. Against the black back-
ground of the yew, patches of whin and corse stand out
with a blaze of bright yellow. Vivid strong greens in
astonishing variety and profusion delight the eye, and
wild grasses, ferns, flowers, and tree roots fill up the
crevices and hide the face of the rock.
Up and down these wooded ravines one may wander,
watching how here and there the trees at the top almost
meet overhead, trying to shut out our view of the sky,
whilst before and behind, as the gorge winds, the colours
unite and make us believe we are in some deep,
precipitous cleft in the rock from which all exit is
debarred save by the opening through which the sky is
402
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f Stptrmbtr
\ 1890.
visible. Here verily is Lethe, for we are oblivious of all
save the surrounding beauty.
ii.
GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE BORDEREKS.
j]HE insecurity of their possessions made the
Borderers free and hospitable in their
expenditure, while the common danger
bound the several clans together by assur-
ances of inviolable fidelity, and even softened their
mutual hostility by the tacit introduction of certain laws
of honour and war. If they promised to conduct a
traveller safely through the district infested by them,
they would perform their promise, says an old writer,
with the fidelity of a Turkish janissary :
woe be to him that fell into their quarters
standing the occasional cruelties which
marked their mutual inroads, the people
on either side do not seem to have regarded
each other with violent personal animosity.
On the contrary, they often carried on
something like friendly intercourse, even in
times of war. The Governments of both
countries were not unnaturally jealous of
their cherishing too intimate a connection ;
and various ordinances were consequently
passed in Scotland, as well as in England,
against irregular traffic and intermarrying.
But neither law nor gospel was of much
authority within sight of the Cheviots,
except only in the halidoms, where com-
parative peace and order reigned. Even
down till the days of James the Second of
England, North Tynedale was still looked
upon as "a terra incognito, a waste of evil
repute, the haunt of thieves and Border
reivers, where no king's messenger dared
to show himself or to display the symbols
of his authority." Nay, the spirit of in-
subordination was not wholly quenched
there till a much later date, for the king's
authority was defied on several occasions
during the reigns of the first two Georges ;
and within the memory of some who were
but lately still living, as Macaulay in his
" History of England " remarks, " the
sportsman who wandered in pursuit of
game to the sources of the Tyne found the
heaths round Kieldar Castle peopled by a
race hardly less savage than the Indians of
California, and heard with surprise the
half -naked women chanting a wild measure,
otherwise,
Xotwith-
whilst the men with brandished dirks danced a war
dance." Music, songs, and ballads were the chief recrea-
tion of the Borderers. The feats of their ancestors were
celebrated in simple, strong, masculine rhyme, chaunted
to appropriate tunes. Some of these airs, such as
"Kinmont Willie," " Hobbie Noble," "Jock o' the
Side/' and "Johnnie Armstrong's Last Good Night,'' are
still famous.
MISRULE IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTBKV.
One of the oldest documents illustrative of Border
misrule is a Roll of Pleas held at'Wark, in North
Tynedale, in 1279, before justices itinerant commissioned
by Alexander III. of Scotland, to whom that regality
then belonged. From this letter it appears that plun-
dering raids were then by no means infrequent. Thus,
on the Sunday before the Feast of St. James, in the
18th year of Alexander King of Scots, John of Hamelton
and Thomas of Thirlwall plundered the good town of
Wark of thirty oxen, each of the value of 10s. ; eighteen
cows, each worth half a mark ; one bull worth half a
September \
1880. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
403
mark ; and fifteen other cattle, each of the value of 5s. ;
besides two hundred sheep, both wethers and ewes, each
valued at twelve pence ; and the said John of Hamelton
drove them to his park at Sewing Shields (Swyinscholes),
and there unjustly detained them against the king's
peace. In the township of Haltwhistle certain unknown
malefactors had broken into the house of Agnes, wife
•of William Pulayn, and bound her and her daughter
Evota, after which they carried away all their goods;
and the township, not having been able to take the
thieves, was placed at the mercy of the Crown for the
neglect of this its duty. In the same year Thomas
Russell, of Playnmellor, slew Robert, the son of Auger
of Coanwood (Collanwood), in the town of Haltwhistle,
and afterwards fled to the church and "abjured the
kingdom," that is, perjured himself, like Cacus, in the
eighth book of Virgil's ^Eneid, by denying on oath that
he had done the deed. From the north side of the fells,
Alexander of Lothian, Arthur of Galloway, David of
Clydesdale, and Hugo the Carpenter broke into the
house of William of Fenwick, in Simonburn, bound the
said William, and carried off his cattle. Some other
reivers, having broken into the house of Robert of
Unthank in Melkridge, South Tynedale. shut up Alicia
his daughter in the meal ark, probably to prevent her
giving the alarm. The clergy in those days were not
always free from the general failing of taking liberties
with other men's property. Thus, Beatrix of Whitfield
summoned Thomas the Archdeacon of Northumberland,
Master Hugo of Woodhall, John of Burton, and Thomas
of Haydon, chaplain, for robbery and receipt of felony,
&c. And the said Master Hugo and all the others
appeared, excepting Thomas the Archdeaeon ; but the
testimony of the said Beatrix was not admitted, as it
was proved by the bishop's letters-patent that she was
excommunicate. The accused, moreover, pleaded that
they were clerks, and would not, on that account,
answer to the court. Again : — Lymon the Clerk and
Richard Alpendache, clerk, broke open the house
of John the Fuller ; Richard Alpondache was taken
and imprisoned at Wark ; but afterwards, at the
assizes, was delivered over to the bishop as a clerk.
William the Clerk of Whith'eld, fled the country
for stealing a cow, and other evil deeds. Bates,
the son of William, otherwise Williamson, and Gilbert
Trutle, son of Adam with the Big Nose, fled for breaking
into the house of Emma of Whitchester. A fellow, name
unknown, who stole four geese in the town of New-
brough, and was taken in the fact, had his ear cut off by
order of Hugo de Terewithscheles, the coroner. Further
up the Tyne, they seem to have dispensed with all legal
forms. For Emma of Wenhope, near Kieldar. l>eing
taken for theft at Bellingham, was there decapitated ;
and it was proved by twelve jurors that the townships
cui off her head without first getting the coroner's order ;
whence they were "at the mercy of the crown." The
hamlets of Donkley, Thorneyburn, and Tarsethope were
amerced in twenty shillings for lynch law of the same
sort, having decapitated a nameless thief without the
coroner's sanction.
EDOM OP GORDON*.
On the Scotch side, from the thirteenth century down-
wards, the people, gentle and simple, were fully aa
turbulent and ungovernable as those on the English side.
A specimen of their ongoings there may be given in the
case of Edom of Gordon, who was deputy warden for his
brother, the Earl of Huntly, in the reign of James the
Third. Notwithstanding his responsible office, Edom
404
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/September
X 1890.
WHS one of the most unscrupulous reivers of his day and
generation. The stronghold of the Gordons was in the
upland part of Berwickshire, on a " green knowe " on the
edge of a moss, where it may still be seen ; and from it
Edom made frequent ravaging expeditions, mostly against
rival lairds, under pretence of forcing them to keep the
king's peace. In one of these he killed Arthur Forbes,
brother to Lord Forbes; and not long afterwards he
summoned the house of Rodes, near Dunse, which be-
longed to Alexander Forbes, another brother, who was
then absent. The lady of Rodes, who is said to have
been a very beautiful woman, refused to surrender the
place without the sanction of her husband, and when
summoned a second time she fired a pistol at the
marauder, grazing his knee with the bullet. Whereupon,
" Set fire to the house !" quo' false Gordon,
All wud wi' dule and ire.
This order was obeyed ; fuel was brought and piled up
against the door ; and soon every room was filled with
smothering smoke. The lady, together with her children
and servants, twenty-seven persons in all, thus perished
miserably. Forbes, according to tradition, arrived
within sight of his homestead only to see it all in a
blaze j and ere the foremost of his men could get forward.
riding at full speed, " baith lady and babes were brent.''
Gordon, however, was pursued in "hot trod." Over-
taking him on his way homewards, the bereaved husband
"wroke his dear lady in his foul heart's bluid."
THE BORDER CLANS.
North Tynedale, which was specially well plenished
with "wild and misdemeaned people," could furnish, in
case of need, some three hundred armed men, horse and
foot. There were four principal surnames or clans in
the district, whereof the Charltons were the chief. In
all services or charges impressed upon the country, the
Charltons, or such as were under their rule, were rated
for one half ; the Robsons for a quarter ; and the Dodds
and Millburns for another quarter. Of every surname
there were certain "graynes," branches, or families, the
" headsman" of which led and answered for all the rest.
The inhabitants of Redesdale, who lived rather more by
the cultivation of the soil, were richer and more numerous
than those of Tynedale, but they could not raise so many
able and active men. Their principal names were Hall,
Reed, Potts, Hedley, Spoors, Dagg, and Fletcher. Most
of these names are still of frequent occurrence in or near
the localities which they monopolised three or four hun-
dred years ago. The Ogles, Shaftoes, Fenwicks, Forsters,
Claverings, Horsleys, Herons, Tates, Thirlwalls, Feather-
•tons, Carrs, and others, who occupied different) parts
of Northumberland in clannish fashion, were only a little
more civilized and orderly under the general leadership
of the Fercies than the most remote dalesmen. The
Graemes, Nixons, Hallidays, Littles, Mnsgraves, Hens-
lies, Pyles, Irvings, and Croziers, of Cumberland and the
Debateable Land, were, on the other hand, a set of even
more incorrigible savages than the Northumbrians. The-
Elliotts and Armstrongs of Liddesdale ; the Scott?,
Kerrs, Cranstouns, Turnbulls, Rules, and Rutherfords, of
Roxburghshire, Selkirkshire, and parts adjoining ; the
Humes, Cockburns, Lauders, Lumsdens, Blythes, and
Gordons, of Berwickshire ; and the Maxwells, John-
stones, Jardines, Glendinnings, Flemings, Moffats,
&<•., of Nithsdale, and Annandale, could not easily be
surpassed in anything that goes to make up the full-
fledged reiver.
CLANNISH FEUDS.
These clans cultivated and cherished feelings of rivalry
and ill-neighbourhood that bred mutual contempt and
hate, and led to constantly recurring bloodshed on every
occasion when the partisans met, whether at games, fairs,
trystes, wapenshaws, or warden's meetings. When ven-
geance was to be sought, as was almost always the case,
for some real or supposed wrong or injury done to a clans-
man by any member, known or unknown, of another
clan, no distance, whether of time or place, would excuse
the party offending from the avenger of blood. No Corsi-
can vendetta could be more sternly, steadily, persistently,
and mercilessly carried out than a Border feud. In 1511,
Sir Robert Kerr, of Fairneyhirst, warden of the Scottish
Middle March, was slain at a Border meeting by three
turbulent Englishmen, named Starhead, Lilburn, and
Heron the Bastard. Starhead, who was the chief
offender, escaped as far as York, and for a time tried to
conceal himself. But he was sought out by two of Sir
Robert's followers, named Tare, who brought his head to-
their new master, Sir Andrew or Dand Kerr, by whom.
it was exposed at the cross of Edinburgh, in memorial
of the outrage. Lilburn was delivered up to justice in
Scotland by the English monarch, and died there in cap-
tivity. Heron, who was the natural brother of Heron of
Ford, escaped through a clever stratagem. He caused it
to be rumoured that he was dead of the plague, got into
a coffin, and had himself transported in it, so that he
passed unsuspected through the party sent to arrest him,
and afterwards kept out of the way till war occurred
between the two kingdoms. His legitimate brother,
Heron of Ford, was arrested, however, in his stead, and
delivered up to James IV. as a substitute for the real
culprit.
NORTHUMBRIANS AT FEUD.
Northumbrian gentlemen of family and fortune were
not superior to the perpetration of murders in cases of
clannish feud. In April, 1517, two members of the
house of Horsley petitioned and obtained immunity of
the Church (doubtless for a material consideration) for
having, at Gorfen, a place between Morpeth and Long-
horsley, murdered Christopher Clavering, of Calaly,
and John Carr, of Helton. There was a long-standing
feud between the Selbies of Norhamshire and the
Reveleys of the same ; also between the Rutherfords
of Rochester, and the Turpins, Pawstons, and others.
September \
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
405
for "slaughters done and not agreed for." Sir Robert
Bowes, in his report upon the state of the Borders in
1550, tells us there were then two or three such
"malicious displeasures" hanging amongst surnames in
Redesdale, as between the Andersons, the Hedleys, the
Pottses, and the Weatherheads ; and he adds, speaking
generally of the young gentlemen or headsmen of
Northumberland in his time, that "their regard for
truth in depositions about their quarrels is so indifferent
that it were perilous to give credence to them, without
the evidence of the complaining party being confronted
with that of the accused." Gray, writing a century later,
says: "The people of this country have one barbarous
custom amongst them : if any two be displeased, they
expect no law, but bane it out • bravely, one and his
kindred against the other and his. They will subject
themselves to no justice, but in an inhuman and
barbarous manner fight and kill one another. They run
together in clangs, as they term it, or names. This
fighting they call their fcids — a word so barbarous that
I cannot express it in any other tongue." Gray, it is
plain, .was no great linguist ; for elan, or dang as he
spells it, does not signify name at all. but tribe, family,
children, descendants of one father, while feid is the
same as feud, a good old Saxon word, signifying a
deadly quarrel between families or factions, leading
to a combination of kindred to revenge the death of
any of their blood on the offender and all his race.
THE MURDER OF DE LA BASTIE.
In the year 1516, the Scottish Regent, John Duke of
Albany, having enticed the Earl of Home to Edinburgh,
and seized upon, tried, and beheaded him, upon accusa-
tions which are not known, committed the wardenry
which his lordship had held to a French knight, the
Chevalier de la Bastie, remarkable for the beauty
of his person and the gallantry of his achievements.
But Lord Home's friends, numerous, powerful, and
unscrupulous, were equally desirous to avenge the death
of their chief and to be freed from the dominion of a
foreigner. So Sir David Home of Wedderburn, one
of the fiercest of the name, laid an ambush for the
unfortunate warden, near Langton, in Berwickshire.
De la Bastie, seeing his life in danger, was compelled
to fly, in the hope of gaining the castle of Dunbar;
but, near the town of Dunse, his horse stuck fast in a
bog. The pursuers came up and put him to death. Sir
David Home tied the head by the long locks which the
deceased wore to the mane of his horse, rode with it
in triumph to Home Castle, and placed it on a spear
on the highest turret. The hair is said to be yet
preserved in the charter chest of the family.
A RAID OF THE KERRS.
In the month of October, 1522, the little village of
Wliitley, on the skirts of Shilbottle Moor, was visited by
a party of Merse and Teviotdale marauders, headed by
Mark Kerr, of Cessford, an ancestor of the Dukes of
Roxburghe, who, in revenge for some real or fancied
injury, had sept word to the Earl of Northumberland
that he would come within three miles of his house of
Warkworth; where his lordship then lay, and give him
light to put on his clothes at midnight. The Scots in-
tended to set the village on fire ; but there was no fire to
be had in any of the houses, and they had forgotten, it
seems, to bring flint and fizzle with them. So they
murdered a poor woman instead. The people of the
surrounding district fired the beacons, which were always
kept ready for such emergencies ; but the ruffians
managed to return home in safety.
RAIDS INTO THE J1EKSE AND TEVIOTDALE.
In revenge for this outrage, the earl let slip a hundred
of the best horsemen of Glfndale, who made a nocturnal
raid across the Tweed, retiring at daybreak. This baud
burned the town of Coldingham, with all the corn and
provisions laid up in it, to the amount of above a.
hundred marks sterling, and also burned two places
nigh adjoining thereto, called Plenderguest and the
Black Hill, and brought away 23 persons, 60 horses,
and 200 head of cattle. They intended to have also
burned Kelso, with all the corn in that already
important market town ; but day broke too Boon to
permit them; and they were fain to content themselves
with their night's work, dexterously performed SD far,
and pet back safe to Wooler by the nearest ford.
Shortly afterwards, however, " thanks to the Holy
Trinity," as a letter writer of the day expressed himself,
two of the Earl of Shrewbury's captains, Lords Ross
and Dacre, pillaged and burned Kelso, and in the
following year Dacre returned, in company with tin-
Ear! of Surrey, with about ten thousand men, and
reduced the monastery and town to ashes. Surrey
likewise stormed and set fire to Jedburgh, after a
desperate conflict ; but a panic having taken place among
his men during the night, owing to a sudden onslaught
on them by the Jed foresters, after they had concluded
that all resistance was over, he fled precipitately over
Carter Fell into Redesdale, leaving fifteen hundred
troopers' horses behind him, which the Scots secured.
The tumult was so great, that the English imputed it to
supernatural interference ; and Surrey alleged that the
devil was seen six times during the confusion, even a*
Castor and Pollux used to be seen in the old Roman wars.
The men of Teviotdale, however, followed the flying foe
right over the fells, and amply revenged the loss they had
sustained by harrying the English Border, which they
swept over like a flight of locusts, from Alnwick to
Tweedmouth and Norham. The Southrons were not
equally unfortunate, it ought to be stated, along othrr
parts of the Border line ; for the Earl of North-
umberland having "let slip secretly them of Tynedale
and Redesdale, for the annoyance of Scotland," prayiny
God to send them all good speed, Sir Ralph Fenwick led
the men of Tynedale, and Sir William Heron the mei> of
406
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{September
1390.
Rednsdale, on a foray into Teviotdale ; and on the 3rd of
October, 1523, Surrey wrote from Newcastle to Cardinal
Wolsey that he knew, by men of the country, but not as
yet by the captains, that both Fenwick and Heron had
nude "very good rodes," having gotten much inside
gear, cattle, horses, and prisoners, and returned without
loss. Whereupon King James V. of Scotland, writing to
Henry VIII., complains that the greatest of all the
"attempts " that had been made against his lieges during
the whole war had been committed upon the Middle
Marches by certain cf Henry's lieges of the surnames of
Dodd, Charlton, and Milburn, under the leadership of
Sir Ralph Fenwick, who had come within the grounds
of Teviotdale, reft and spoiled sundry goods, murdered
five men, and left others in peril oi death.
SIR RALPH FENWICK IN TYNEDALE.
On this occasion, Sir Ralph Fenwick led a willing
army against the hereditary foe; but, as has happened
to other great leaders, his supporters were soon arrayed
against him. Not ten months afterwards, he was once
more in North Tynedale, on an altogether different
errand. This time it was to apprehend William Ridley,
who had been concerned in the murder of the chief of
the Featherstonhaughs in South Tynedale. He had
with him a force of eighty horsemen, and appears to
have taken up his quarters in the tower of Tarsett.
The North Tynedale men had no goodwill to his being
there. Ridley, being an outlaw, was of course deeply
sympathised with by them. So William Charlton,
of Bellingham, who had two hundred stalwart retainers,
"bound and bodily sworn upon a book always
to take his part," assembled part of them dili-
gently, set upon Sir Ralph, hindered him of his
purpose of attacking Ridley, and chased him out of
the district, "to his great reproach." But the in-
gult thus offered to the king's majesty, in the
person of Sir Ralph Fenwick, was speedily avenged by
Lord Dacre, who seized the person of William Cbarlton,
and also took, at a wedding p.irty where he was present,
Roger Charlton, his brother, and Thomas Charlton, of the
Careteth, "by whom all the inhabitants were governed,
led, and ready at their commandment." Dacre, in his
report of this affair, describes these three as pledge-
breakers, and receivers of the stolen goods procured by
the other marauders ; and he advises that they should be
forthwith judged and executed, as they doubtless were.
THE BOBSOKS.
Immediately after the seizure of these "headsmen,"
Lord Dacre commanded the inhabitants of Tynedale to
meet him the next Sunday in Bellingham Church. The
Robsons, however, one of the surnames, held out, and
would not give pledges ; whereupon his lordship sent out
a party that night, and seized four of the surname, and
among them Robert Robson, the fourth headsman, whom
he at once, and for the terrifying of the others, executed
on the spot. WILLIAM BROCKIE.
Cite
atttf
0f
, a port of great renown, and
amongst the Registrar-General's twenty
largest towns, is, after all, if we are to speak
strictly, one of the least of places. It covers
no more than 219i acres. Almost the whole of the
great town popularly known as Sunderland is really
Bishopwearmouth ; but the municipal borough also
includes the townships of Monkwearmouth and Monk-
wearmouth Shore, whilst the parliamentary boundary
takes in the township of Southwick. To all this Sunder-
land praper bears but a very small proportion. Without
seeking to be minutely accurate, it may suffice to say that
the river Wear on the north, Sans Street and Numbers
Garth on the west, Coronation Street and Adelaide Place
on the south, and the sea on the east, are the boundaries
of the ancient township of Sunderland. If it were
possible to " beat the boundaries" — which it is not, since
they pass through many private houses and other inac-
cessible places — the whole circuit could be traversed in a
journey of about two miles. But whilst confining our-
selves to the southern side of the river, we must include
Bishopwearmouth in our present conception of Suuder-
land.
Bishopwearmouth emerges from the dim shades of
antiquity in the will of King Athelstan, who died in 940.
He says, " I give to St. Cuthbert (meaning thereby the
bishop and monks then established at Chester-le-Street),
the delightful town of South Wearmouth, with its appen-
dices, that is Weston (Westoe), Offerton, Silksworth, the
two Ryhopes, Burden, Seaham, Seaton, Dalton, Dalden,
and Heselden, which places the malignity of evil men
long ago stole from St. Cuthbert." That Sunderland is
not mentioned in this enumeration of the appurtenances
of Bishopwearmouth shows, I think, that it had then
no distinct existence. Indeed, it is not till we reach the
twelfth century that we meet with any certain mention
of it, and possibly not by name even then. There is a
Sunderland mentioned in Bishop Pudsey's great »urvey
the Boldon Buke, which, from a reference to a mill-dam, I
am strongly disposed to identify with Sunderland-by-the-
Bridge, near Croxdale. There also we may probably
seek for that Sunderland wherein a woman, named
Sierith, was freed from a fever which troubled her twice
every day, by the good offices of the Saint of Finchale,
as we are told in Reginald's "Life and Miracles of St.
Godric." Even in the important charter granted by
Pudsey, between 1163 and 1186, to the burgesses of
Wearmouth, which implies in some of its grants the then
existence of an important port. Sunderland is not men-
tioned. When, in the next century, we come to the
charter of Henry III., we still find that Sunderland is not
named. The earliest employment of the name Sunder-
September X
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
407
land which I have met with that can with certainty I e
identified with the Wearside port occurs in a monetary
account of the year 1311, wherein Bishop Bek's receiver
renders a statement of the sums he had received from the
fee farms of the boroughs of Darlington, Auckland
Gateshead, Wearmouth, Sunderland, and Stockton. In
135* we find Bishop Hatfield leasing the borough of
Sunderland, with its fisheries, to Richard de Hedworth
for a period of twenty years, at an annual rent of 20s. A
long series of similar leases follows.
During the civil wars of Charles I. Sunderland was a
place of considerable importance. Whilst Newcastle was
garrisoned by the Royalists, Sunderland was held by the
Parliamentarians, whence they sallied forth to the battle
of Boldon Hill. Surtees has preserved a fragment of
what he calls "a genuine Sandgate ballad," which
evidently alludes to the opposing military attitudes of the
great boroughs of the Tyne and Wear.
Ride through Sandgate both up and down,
There you'll see the gallants fighting for the crown ;
All the cull cuckolds in Sunderland town,
With all the bonny bluecaps, cannot pull them down.
Sunderland possesses few objects of antiquarian in-
terest. The old church of Bishopwearmouth was almost
totally destroyed in 1806, when the present edifice was
built. Of the older structure the local historians tell us
" the architecture was supposed to be as old as the days
of Athelstan " ; but such fragments as remain are not
earlier than the thirteenth century, and from Hutchin-
?on's description it is clear that no part was much older.
In the immediate vicinity of the church is a large open
space, still known as "The Green." Round this green
the primitive vill of South Wearmouth gathered. The
green was an indispensable feature of every village settle-
ment ; but in most cases, as the village developed into a
town, this space became too valuable to be allowed to re-
main unoccupied. Bishopwearmouth is fortunate in still
retaining this interesting remnant of its earliest times,
which also, I rejoice to add, yet retains its greenness.
The parish church of Sunderland is neither an ancient
nor a modern edifice. It was built in the days of Queen
Anne, and \i a genuine example of the church architec-
ture of that period. It does not occupy the site of any
earlier edifice, for Sunderland itself was only made a
parish by Act of Parliament in 1719. It is a large brick
structure, and retains almost all its original fittings,
amongst which are the royal arms and those of Bishop
Crewe. A more gloomy and depressing interior it would
be hard to find.
The Town Moor of Sunderland must not be forgotten
—formerly an open green space, of about seventy acres,
at the east end of the town, whereon the burgesses and
stallingers had the privilege of stints, and whereon, too,
at one time, annual races were held. The rights of the
burgesses and stallingers were a repeated and fruitful
cause of litigation. But the moor, at least so far as
its stints are concerned, is now a thing of the past ; and
though a large part of it yet remains an open space— the
especial freehold of the juvenile footballers and cricketers
of the neighbourhood — scarcely a patch of grass is left.
Of modern Sunderland strangers are often led to form
a very unfavourable impression. A guide book, which is
generally considered authoritative, gives the following?
description : — "Sunderland ranks high among British
seaports, but the whole town is black and gloomy m the
extreme, and the atmosphere is so filled with smoke
that blue sky is seldom seen, especially in the lower
part of the town, which consists for the most part
of a mass of small, dingy houses, crowded together,
SOUTH QUAY, SUNDERLAND.
410
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f September
\ 1890.
intersected by lanes rather than streets.
Dirt is the distinctive feature. Earth, air,
and water are alike black and filthy." It ia
needless for me to say that this account is
libellous. Without claiming that Sunder-
land is in any sense Arcadian, or even that
it is one of the most desirable places in
England for residence, it is yet fair to say
that sunshine penetrates its skies as fre-
quently as it does those of most towns of
its size, that some of its streets are broad,
well formed, and cleau, and that it has
good shops, pleasant suburbs, and hundreds
of excellent houses. Of other advantages
I shall speak presently. Some years ago I
was travelling to the North. One of the
occupants of the same carriage was a
Yorkshireman, whose home was in the
West Riding. He was a victim of asthma.
He was on his way to Sunderland, where,
he told me, he had spent a few weeks in
every year for many years past. The air of
Sunderland did him more pood, he assured
me, than the air of Scarborough, Southport,
or Buxton.
The principal street of Sunderland is the
High Street, which stretches in a waved
line from near the parish church of Bishop-
wearmouth, almost to the docks at the east
end of the town — a distance of more than
a mile. It seems hard to realize that not
more than a century ago part of this street
was still a country road, bounded by green
hedgerows. Hutchinson, writing about
the year 1785, speaks of the ground which
borders High Street being' "now eagerly
sought after by persons of opulence and
trade, who have arranged handsome villas
on each side of the road, so that in a few
years the buildings of these places will
meet. " Where are those handsome villas
now? Two of our engravings are views in
High Street. One of these, "Upper High
Street," shows the best and busiest part of
the thoroughfare. The spectator is looking
westward, and a little before him, on the
right, Bridge Street branches off, leading
by the famous Sunderland Bridge to the
neighbouring town of Monkwearmouth, and
to the roads to Shields and Newcastle. Our
second view of the same street, "Lower
High Street," depicts a more shady neigh-
bourhood, a neighbourhood which grows
more shady still as we go forward in
the direction in which we are looking.
The building on our left, with the arcade
BODLEWELL FERRY, SUNDERLAND.
September \
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
411
of open arches, U the old Exchange, built in 1813, and
now used as a Seamen's Institute, whilst the street
which branches off on the same side a little further
away — Bodlewell Lane — leads down to a long, narrow,
unsavoury thoroughfare, known, not inappropriately,
as "Low Street." Eastward this street terminates at
the commencement of the Quay, parts of which used
to be designated Custom House Quay, Ettrick's Quay,
and Bowes's Quay, but the whole of which is now
known generally as the "South Quay." On the land
side of the Quay there are a few quaint old buildings,
and views may be got, looking seaward, which are
worthy of the artist's attention. A view of the Quay,
as seen from the river, forms one of our illustrations.
Our last engraving is a view of the stairs which lead
down to the Bodlewell Ferry. Two ferries are still main-
tained at Sunderland, but they have lost their ancient
importance. Before the erection of Sunderland Bridge
they were of course the only means of transit across the
river. We find, as early as 1153, the Bishop of Durham
receiving a rent for a grant of the exclusive right of ferrv
over the river at Wearmouth. An unexpired lease of the
same kind, held by one of the Ettricks of High Barnes,
was purchased from the lessee by the commissioners of
the new bridge in 1795.
Sunderland is as well abreast of the spirit of modern
progress as any town in the North. It has not only a
public park, a public conservatory, and a public library,
but also a well kept and well arranged public museum
and art gallery. It has even stolen a march upon the city
of the Tyne and got a new Town Hall. But Sunderland
has one advantage which Newcastle can never attain.
Scarcely more than a mile from the bridge is the charm-
ing little sea-side village of Roker, with promenade and
sands and park of its own. There, after his day's labour
is over, the artizan can spend his summer's evening with
his children. Roker is, of course, a delightful resort for
the whole populace of Sunderland and the district, but I
always think of it as especially a blessing for the toilers
and the poor. J. R. BOTLK, F.S.A.
af
$tch.arb Kelforb.
NATHANIEL ELLISON, D.D., 1656-1721.
HE first of the local family of Ellison who
bore the name of Nathaniel was the seventh
son of Robert Ellison, M.P., and his wife
Elizabeth, sister of William Gray, author'
of the "Chorographia." At what school he received his
preliminary education has not been ascertained. The
Rev. E. Hussey Adamson supposes that he would
become a pupil in the flourishing free grammar school
of his native town, to the oversight of which Amor
Oxley, sequestrated from the head-mastership in 1645 for
devotion to the Crown, had recently been re-appointed.
Possibly, too, the literary uncle rendered useful assist-
ance, imparting to the lad that passion for books and
devotion to local history which characterised his man-
hood and old age.
Howsoever that may have been, the young man,
destined for the Church, was sent in due course to
Oxford and entered at St. Edmund's Hall. He was
elected (June 22, 1677) on two years' probation, scholar
jf Corpus Christi College, the authorities there relaxing
their rule as to age, and admitting him after he was
nineteen, as they had done but once, a hundred years
before, in the case of " the judicious " Hooker. On the
22nd February, 1678-79, according to Anthony Wood,
he was admitted to the degree of M.A., and soon after-
wards, Dr. Wood, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry,
who had married a sister of Sir James Clavering, of
Axwell, made him one of his chaplains, and conferred
upon him the Archdeaconry ot Stafford, with a prebend's
stall in Lichtield Cathedral.
Local preferment came in due course, though not in
so pleasant and approved a manner as wa.s desirable.
The Rev. John March, royalist vicar of Newcastle,
conceived that he had the right of bestowing as he
pleased the morning lectureship of All Saints' Church,
and on the 2nd of November, 1686, he gave it to Mr.
Ellison. Some heat was engendered by the vicar's
proceeding, for it had always been considered that the
Corporation, who provided the income of the lecturer,
had the right to nominate him. In a warm controversy
between Vicar March and Dr. James Welwood respecting
a sermon in which the former had affirmed the duty of
passive obedience and non-resistance, Mr. Ellison's
appointment was one of the barbs which the doctor
launched at his irate clerical antagonist. It may be
questioned whether, if the nominee of the vicar had not
been an Ellison, the Corporation would not have showed
their resentment in a tangible form. But having no
objection to the man appointed, they overlooked the
method of his appointment, and while Mr. March lived
they took no formal step to visit upon him their dis-
pleasure. The very day after he died (December 3, 1692),
they met and issued an order to stop the stipend of £90
per annum which they contributed to the vicar's income,
"and not to pay to it any future vicar upon any
pretence or account whatsoever." Subject to this
reduction of income, Leonard Welstead became vicar;
but his tenure of office was unusually brief. He died
on the 13th November, 1694, and Bishop Smith of
Carlisle conferred the living upon Mr. Ellison.
To mark their satisfaction at the election of a towns-
man to the highest ecclesiastical position amongst them,
412
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/ September
\ 1890.
the Corporation rescinded their sweeping resolution
about the stipend, and agreed to renew their contri-
bution of £90 per annum. Further, they undertook to
repair the chancel of St. Nicholas' and to "beautify"
the altar, or Holy Table, there. At the same time Mr.
Ellison set the vicarage house in order. That venerable
abode of the vicars of Newcastle, situated in Westgate
Street, was a building of uncertain age and irregular
formation, which had suffered greatly durine the siege
of Newcastle, fifty years before, and had been patched
into a temporary but incommodious domicile. Mr.
Ellison, at his own expense it is to be presumed,
effected great improvements in the house, enabling
Bourne to describe it in his time as being more
"beautiful and convenient than it was wont to be,
having been repaired and enlarged in the year 1694,
by the Rev. and Worthy Dr. Ellison, the then
Vicar."
Mr. Ellison took the degree of D.D. in 1702, and a
couple of years later Bishop Crewe, who had already
made him one of his chaplains, presented him to the
rectory ot Whitburn. To these preferments the bishop
added, in 1712, the 5th prebendal stall at Durham,
upon which occasion the Corporation again showed their
gratification by addressing a letter of thanks to his
lordship. They were evidently proud of the honours
and preferments conferred upon their vicar. He was
a man after their own heart, and they rejoiced at his
aspiritual promotions ; lie was one of themselves, an
they delighted in his prosperity. Unfortunately, their
pleasures were not of long duration. He had been
eighteen years vicar when he received the appointment
to the stall at Durham, and for only nine years longer
was he permitted to minister amongst them. He died
on the 4th May, 1721. and on the 7th was buried
under the east window of the south aisle of St.
Nicholas".
Dr. Ellison is described bv Bourne, who knew him, as
"a Man of good Learning and an exemplar}1 Life, and
was looked upon to be one of the best of Parish Priests
for his constancy and usefulness in Preaching." Alder-
man Hornby, an antiquary and historical collector,
states that he was " generally esteemed a man of learning
and piety, and an excellent preacher, who made large
collections of valuable books, and appears not to have
done so for the sake of having a great library, but for
another purpose, which there is no doubt of, from the
manuscript in the blank pages of every one that I have
seen, in which there is always some account of the author,
and necessary references to other works, which evidently
show the great reading and laborious study of the writer."
The accuracy of Aid. Hornby's observations is confirmed
by a couple of books formerly belonging to Dr. Ellison
which are now in the collection of the present writer.
In these volumes are copious MS. annotations (some
in the doctor's writing, and some in that of a law
writer, but evidently penned from his dictation), accom-
panied by his signature in a neat and firm hand as
follows : —
C.S
Some of the books he gave, a few months before his
death, to St. Nicholas' Library ; the remainder appear
to have been dispersed. His own published writings
were few and unimportant. He contemplated, like so
many others, a history of Newcastle, and collected folioa
of material for that purpose, from which Brand, who was
curate to his grandson, derived valuable information,
after Bourne, whose inability to obtain the same privilege
was a subject of great disappointment, had died with-
out the sight. Three sermons constitute the whole of
his contributions to local literature : —
The Magistrates' Obligation to Punish Vice. A Ser-
mon Preacli'd before the Kight Worshipful the Mayor,
Aldermen, Sheriff, &c., at the Parish Church of St.
Nicholas, October 8, 1699. Upon the Election of the
Mayor. By Nathaniel Ellison, Vicar of Newcastle.
Published at the Request of the Mayor and Aldermen.
London : Printed by W. B. for Richard Randell, Book-
seller in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, &c., 1700. 4to. 34 pp.
Of Confirmation. A Sermon Preach 'd before the
Right Reverend Father in God, the Right Honourable
Nathanael Lord Crewe. Lord Bishop of Durham. At
thf Parish Church of St. Nicholas, in Newcastle-upon-
Tyne, June 23, 1700. By Nathanael Ellison, Vicar of
Newcastle. London : Printed for John Wyat at the
Rose in St. Paul's Church-yard. MDCCI. 4to. 24pp.
The Obligations and Opportunities of doing Good to
the Poor. A Sermon Preach 'd before the Right Wor-
shipful the Mayor, Recorder. Aldermen, Sheriff, &c,, of
Newcastle-upon-Tyno. At All Saints Church on All
Saints Day, 1709. Upon the Opening of a Charity School
there. By Nathanael Ellison, D.D., Vicar of Newcastle.
Published at the Request of the Trustees. London :
Printed for Richard Randell, Bookseller iu Newcastle-
upon-Tyne, 1710. 4to. 30pp.
In the correspondence of Bishop Nicolson, of Carlisle,
are two letters from Dr. Ellison, one on the subject of
the religious societies of his day, and the other relating
to Robert Rhodes, the benefactor of St. Nicholas' and
other Newcastle churches. Thoresby, the Yorkshire
antiquary, states that the world was expecting from him
a history of the Church of Durham, but there is no
evidence that Dr. Ellison ever made preparations for such
a work.
By his marriage with Elizabeth, daughter of Anthony
Isaacson, of Newcastle (at St. Andrew's, April 27, 1691),
Dr. Ellison had three sons and seven daughters. Of the
former, John became vicar of Bedlington, as described in
a previous article, Nathaniel succeeded to the living of
Kirkwhelpington and Lesbury, and Robert settled at
.Otterburn— a cquntry squire and justice of the peace.
Three of the daughters married clergymen, another was
united to her relative John Isaacson, and a fifth became
the wife of William Fenwick, of Bedlington.
September
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
413
Hatfjaniel CHltjson, JB.£L
1737-1798.
Dr. Ellison's son, Nathaniel, the vicar of Kirkwhelp-
ington and Lesbury, was an M.A. of Lincoln College,
Oxford, and died on the 27th February, 1775, without
issue. About him nothing of public interest is recorded.
His nephew, Nathaniel, son of John Ellison, the doctor's
first-born, was baptised in 1737, studied at Lincoln and
Merton Colleges, Oxford, and obtained the living of St.
Andrew's, Newcastle, on the resignation of his father, in
1766, He was a man of ability, and rose, partly by his
own merits, and partly by family influence, to be vicar
of Bolam, perpetual curate of Doddington, and domestic
chaplain to the Earl of Tankerville. The lectureship,
or curacy of St. Andrew's, he held for thirty-two years,
during eleven of which he was assisted by the historian
of Newcastle, the Rev. John Brand. Dying on the 1st
August, 1798, aged 61, he was buried at St. Nicholas',
where there is a marble tablet to his memory.
This Nathaniel Ellison married, January 12, 1773,
Jane, daughter of Colonel Noel Furye, of Farnham,
Berks, by whom he had numerous children. His eldest
son, Nathaniel, to be noticed presently, was an eminent
lawyer ; his second son. Peregrine George, until his death
a few years ago, was a well-known solicitor in New-
castle; the fourth son, Noel Thomas, fellow of Baliol
College, Oxford, became rector of Whalton, Northumber-
land, and Huntspill, in Somerset, and died in 1859 ;
Sarah, his third daughter, married Ralph Bates, Esq.,
of Milbourne, and Elizabeth married Major John Werge,
by whom she had issue, Margaret, mother of Thomas
Eustace Smith, Esq., formerly M.P. for Tynemouth,
and Elizabeth, wife of the late Ralph Carr-Ellison, Esq.,
of Dunston Hill.
(CUigon.
1786-1861.
The last man of mark in the Ellison family who bore
the name of Nathaniel was the learned judge, still
remembered by many readers as Mr. Commissioner
Ellison of the Newcastle Court of Bankruptcy. Born
in Newcastle on the 19th of March, 1786, the eldest son
of the Rev. Nathaniel Ellison, Vicar of Bolam, he
received his preliminary training at Durham Grammar
School, and was admitted a commoner of University
College, Oxford, on the 18th October, 1802. He was
elected to a fellowship at Merton College in 1807, and
took his M.A. degree in 1810. Being destined for the
profession of the law, he became a member of the
Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, and was called
to the bar on the 22nd November, 1811.
Soon after his call, Mr. Ellison was appointed by
Lord Chancellor Eldon one of the Commissioners of
Bankruptcy in London, an office which he held till the
establishment of a regular Bankruptcy Court there, under
Lord Brougham's Act, in 1832. For the next ten years
he practised at the Chancery Bar. Upon the extension
of the London system of bankruptcy to country districts
in 1842, he received from the Crown the office of Com-
missioner of the District Court which was then first
established in Newcastle, with bankruptcy jurisdiction
extending over the counties of Northumberland, Cum-
berland, Westmoreland, and Durham. He held that
important office down to the time of his death, a period
of nineteen years, having for his Registrar Mr. W.
Sidney Gibson, an enthusiastic antiquary, author of that
magnificent work, "The Monastery of Tynemouth, "and
other books and pamphlets of local interest.
The writer of a biography of Mr. Ellison in the
Gentleman's Magazine for January, 1861 (Mr. W. Sidney
Gibson probably), tells us that Mr. Ellison brought to
the discharge of his duties judicial qualities of a very
high order. His great reading and long experience had
stored his mind with a profound knowledge of the law ;
his retentive memory gave him a ready recollection of
authorities and cases bearing on points in dispute before
him ; and his impartiality, urbanity, and patience were
not less conspicuous than his learning. His judgment
was so much respected that questions arising between
the assignees and parties not within the Commissioner's
primary jurisdiction were very frequently, by their
consent, left to his decision ; he seemed to court judicial
labours, and never spared himself pains in the adminis-
tration of justice.
For some time before his death, Mr. Commissioner
Ellison was absent from his court through illness, but
he continued to manifest a lively interest in its opera-
tions, and in discussing the altered law and procedure
which the Bankruptcy Act of 1861 introduced on and
after the llth of October in that year. At length, on
the 9th of December, a couple of months after the Act
came into force, he could not be restrained from attending
the court. He took his accustomed seat, and received
from Mr. Joseph Watson, President of the local Law
Society, the congratulations of the legal profession on
his apparent recovery. It was his last appearance.
Returning to his house at Stote's Hall, Jesmond, he
sank rapidly, and on the morning of the 12th December,
the third day after his visit to the scene of his judicial
labours, he expired. His remains were buried in
Jesmond Cemetery.
Mr. Ellison married Frances, widow of W. P. Greg,
Commissioner ot Bankrupts, by whom he had an only
son, Nathaniel Frederick, and an only daughter,
Caroline, who became the wife of the late Rev. John
F. Bigge, rector of Stamfordham.
flobert
COMMONWEALTH M.P. FOR NEWCASTLE.
Robert Ellison, kinsman and friend of the 6rst historian
of Newcastle, and a Parliamentary representative of the
town during one of the most perilous periods of English
4U
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f September
\ 1890.
history, was the second son of Cuthbert Ellison, merchant
adventurer (by Jane, daughter of Christopher He) and
great-grandson of Cuthbert No. 1, the founder of the
Newcastle branch of the Ellison family. He was bap-
tized at St. Nicholas' Church on the 2nd of February,
1613-14, and possibly received his education at the then
newly-constituted Royal Free Grammar School, under
that "learned and painfull man to indoctrinate youth in
Greek and Latine," the "Reverend Master Robart
Fowberry, " and the succeeding headmaster, Edward
Wigham. Losing his mother when he was five years
old, and his father when he was but fourteen, he married,
as soon as he came of age (March 29, 1635) Elizabeth,
daughter of Cuthbert Gray, and sister of the author of
the "Cborographia." Thereafter, taking up his freedom
of the Merchants' Company, to which he was entitled
by patrimony descending through three generations, he
commenced business in the town en his own account.
Whatsoever may have been his prospects of a successful
commercial career at the outset, no long time elapsed
before they became clouded and uncertain. The country
was drifting into trouble with Scotland, and verging
upon a state of civil war. Five years after his marriage,
General Lesley was in possession of Newcastle, and every
branch of local trade and industry was at a stand. The
part which he played in the struggle does not clearly
appear. He was but a young man, and his name is not
found among those of the townspeople who took sides
in the bitter controversies of that dreadful time. When,
on the 19th of January, 1642-43, Sir John Marley
announced to the court of the Newcastle Merchant
Adventurers that money must be raised immediately
for the payment of the garrison, then three months in
arrear, the assessors, who apportioned the several sums
to be advanced by the brethren, assessed upon Robert
Ellison a contribution of eix pounds. The amount of the
assessment shows, by comparison with others, that he
was a substantial burgess, but it affords no clue to his
opinions. Perhaps, like many others, he was a moderate
Royalist in the early stages of the conflict, and was
gradually drawn into taking the side of the Parliament
by force of circumstances. Among the anti-Royalists
he was certainly found when Newcastle had been stormed
and taken. For on the 5th of December, 1644, seven
weeks after the capture of the town, his name appears
in the journals of the House of Commons in a series of
important resolutions affecting the government of New-
castle. The House, on that occasion, displaced, disabled,
and disfranchised the Mayor, Sheriff, Recorder, Collector
of Customs, and several of the Aldermen. In place of
Sir John Marley, Mayor, they appointed "Mr. Henry
Warmouth " ; in the room of James Cole, Sheriff, they
put "Mr. Robert Ellison." At the same sitting they
elected a committee of fourteen persons to sequestrate
the estates of local delinquents, and " Mr. Robert
Ellison " was one of the fourteen. The year following
(March 4, 1644-45) he was admitted to the freedom of the
Hostmen's Company of Newcastle ; a couple of months
later the Merchants' Company elected him one of their
assistants in place of Captain Robert Whyte, who had
been killed at the storming of the town the previous
October. On the 20th of June the same year, proposi-
tions, signed by himself and Edward Man, Town Clerk
of Newcastle (and his fellow-assistant in the Merchants'
Company), concerning the management of collieries
belonging to local delinquents, were submitted to
Parliament.
Thus prominently taking part in public life, Mr.
Ellison began to be considered competent for morn
responsible duties. A vacancy in the representation
of the town had occurred by the disablement of Sir
Henry Anderson, and in September, 1645, the Long
Parliament ordered it to be filled up. Many of the
electors turned th«ir eyes towards Mr. Ellison; others
favoured the Mayor, Mr. Wannonth. So it happened
that these two men, who had been chosen by Parliament
to replace Royalists in the leading offices of the muni-
cipality, were pitted against each other in a Parliamentary
contest. Through some informality in the issuing of the
writ the election did not take place till the middle of
the year 1647. Both candidates went to the poll, and
Mr. Ellison was beaten ; but his friends, being dissatis-
fied with the result, petitioned for an inquiry, and won
the ear of the House. On the 23rd July in that year
Parliament decided that the election was null, and
ordered a new writ to issue. Again Mr. Ellison was
nominated, again he had a rival, and again that rival
was the Mayor of the town. This time, however (Decem-
ber 1, 1647), he triumphed ; the Mayor, Thomas Ledgard,
was defeated.
Elected to the highest honour that bis fellow-townsmen
could bestow, Mr. Ellison took his seat in Parliament
September )
IS90. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
415
as the colleague of John Blakiston. Between these two
popular representatives of Newcastle there cannot have
been much in common. Blakiston was an ardent Repub-
lican, prepared to go the full length of his opinions, even
though that course might overturn both Church and
Crown. Ellison, from all we can learn of him, was a
reformer who, while earnest in his demands for redress
of grievances, hoped to obtain them within the ancient
lines of the Constitution. For a couple of months after
taking his seat he took no part in the proceedings of the
House. His name first appears in the journals on the
23rd February, 164748, when he was appointed a member
of a committee to which the House referred "An
Ordinance for the more strict preservation of the Lord's
Day, and all other days set apart by Authority for
Publick Fasting and Humiliation." He occupied a
similar position on the 16th June, 1648, upon an
ordinance for "abolishing Deans, Sub-deans, Chapters,
&c., and the sale of their possessions." In August
following, the House, passing an order for payment of
the garrisoi) at Holy Island, desired Mr. Blakiston and
Mr. Ellison "to take care of this business." And there
ni9 Parliamentary record ends. John Blakistou's name
rims through the journals till death removed it ; Roberc
Ellison's appears no more till the Commonwealth was
dying. The omission is striking. It indicates that for
some reason or other Robert Ellison ceased his attend-
ance at Westminster within a year of his election.
What was that reason ? Local history atfords no clue,
and conjectures are dangerous. The most probable
answer to the question is that he did not approve of the
course upon which, in the autumn after his election,
Parliament embarked — a course which led to the arraign-
ment, trial, and execution of the king. Many members
of the House disapproved of these violent proceedings —
so many, indeed, that on the 6th of December Colonel
Pride, accompanied by a military force, went down to
Westminster, seized forty-two representatives of the
people, and stopped a hundred and sixty more from
entering the Chamber. The object of this outrage, called
"Pride's Purge," was to eliminate from Parliament the
party who were inclined towards the monarchy. Robert
Ellison, it is supposed, was one of Pride's victims, and
thus the omission of his name from the journals receives
an intelligible explanation. From a list of members of
the Long Parliament, taken in 1652, a few months before
its dissolution, it appears that both seats for Newcastle
were vacant.
When the Commonwealth, drooping through three
Parliaments summoned by Cromwell, and one convened
by his son and successor, approached its end, and the
Army invited the scattered members of the Long
Parliament to resume their functions, Robert Ellison
became once more a candidate for the representation
of Newcastle, and was successful. Since his previous
appearance in the political arena, he had devoted himself
to business, rescuing out of the wreck and ruin of civil
war various commercial enterprises in which he was
engaged, and building up a considerable fortune. He
had acquired valuable landed estate at Hebburn and
•T arrow, and at the time of his election was serving the
office of High Sheriff for the county of Durham, having,
a few weeks before, contracted his daughter Elizabeth
in marriage to William, son of Edward Fenwick, of
Stanton, High Sheriff of Northumberland.
Returning to Westminster in April, 1660, Mr. Ellison
assisted in the restoration of the monarchy, and took an
active part in the transaction of public business. As
soon as the House assembled, he was placed upon the
Committee for Privileges and Elections. Within a
month afterwards he was serving upon four other
committees of importance. Then the Corporation of
Newcastle, who had paid him nothing for his previous
attendance in Parliament, found means to recognise the
value of his services. In the municipal accounts for
September in that year appears the following entry : —
Paid Mr. Robert Ellison, by order of Common
councell, the sum of £100 in parte paymente of his
sallarye the time he sate as burgesse for this towne in the
longe parliament, the yeares 1647 and 1648 ; so paid £100.
"The time he sate as burgesse " ; " the years 1647 and
1648 " ; these phrases, it is to be observed, indicate the
duration of Mr. Ellison's first Parliamentary mission, and
indirectly confirm the report of his exclusion by Colonel
Pride. Curiously enough his second period of representa-
tion covered an equally short term. He helped to pass
through the Commons a Bill for giving members to the
county of Durham, was entrusted with the carrying
up of that Bill to the House of Lords, and served upon
numerous committees ; but after the dissolution of Parlia-
ment in December, 1660, he appeared in the Legislature
no more. Sir John Marley and Sir Francis Anderson,
two uncompromising royalists, were restored to power in
the municipality, and to them was entrusted the repre-
sentation of Newcastle in the "Pensionary Parliament"
— the first of Charles II.
In his commercial and domestic life Robert Ellison
found compensation for the comparative failure of his
political career. Prosperous in all his business under-
takings, he gathered under his roof-tree in the Side a
happy and harmonious family. With them, a welcome
and honoured guest, lived, a great part of his life, the
literary brother-in-law and uncle, William Gray. It was
in their home, probably, that Gray planned and prepared
that second edition of his book which now, by the kind-
ness of Mr. Ellison's descendant, the late Lady North-
bourne, finds an appropriate home in Gateshead Free
Library. It was there too, doubtless, that he made his
will, expressing his acknowledgment of the " comfort and
contentment " which he had experienced in his " dwelling
and cohabiting with them " and bequeathing to them the
most of his property.
Fourteen children were born into the united home
416
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f September
\ 1890.
circle in the Side, of whom nine were living, when, on the
last day of June, 1665, the first great shadow was cast
upon it by the death of the wife and mother. Seven
years later, when other of his children had married, and
the domestic circle was narrowed to three or four of
the youngest, Mr. Ellison took a second wife, Agnes,
widow of James Brings. Bereavements followed in rapid
succession. William Gray, his faithful brother-in-law,
died at the beginning of February, 1673-74 ; his second
wife departed a few weeks later ; and in May, 1675, he
lost his son-in-law, William Fenwick of Stanton. He did
not long survive these troubles. Making his will on the
llth January, 1677-78, he expired on the 12th, and on the
15th was buried in St. Nicholas' Church.
j]N the heart of the great parks belonging to
the Duke of Northumberland, between two
and three miles from Alnwick Castle, on an
eminence commanding the river Alne and
looking across it to Brislee Mount, stands Hulne Abbey,
or, more correctly, the remains of Hulne Priory. We
have before given some particulars of this fine old mon-
astic building (see Monthly Chronicle, 1888), and are now
glad to supplement them with further information and
the accompanying views.
The curtain-wall is still standing, with two gateways,
and with traces of corbelled turrets at the angles, and
there are still three sets of the stone steps leading up to a
foot-walk on the top of it, whence a look-out was doubt-
less kept in seasons of danger. Near the centre of the
enclosure thus fortified, adjoining the rest of the build-
ings, stands the additional protection of a tower, built by-
Henry, the fourth Earl of Northumberland, in 1488, as a
tablet in the curtain wall testifies. Curiously, the accounts
of the expenditure of John Harbottle, the receiver of the
rents of this earl, have been preserved; and from them we
have, not only corroboration of this statement, but word
of the exact cost of the tower, which was £27 19s. 8d., in-
cluding the construction of the archway which connects
it with other portions of the buildings, the carriage of
stone and lead, the price ot the carpenters' work, and iron,
new lock and keys. Recently the inscribed panel has been
removed and placed indoors over a mantel-piece, on ac-
count of its decay from long exposure to the weather,
and the increasing illegibility of the inscription ; and a
fac-simile has been placed in its stead in its old place. It
reads : —
IN THE YEAR OF CRIST JHC MCCCCLXXXVIII
THIS TOWR WAS BILUED SIR HEX PERCY
THE FOURTH ERLE OF NORTHUUERLAD OF GRET HON. AND
WORTH
THAT ESPOUSED MAUD YE GOOD LADY FULL OF VIRTUE AND
BEWT
DAUGHT'H TO SIR WILLIAM HARB'KT RIGHT NOBLE AND
HARDY
KI1I.E OF PEMBROCK WHOS SOULIS GOD SAVE
AND WITH HIS GRACE COSARVE YE BILDER OF THIS TOWEK.
The arcading of the cloisters has disappeared, but we
may still see the green central square, and the walls of
several of the buildings that clustered round. North-
wards are the remains of a long and narrow church,
shown in our illustration, with its gables intact, its
HULNE ABBEY : THE TOWER.
September
1890.
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
417
single and double-light windows, doorways, sedelia, and
part of its columniated piscina in situ, and a sacristy
opening from the chancel on the south side. Eastwards
are two long buildings, one of which is allowed to be the
kitchen, and the other considered by some authorities to
be a refectory, and by others a chapter-house. A chapel
has been converted into a keeper's house. We may see
the bath and well, the bakehouse and offices, the sites of
farmery, malt-kin, mill, and other possessions. The
chambers in the tower are of noble proportions, and are
kept in good repair, as are some apartments west of the
cloisters ; and there is a charming oriel in one of them,
shown in the view, from which there is a grand prospect
over the sylvan scenes around. These are supposed to
possess a remarkable resemblance to the characteristics of
Mount Carmel, in the Holy Land, which is said to have
been the reason the site was selected for the foundation of
the monastery. Gatherings of all kinds occasionally hold
their meetings and enjoy their recreations in the prior's
old apartments, owing to the courtesy of the noble owners
of the possessions of the monastery ; and the strong
tower of the Earl of Northumberland still does good
service.
It is estimated, that the paths and drives in Hulne
and Aluwick Parks extend to forty-seven miles in
length, and the high stone wall encompassing them
measures about twelve miles in circumference. The
beauty of the varied scenery is much enhanced by the
Alne, which in some places flows placidly, and in others
sparkles in little cascades over rocky impediments, and
in others, again, falls in dashing cataracts down deep
descents. Here and there glades open among the forest
trees, and in other places sheltered pastures spread out, still
known by the names mentioned in old charters given to th«
monks hundreds of years ago. Everywhere wild flowers,
ferns, and mosses are abundant. Some of the silver firs,
by a spring called Our Lady's Well, or the Lady's Well,
are of enormous height. Many of the monarchs of the
forest have the appearance of being old enough to have
seen the white-robed figures from tha abbey on their
errands of piety ; and one old tree, specially, known as
the trysting-tree, midway between Alnwick and Hulne,
is accredited with being the rendezvous of the friars of
both abbeys. SARAH WILSON.
at
JIT is not often that three members of the same
family acquire distinction, more or less
marked, in the same profession. But this
is just what has happened in the case of
three of the sons of the late Henri F. Hemy, musical
composer and teacher, of Newcastle-on-Tyne.
Charles Napier Hemy, the distinguished marine
painter, the eldest of the three brothers, was born in
Blackett Street, Newcastle, on May 21, 1841. It is
recorded of him that he could draw before he could
read. Be this as it may, at the age of twelve he
HULNE ABBEY: THE CHURCH.
27
418
MONIHLY CHRONICLE.
{September
1890
exhibited so much promise that he was sent to study at
the local school of art under Mr. W. 0. Way. When
he was between thirteen and fourteen years of age, he
was sent to Ushaw College, where he imbibed a de-
votional spirit that impelled him to join the Dominican
fraternity. Afterwards he went to a monastery at Lyons,
with the intention of joining the Roman Catholic
priesthood. But his health proving precarious, he was
obliged to abandon the idea. He, therefore, threw himself
into the study of painting with greater zest than before.
Mr. Hemy entered the bonds of matrimony about the age
of 25, and was fortunate in the choice of a lady with ample
means, thus enabling him to escape the struggles and
temptations that beset the usual path of the artist.
Shortly after he married he went over to Antwerp for the
purpose of studying at the Academy of Arts in that city.
Here be remained for a couple of years, acquiring much
valuable knowledge and experience, and associating with
many rising artists, amongst them Mr. Alma Tadema.
Mr. Hemy painted many pictures after the style of Baron
Leys, of the Antwerp Academy, showing considerable
fidelity to his master. But he subsequently returned to
marine painting, for which he had always exhibited a
strong partiality. Mr. Hemy's pictures have been before
the public for many years. His picture "Saved, "pub-
lished by Boussod, Yaladon, and Co., is perhaps the best
known. Works by Mr. Hemy, descriptive of the Cornish
coast and Cornish fishermen, have been seen on the walls
of the Royal Academy and the principal exhibitions.
Some years ago he went to reside at Falmouth, wher.e he
built an artistic residence, which is well stocked widi bric-
a-brac. Mr. Hemy's yacht, the Van der Meer, is well-
known in every creek and cove of Cornwall. It is fitted
up with a studio, and from it, in any weather, he is able
to obtain those realistic effects for which his paintings are
remarkable. Our portrait is reproduced from a photo-
graph taken in 1887 by Mr. F. Hollyer, 9, Pembroke
Square, Kensington, London.
Thomas Maria Madawaska Hemy, who was born off
Murter Var Rocks, near the Brazilian coast, in 1852, on
board of the passenger ship Madawaska, bound to
Australia, is the sixth son of the late Mr. Hemy. The
early years of young Hemy, after being educated in
Newcastle, were spent at sea, during which he met with
many adventures, including shipwreck. Returning to
Tyneside at the age of 21, he, like his elder brother
studied art under Mr. W. C. Way. Two years after-
wards, we find his works hung on the line at the Dudley
Gallery ; the following year he was in evidence at the
Royal Academy. Then he spent a couple of years at
the Antwerp Academy of Arts, where he learnt figure
drawing. Acting upon the advice of his friends, he went
to reside at Sunderland, but has since taken up his resi-
dence in London. During one of Mr. Hemy's visits to
the' metropolis he received a commission to paint a-pieture
in commemoration of Lord Charles Beresford' and
'Engineer Benbow's gallantry up the Nile. "Running
the Gauntlet " was the name given to this work, which
September 1
1893. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
419
was a distinguished success. It was despatched on
a tour in the provinces, and met with much approval,
engravings of it being in great demand. The original
work was purchased by Lord Charles Beresford. Another
picture that has helped to build up Mr. Hemy's reputa-
tion is entitled "Women and Children First," which was
reproduced by Messrs. Boussod and Valadon. "Rescue,"
an engraving of which appeared in the Graphic, has
made the tour of the provinces. But his latest and most
ambitious work is a representation ef the heroic rescue of
the passengers of the Danemark by Captain Murrell
and the crew of the Missouri.
well-known arithmetic. Our porttait is from a photo-
graph by Messrs. H. Sawyer and Sons, North Shields.
Bernard Benedict Hemy, second son of the late Mr.
Hemy, was born in 1845 in Eldon Street, Barras
Bridge, Newcastle. At the age of seven years he had
his first experience of tho ocean, his parents having
decided to undertake a voyage to Melbourne, Australia,
in the clipper ship Madawaska, on board of whi<-h his
brother, T. M. Hemy, was born. He spent about two
years and a half in Australia, during which time the
gold fever broke out. and he obtained his first impressions
of a gold-seeker's life by going with his father to the
diggings of Ballarat. When the family returned to
Tyueside, Benedict also studied art under Mr. Way,
but only for a time. Like his younger brother,
he betook himself to the sea ; like his elder brother,
he prepared for the priesthood. But neither the
ocean nor the priesthood seems to have suited him.
So, like both his brothers, h« turned 'his attention
to art. Specimens of his works have been hung in
the Dudley Gallery and the Suffolk Street Exhibition,
London; also, -at the autumn exhibitions at Liverpool.
Mr. Hemy is married to Miss Elizabeth Tinwell, the
grand-daughter of Mr. William Tinwell, author of the
HE common bunting, corn bunting, or bunting
lark (Emleriza, malaria) is well known in
the Northern Counties, as elsewhere, where
the land is well cultivated and abounding
in grain and grass. In summer it breeds plentifully in
corn fields and meadows, where its humble and rather
monotonous song may be frequently heard, sometimes
from a hedge, but more frequently from a tall spike of
corn or high weed in the meadows. The various
members of this family are closely allied to the Passcrinix,
or sparrow family, in which are included the various
kinds of finches and linnets.
The male of the corn bunting weighs nearly two
ounces, and is about seven and a half inches long. The
peculiarly shaped bill is thick and short, of a pale yellow-
brown colour. The upper part is smaller than the lower,
and fits closely, groove-like, into it when closed. The
iris of the eye is dark brown, and over it a faint line of
pale yellowish grey. The plumage of the head, back,
wing coverts, and tail much resemble that of the
skylark. The chin, throat, and breast are a dull whitish
or yellowish brown — the latter colour in winter, the
former in summer — marked on the sides with streaked
spots of dark brown, not unlike the breast of the song
thrush, but more lengthened lower down. The dark
brown feathers of the back assume an olive tint in
autumn. The wings have an expanse of thirteen inches.
The tail, which is slightly forked, is dark brown, the
edges of the feathers rather lighter coloured ; legs of pale
yellow brown, with a tinge of red ; the toes duH yellow,
and claws deep brown. In plumage the female closely
resembles the" male, but she is rather shorter and
slimmer. The nest ia built on the ground, often in
420
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{September
1890.
grass and cornfields, sometimes among the grass under
a hedge, and occasionally even in a low bush.
The reed or black-headed bunting (Emberiza schceni-
culus ), though by no means so common or well known as
the yellowhammer, which will be next described, is
known also as the chink, the black bonnet, the water
sparrow, and the mountain sparrow. It is a bird of the
waste, and frequents and breeds in wet and marshy
places, by brook sides among the reeds, and peat mosses
where there is shrubby shelter. Mr. Hancock describes
it as "a resident, common everywhere in both counties ''
— that is, in marshy places especially. It is, however,
a partial migrant in different localities, and many, as the
winter sets in, make their way southwards for warmer
localities. The n>ale bird, conspicuous by its black
"cap" — hence one of its popular names — is larger and
more handsomely plumaged than its mate. Both birds
are sprightly and active in their movements, and elegant
in appearance. They are wary and shy, and cannot be
closely approached, except in the nesting season, when
they are very solicitous for the safety of their nests and
young. The length of the male is about six inches and
a quarter. The short and stout bill is dusky brown above
and of a paler shade beneath, and the iris of the eye is
dark brown. From the base of the bill a white streak
passes downwards, where it meets the white collar
which cuts off the black " cap " of the crown and sides
of the head. The black feathers assume reddish-brown
tips after the autumnal moult until the following spring,
and the colour becomes greyish white. The breast is a
dull bluish grey-white, darkest on the sides, n here it is
also streaked with brown. The feathers on the back are
blackish, bordered with a warm brown, interspersed
with grey, which latter colour prevails lower down, the
shafts of the feathers being dusky. The wings expand to
a width of nine inches and three-quarters. The greater
and lesser coverts are dusky black, each feather being
broadly margined with rufous coloured streaks, and the
variegated plumage, with the glossy black "cap," gives
the bird quite a smart appearance. The tail is rather
long and slightly forked, the two outer feathers on each
side being white, with an oblique dusky brown patch at
base and tip. The legs, toes, and claws are dusky
brown. The female is somewhat smaller than the male,
and as she lacks the black head of her mate, she
might easily be taken for a meadow pipit, as both birds
sometimes breed in similar localities. The food of the
black-headed bunting consists of insects and the seeds of
reeds and aquatic plants. The vocal powers of the bird
are small, and Meyer renders its note by the word
"shsrrip," pronounced quickly, not unlike that of the
house sparrow. The note is most frequently heard when
the bird perches on bushes or reeds. "The reed buntings,"
says Mudie, "are rather energetic in the air, and active
in many of their motions, those of the tail especially,
which are more rapid than even in those of the wagtail.
The tail is considerably prolonged, spread, and forked
at the extremity. The habit which the bird has of
clinging to the flexible culms of the aquatic plants,
with free use of its bill, so that it may bruise the husks
and pick out the seeds, renders the powerful and ready
motions of the tail, as a means of balancing, absolutely
necessary. The security and even grace with which it
rides, when the stems are laid almost level with the
water, now on one side and then on the other, are well
worthy of notice. It not only adheres as if it were part
of the plant, but it contrives to maintain nearly the same
horizontal position, with its head to the wind. In action,
though not in song, it is the most interesting bird that
inhabits the same locality." The nest, generally a neat
structure, is usually in the vicinity of water, and seldom
far from the ground.
The yellow bunting or yellowhammer (Emberiza
citrinella) is a bird with which few schoolboys are
unacquainted from of its conspicuous yellow plum-
age. Mr. Hancock describes it as a "resident, and
common everywhere in the two counties." As might be
expected, it has quite a variety of common names in
divers parts of the country. It is known as the yellow
bunting, yellow yowley, yellow yeldring, yellow yorling,
yellow yoit, skite, &c. In the Northern Counties the
most popular name of the bird is yellow yowley ; and on
the Scottish Border it is known as the yellow yorling
and yoit. In a recent notice of a visit to the Isle of
Arran, it is stated by the writer that the bird is known
there as the Scottish canary. The yellowhammer was
once plentiful in and around Jesmond Dene, New-
castle. The plumage of the male bird is some-
what variable, though the yellow colour predominates.
The head, breast, and sides are of a bright yellow, with a
September
1890.
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
421
few streaks of dusky black and brown on the crown.
The upper plumage and wing coverts are reddish brown,
tinged with yellow. The wings extend to the width of
eleven inches. The bird's song is humble and devoid
of much variety. It is plaintive, and has been translated
by English schoolboys into the words, "A very little
bit of bread and no-o c-h-e-e-s-e ! " The Scottish school-
boys, on the other hand, translate the yellowhammer's
song into, "De'il, de'il, de'il tak ye!" The yellow-
hammer, if not a bird of augury, is considered a bird of
evil omen in Scotland, and is — or at least was — ruthlessly
persecuted from ignorant motives. The "march of
intellect, "it is to be hoped, has now blown this cruel fig-
ment to the winds. Mudie refers to the absurdity as not
being unknown in England. "The abundance and beauty
of birds," he pays, "do not in any way win them favour.
Boys destroy the nests of yellow buntings from mere wan-
tonness, and in some parts of the country break their
eggs with a sort of superstitious abhorrence. What first
gave rise to superstitions so absurd, and so contrary to all
that we are taught to know of the nature of spiritual
things, it is not easy to say ; but, to the credit of the
times, they are fast wearing out. "
at
SHOW ME THE WAY TO WALLINGTON.
IS favourite Northumbrian small pipes
melody is, to use a colloquial phrase, "ag
old as the hills." The ballad that was
originally sung to it is lost in hoar an-
tiquity. The verses that were most recently sung to it
are said to have been composed by a person of the name
of Anderson, the miller of Wallington, who hunted with
his landlord on a certain grey mare. On rent days,
Anderson, who was a good piper, used to go with the
other tenants to pay his rent— but not with money.
Taking his pipes under his arm, he amused landlord and
tenants with his favourite tunes and songs all day long.
The result of his piping was that he returned home with
a receipt in full for the rent in his pocket, singing in
triumph all the way to his little grey mare. The tune is
in 9-8 time, and has been a favourite with small pipes
players from time immemorial. It affords excellent
opportunities for good players to indulge ad libitum in
those variations they so much fancy.
how me the way to Wal - ling - ton.
she has a trick o' gal - lop - ing.
I have a las - sie be - side That
\v:n - not give o'er her wal • lop - ing.
show me the way to Wal - ling - ton.
O, canny lad, O,
Show me the way to Walliugton.
I've got a mare to ride,
An' she has a trick o' galloping ;
I have a lassie beside,
That winna give o'er her walloping.
O. canny lad, O,
Show me the way to Wallington.
Weel or sorrow betide,
I'll hae the way to Wallington.
I've a grey mare o' my ain
That ne'er (rives o'er her galloping ;
I have a lass forbye,
That I cannot keep fra' walloping.
O, canny man, O,
Tell me the way to Wallington.
Sandy, keep on the road ;
That's the way to Wallington,
O'er by Bingfield Kame,
And by the banks o' Hallington ;
Through by Bavington Ha',
And on ye go to Wallington ;
Whether you gallop or trot,
Ye're on the way to Wallington.
422
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/September
\ 1891
Off like the wind he went
Clattering on to Wallington ;
Soon he reached Bingfield Kame,
And passed the banks o' Hallington ;
O'er by Bavington Syke
The mare couldn't trot for galloping.
Now, my dear lassie I'll see,
For I'm on my way to Wellington.
Clflgtmt, £>ffltcttffr aittr
|KATH overtook, on the 14th of July, 1890,
the oldest and probably best known citizen
of Newcastle — the venerable John Clayton,
who died on that day at his residence, The
Chesters, near Hexham, in the ninety-ninth year of his
age. Mr. Clayton, who was born on the 10th of June,
1792, and is believed to have been the oldest solicitor on
the rolls, was the third son of Nathaniel Clayton, of
Westgate House, Newcastle, and Walwick Chesters,
Northumberland, Town Clerk and Clerk of the Peace
for Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
The Claytons claimed descent from the Claytons, of
Clayton Hrvll, in the parish of High Hoyland, York-
shire, a family settled in that county for many genera-
tions. It was in connexion with commercial pursuits
that we find the descendants of the Yorkshire squire,
John Clayton, first appearing in Newcastle nearly a cen-
tury and a half since. They were members of the
Merchants' Company and the Hostmen's Company, and
filled municipal offices in the Corporation of the town,
where the names of Snow Clayton, Robert Clayton, and
other members of the family figure with "credit and
renown." The father of Mr. John Clayton, a man of
great ability and astuteness, was, however, the person who
laid the foundation of the wealth and influence of the
family in Newcastle ; and though, as King George the
Third remarked of Lord Stowell and Lord Eldon, " it is
rare to find two Scotts in one family," the son waa equal,
if not superior, in point of ability, acuteness; industry,
and intellectual power, to his remarkable father.
About the year 1796, Mr. Nathaniel Clayton purchased
the estate of Walwick Chesters, on the west bank of the
North Tyne, in the parish of Warden, and within a short
distance of Chollerford Bridge. This estate, which
formerly belonged in succession to the North-Country
families of Errington and Askew, contains a part of the
Roman wall, the foundations of the Roman bridge across
North Tyne, and the site of a Roman station ; and it is
not improbable that these remains may have stimulated
and encouraged in the mind of Mr. John Clayton that
taste for the study of Roman antiquities which, during
the whole of his life, formed bis principal relaxation from
the severer labours of his profession.
Mr. Nathaniel Clayton had five sons. They were all
men of remarkable natural ability, and those of them who
distinguished themselves the least were always credited
by the public with the possession of talent which would
have made them remarkable if their easy circumstances
and comfortable social position had not taken away the
motive for exertion. The eldest son, Nathaniel, was
educated at Harrow with Byron and Peel, and was after-
wards called to the Bar. Byron mentions him in his diary
as being a school monster of learning, talent, and hope,
and remarks with a tone of regret that he did not know
what had become of him. He became one of the London
Commissioners in Bankruptcy, who from their number —
seventy— were called by the legal wits "The Septuagint."
When they were swept away by a newer system, Mr.
Nathaniel Claytun received a retiring pension. Upon this,
and the income of the large fortune he inherited from his
father, he led a pleasant lounging life. His intelligence,
his ability, his experience, and his wit made him the delight
of his club in the season, and the much-sought guest of
country houses in the autumn and winter. He hated,
however, the Arctic atmosphere of country social gather-
ings, and made himself a little society at The Chesters, of
which he was the social sun, diffusing pleasant life and
warmth about him. He was never worried with the
torments of matrimony, and the intelligent company of
his sisters sufficed for him, with the addition of one or two
intimate friends and neighbours. He died at The Chesters
at a good ripe age, having won the esteem and goodwill
of those who surrounded him, and having left behind him
the impression that he might have earned fame, power,
distinction, and the enmity of half his class had he put
his powers to use. Michael, the fourth son, was bred
to the lower branch of the profession, and succeeded
to the head of the business which the careful forethought
of his father had founded in London many years before
Matthew, the fifth son, who, like his elder brothers, was
an attorney and a bachelor, was one of the most capable
leaders of the Conservative party in the North. He
discharged, till his death in 1867, the duties of Clerk of
the Newcastle Court of Conscience, in which he virtually
performed the functions of a judge until the court itself
was abolished. The Rev. Richard Clayton. Master of
the Hospital of St. Mary Magdalene, the youngest son,
was a divine whose career has already been sketched by
Mr. Welford. (See Monthly Chronicle, 1889, p. 538.)
His family of three sons are the inheritors of the name
and reputation of the Clayton family. Mrs. Markham.
one of the daughters ot the first Town Clerk, died
leaving a family, and the Rev. Richard Clayton left
two daughters, one of whom was married to Mr. H.
Allgood, and two sons, the eldest of whom, Mr. Nathaniel
George Clayton, is now the head of the Newcastle firm,
Mr. John Clayton having retired on the 1st of January,
1870, about a hundred years after his father entered on
the study of the law.
When Mr. Nathaniel Clayton was Town Clerk, the
September '
18%.
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
423
salary of that official was nominally £60 per annum, viz.,
£10 as Clerk to the Common Council, £10 as Clerk to the
River Jury, £30 for attendance on the Mayor, and £10
for calling in the Corporation rents. On the appoint-
ment of Mr. John Clayton on December 22nd, 1822, it
was resolved that a salary of five hundred guineas be
paid yearly to the Town Clerk in lieu of the various
demands for the performance of the different duties. As
the Town Clerk was also the solicitor to the Corporation,
a large professional income was derived by him from that
source. Mr. Clayton, besides being Town Clerk, held
many other offices — Clerk of the Peace, Clerk of Judica-
ture, Clerk to the Magistrates, Registrar of the Court of
Conscience, Prothonotary of the Mayor's and Sheriff's
Courts, Clerk to the Commissioners of Lighting and
Watching, Attorney and Solicitor to the Corporation,
County Treasurer, Clerk to the Visiting Justices of Luna-
tic Asylums, Clerk to the Trustees of Gateshead and
Durham Turnpike Road, Derwent and Shotley Bridge
Road, Scotswood Road and Bridge, Steward of the
Court Leet and Court Baron of the Manor of Gates-
head, Steward of the Court Leet and Court Baron of
Winlaton, Clerk to the River Jury, Clerk afterwards to
the Tyne Improvement Commissioners, Joint Solicitor
of the Newcastle and Carlisle, Newcastle and North
Shields, and Durham Junction Railways ; and he would
no doubt have been called upon to act as Clerk of the
Markets and Clerk of the Court of Pie-Powder had the
occasion arisen.
Mr. Clayton's name will be intimately associated with
the improvements effected by Mr. Richard Grainger, as
well as with the development of the railway system of
which Newcastle forms the centre. As one of the soli-
citors of the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway Company,
of the North Shields Railway Company, and of the
Durham Junction Railway Company, he lent all
the weight of his name, his wealth, and his ability
to carry through Parliament, in the face of determined
opposition, the Acts necessary to authorise the construc-
tion of th<-se iron highways which his sagacity assured
him were destined to exercise a great and important
influence on the destiny of the North of England.
On the 22nd of May, 1834, the Blaydon, Gateshead, and
Hebburn Railway Bill, intended to connect the Newcastle
and Carlisle Railway with a deep-water shipping place on
the Tyne, received the Royal assent. On the 30th July in
the following year, Messrs. John Brandling and Robert
William Brandling obtained Parliamentary powers to
construct a railway from Gateshead to South Shields and
Sunderland, and the company formed to carry out this
scheme constructed by arrangement the western portion
of the first-named line from Redheugh to Hillgate, Gates-
head, which was opened to the public on the 15th of
January, 1839. The line from South Shields to Monk-
wearmouth was opened on the 18th of June, 1839, and
from Gatesbead to Monkwearmouth on the 30th of
August in the same year. In 1834, Mr. Clayton, in con-
junction with Mr. Harrison, the father of the late Mr.
T. E. Harrison, the eminent railway engineer, Mr. Woods,
Mr. Marreco, and other gentlemen, was successful in
forming a company, called the Durham Junction Railway
Company, to make a railway from the Brandling Junction
to the Durham and Sunderland Railway, including
amongst its works the Victoria Bridge and Viaduct, of
grand proportions, spanning the river Wear. The Royal
assent was given to the Act of Incorporation on the 30th
of June in the following year, and on the 24th of August,
1838, during the meeting of the British Association at
Newcastle the line was opened to the public. It was the
construction of the Victoria Bridge which rendered
practicable the bold scheme of Mr. Hudson for continuing
the line of rails northward to Newcastle, after the
cooling zeal of some of the promoters of the Great North
of England Line would have allowed it to terminate at
Darlington.
Of scarcely less interest than the record of his municipal
career are the reminiscences of Mr. Clayton's connection
with the River Tyne Commission. Previous to the with-
drawal of the jurisdiction of the river from the Corpo
ration of Newcastle, there were numerous local courts
of inquiry held by commissioners specially appointed
for the work. At all these inquiries Mr. Clayton had, of
necessity, to appear as the defender of Newcastle and its
river policy, and this very difficult task he performed with
unfailing good temper and remarkable ability. When at
length the struggle was over, and the authority hitherto
possessed by Newcastle only passed into new hands in
1850, Mr. Clayton was at once selected to fill the onerous
post of Clerk to the River Tyne Commissioners. His
connection with that body continued until 1874, when the
death of Sir Joseph Cowen, the chairman, and the retire-
ment of Mr. John F. Ure, the chief engineer, impelled
him to retire also.
On the 24th of August, 1852, the Archasological Insti-
tute held its meeting at Newcastle, the session lasting
nearly a week. On the 30th, the antiquaries visited the
Roman Wall, and were hospitably entertained by Mr.
Clayton at The Chesters. Dr. John Collingwood Bruce
delivered a learned explanation of the great barrier
to the assembled savants. A few years previously Mr.
Clayton had succeeded in unearthing many remains
of great interest on his estate — among others some of the
works of the Roman bridge over the Tyne at Chollerford,
and the entrance and foundation of the Roman station of
Borcovicus. The address which Dr. Bruce afterwards
delivered to the Literary and Philosophical Society of
Newcastle, explaining Mr. Clayton's discoveries, was the
beginning of the learned doctor's famous work on the
Roman Wall.
Few public men in the North lived in greater privacy
than Mr. Clayton. For public meetings upon any sub-
ject he had little partiality, and, as might be anticipated,
424
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I September
I 1890.
September 1
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
425
he seldom took part in the proceedings of such gatherings.
In politics he was a Conservative ; he was born in the
faith, and died in it. Almost the only meetings he at-
tended were those of the Town Council and the Society
of Antiquaries, and so long as his duties called him to the
former he was always at his post and always at home.
The few public appearances he made as a speaker beyond
the walls of the Council Chamber were chiefly at dinners.
He spoke at the opening of the New Markets; he pre-
sided at the grand dinner given in Newcastle to Mr.
Macready, on the occasion of that great actor's last visit
to Newcastle; and he took the chair at the last of
Thackeray's lectures on the Four Georges.
It was at a meeting of the Finance Committee of the
Newcastle Corporation, held on Nov. 1, 1866, that Mr.
Clayton first announced his intention of resigning the office
of Town Clerk. It was not until several months after-
wards, however, ',that the resolution of resignation was
carried into effect, his retention of office being prolonged
by a desire to carry to a successful issue the Magdalen
Hospital Bill and certain other matters that were then
pending. These objects accomplished, Mr. Clayton on
the 5th of June, 1866, formally tendered his resignation
of the offices of Town Clerk and Prothonotary of the
Mayor's and Sheriff's Court, now known as the Burgess
and Non-Burgess Courts, reserving, however, the office of
JOHN CLAYTON.
426
CHRONICLE.
f September
I 1890.
Clerk of the Peace for the county and town of Newcastle-
upon-Tyne, which he retained till his death At the
following meeting, which was held on the 3rd of July, the
resignation was accepted, and the late Mr. R. P. Philip-
son, by the unanimous vote of the Council, was installed
in the vacant situation.
In personal appearance, Mr. Clayton reminded the
stranger, more especially when on horseback, of the late
Duke of Wellington ; only his seat in the saddle was
scarcely so easy and graceful as w&s that of his Grace.
His dress was always piofessional. Black dress coat,
black vest, and black trousers, somewhat loose fitting,
were the unvarying integuments in which his outer man
were wrapped up summer and winter, morniug and
evening, when on business and when on pleasure, if, in-
deed, he ever permitted himself to take pleasure. So
consistently did he adhere to this style of costume that
it is impossible for those who were familiar with his
appearance to associate the idea of any other with him.
Summer and winter he took a morning constitutional ride
on the Town Moor, until old age overtook him. When
the weather was unfavourable for out-door exercise, he
walked an hour up and down the aisles of the New
Market, or on the platform of the Central Station.
Mr. Clayton was a familiar figure in the streets of New-
castle for more than three-quarters of a century. Owing,
however, to his great age and accompanying infirmities,
he had not, for some years before his death, been seen
among the peuple who knew him so well.
U0i't!t=€ffuiTtry 2&Jtt& Rumour.
AN" OVERFLOWING AUDIENCE.
One night, when the Wear Music Hall, at Sunderland,
was crowded to excess, a man fell from the gallery
into the pit. A carjienter who was sitting in the pit
exclaimed, '• Wey, that caps aalL The plyece is full, an'
one ower '."
A HIGH WIND.
During a very stormy night, an American sailor was
crossing the river Tyne on the Shields ferry. " Praise
the powers," he exclaimed, " there are sufficient holes in
my durned old stockings to let the wind go through without
carrying off my new boots ! "
REBUFFING A BACHELOR.
An old bachelor of an avaricious turn of mind came to
the conclusion that, if he united his fortune with that of
a certain well-to-do spinster, the result would be mutually
advantageous. He therefore called upon the lady and
broached the subject in this way:— "Aa say, canny
hinny, aa think the Lord hes myed me for thoo, and thoo
for me." But the good woman was not of the same
opinion, for she replied :— " Aa can tell thoo that, if the
Lord myed thoo for me, thoo'll be flung on His hands,
for aa'll hev nowt te de wi' thoo !"
COMING DOWN STAIRS.
At a village not a score of miles from Bedlington, a
miner, who lived in an upstairs flat, accidentally fell
down stairs. His wife, hearing the noise, ran to the scene,
and called out : — " O Jack, hes thoo faallen doon stairst"
" Oh," Jack replied, " it makes ne mettor; aa wes comin'
doou onnyway ! "
A MELTON MOWBHAY COAT.
A Chester-le-Street character was bragging about the
good appearance of a coat which had recently come into
his possession. After setting forth all its superior qualities,
he clinched the matter by bursting out : — "Man, it's a
grand coat ; a real Melton Mowbray !"
THE PITMAN AND THE MAGISTRATE.
A pitman had to cross a railway every morning on his
way to work. One morning he left the gate open, for
which he was summoned to the police court. On being
asked by the magistrate the reason he left the gate open,
the pitman replied: — "Wey, noo, luik heor, aa had
buttor an' breed i' yen hand, an' ma hoggers i' t'other, an'
ma picks ower ma back. Hoo could aa shut the gate, ye
fond beggor ?"
HOLLER TOWELS.
A young married wouian who resides at Windy Nook
was desirous of giving her husband a pleasant surprise.
She therefore bought some new white curtains and hung
them against the window. When her partner returned
from his employment, she retired to the back premises,
leaving him to perform his ablutions alone. After wait-
ing for some time, she was horrified to hear him exclaim :
— " Mary, these is varry bad rollor tooels ; they're full
o" holes ! "
FUNERAL HONOURS.
A member of the Cullercoats Life Brigade called
upon a gentleman in the village, who was also a
member of the brigade. "Hev ye got a Union Jack in
the hoose, Mr. Jackson?" "No," was the reply ; "what
do you want a Union Jack for ? " The fisherman ex-
plained that another member of the brigade had just died,
and that it was proposed to bury him with suitable
honours, adding, "We will de the same for ye, when ye
dees, ye knaas ! "
TOOTHPICKS.
Two pitmen from the neighbourhood of Newcastle
visited London, and, after "seeing the sights," they
went to Spiers and Pond's restaurant. A polite waiter
attended upon them. " Good evening, sir, what will you
have?" " A good feed, man !" "And what may that
be?" "We want a good dinner." Motioning them to
one of the many small tables, the waiter next queried,
"And what would you like?" "Ivvorything." After
going through the several courses, a glass of toothpicks
was brought; whereupon one visitor, nudging; his
September
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
427
companion, asked, "What have we te de wi' these?"
"Chow 'em, like the others, man." Gravely each took a
toothpick, and, after sucking it for a while, threw
it under the table. The remainder were treated in the
same way. As the men were leaving the restaurant, one
of them remarked, "Them toothpicks wes varry tough,
mistor, but we gat through 'em at the finish ! "
TOO MUCH BHASS.
In the course of the performance of " The Gondoliers "
at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle, when the brass in-
struments in the orchestra were playing fortissimo, a
man in the pit was heard to exclaim, " Be canny wi'
them cornets thor, or we'll nivvor heor a word o' the
opera ! "
On the llth of July, Mr. George Black, chief partner
in the Spittal Forge, died at Berwick. The deceased was
a native of Ford, Northumberland, and was about 66
years of age.
The death was announced, on the 12th July, of Mr.
John Ramsay, an old pitman who, along with Martin
Jude and others, was prominently identified with the
miners' strike of 1832. Mr. Ramsay, who was a native
of Kenton, and had latterly resided at West Cramlington,
was in the 82nd year of his age.
Mr. Robert Swanson, who for a quarter of a century
carried on business as a saddler in Gateshead, died
suddenly at Cullercoata on the 12th of July. The
deceased, who was an old political supporter of Mr.
Joseph Cowen, was 64 years of age.
On the 12th of July, th« remains of Mr. Slight, who
had been for twenty-seven years superintendent of the
Presbyterian Sunday School, Maple Street, Newcastle,
were interred in Elswick Cemetery.
Mr. John Clayton, who for nearly half a century
occupied the position of Town Clerk of Newcastle, died
at his residence, The Chesters, near Chollerford, on the
14th of July, in the 99th year of ace. (See page 4-22)
On the 15th of July, Mr. Joseph B. Simpson, a well-
known tradesman in Middlesbrough, dropped down dead
in his shop in that town.
On the same day, at the Chestnuts, in the city of
York, died Mr. Richard Welch Hollon, J.P. In
memory of his wife, who died about ten years ago, and
whose family had been long and honourably connected
with Morpeth, the deceased gentleman founded, in 1881,
the Mary Hollon Annuity and Coal Fund, transferring
to the Morpeth Council for this purpose stock valued at
£7,111 Is. 2d. The fund is found sufficient to yield a
revenue equal to pay, in quarterly instalments, £10
annually to each of 13 women and 12 men, "who have
been of good character and are over 60 years of age."
A drinking fountain was erected in the Market Place in
1885 to commemorate Mr. Hollon 's name and munificence.
The remains of the deceased, who was Lord Mayor of
York in 1865, were interred in Jesmond Cemetery, New-
castle.
Mr. John James Horsley, general grocer and provision
dealer, died suddenly at his residence. Belle Vue,
Alnwick, on the 16th of July. The deceased was con-
nected by membership with several public bodies in
Alnwick. Mr. Horsley was the possessor of one of the
finest private collections of silver and copper coins in the
North of England.
On the 16th of July, there also died Mrs. Lintott, wife
of the Rev. Canon Lintott, Vicar of St. Stephen's
Church, Newcastle. The deceased lady took an active
interest in the various organisations of the parish.
On the 17th of July, the death was announced from
Bath, in his 66th year, of the Rev. John Pedder, some
time Fellow and Tutor of Durham University College,
and Principal of Hatfield College, London.
Mrs. Ann Snowdon, a niece of George Stephenson, the
eminent engineer, died at Burradon on the 17th of July.
She was the daughter of Joseph and Ann Burn, and was
born at Woolsingham House, near Black Heddon, on
August 23rd, 1812.
Mr. James Thomson Milne, a native of Alnwick, died
in Newcastle on the 18th of July, at the age of 51. The
deceased was a poet of considerable merit, and was a fre-
quent contributor to the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle,
winning several prizes in literary contests.
Mr. Richard Forster. of Shincliffe Hall, died suddenly
on the 19th of July, aged 45. The deceased was well
known in the coal trade, and for many years was consult-
ing engineer for the South Hetton and Murton Collieries.
Latterly, however, he had resided at Shinclitfe Hall.
The death occurred suddenly-, on the same day, of Mr.
William Morton, of Gateshead, who was for upwards of
twenty years in the employment of Messrs. Davisou and
Sons, Phumix Flour Mills, Close, Newcastle, and as a
traveller for that firm was very well known and widely
respected throughout the North of England.
On the 19th, also, died the Kev. John Kelly, for many
years minister of St. Andrew's English Presbyterian
Church at Hebburn, and the editor of many literary
works.
Mr. William Henry Atkinson, of Brighton Grove,
Newcastle, a well-known artist in stained glass, likewise
died on the 19th of July. He was 36 years of age.
On the 21st of July, the death was announced of Mr.
John Witham Liddell, a well-known Northumbrian
farmer, of Rot Hill, near Whittiughani, and formerly of
Middleton, near Morpeth.
On the same day, at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, died Mr.
Charles Atkinson, solicitor, ot Morpeth.
Mr. T. G. Hurst, managing owner of Seaton Delaval
Colliery, and one of the leading representatives of the
North of England Coal Trade, died, on the 22nd of July,
at his residence, The Cedars, Osborne Road, Newcastle,
at the age of 66.
On the 24th July, the remains of Mr. Win. Cole, of
Low Fell, were interred in Lamesly Churchyard. The
deceased, who was 82 years of age, had for well nigh
sixty years occupied a prominent position in connection
with the Wesleyan body.
On the 25th July, Mr. Wilfrid Tyzack, for many years
manager of the South Medomsley Coal Company, died at
his residence near Dipton, at the age 36 years.
On the same day, died Mr. Robert Stephenson, one of
the oldest inhabitants of West Hartlepool, in which town
he had conducted a successful drapery business since 1856,
and in the public life of which he had taken an active
part.
The Rev. Jonas Hoyle, vicar of Christ Church, Gates-
head, died very suddenly on the 28th of July. The rev.
428
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I September
\ 1899.
gentleman was ordained a deacon in 1865 by the Bishop
of Ripon, and after working as curate in thfl diocese of
York for four years, came to Gateshead in 1869, as curate
under the late Archdeacon Prest at St. Mary's. He
remained there until 1874, at which time the then new
edifice of Christ Church was completed, and in recognition
of his faithful work, and in response to what was known
to be the desire of a large number of the inhabitants of
the newly-formed district, the late archdeacon appointed
Mr. Hoyle to be the first incumbent of Christ Church.
Since that time he had continued to develop the work in
connection with the parish, and had gathered around him
a large congregation. The deceased gentleman left a
widow, five daughters, and two sons,
Mr. William Aldam, of Frickley Hall, near Doncaster,
and of HealeyHall, near Riding Mill, Northumberland,
die.'l at the latter seat on the 27th of July. The deceased
gentleman was formerly chairman of the West Riding
Court of Quarter Sessions, and at the time of his decease
was chairman of the Finance Committee of the West
Riding County Council. The Healey Hall estate,
together with £90,000 in money, was left to him some
years ago by Mr. Robert Ormston. Mr. Aldam was in
the 77th year of his age.
On the 30th of July, was announced the death, as
having taken place at his father's 'house in Manchester,
of the Rev. Anthony Lund. He was born in 1860, ana
educated at Ushaw College, Durham, where he entered
as a student in 1872. Mr. Lund was ordained to the
Roman Catholic priesthood in August, 1885, since which
time he had acted as assistant priest to the Rev. Philip
1'ortin r*t Waterhouses.
Mr. Robert Fairman, merchant tailor, of Blyth, died
in that town on the 30th of July, aged 82. He was an
ardent temperance reformer, and was one of the first to
welcome and aid the initiation of the Good Templar
Order in the North. The deceased was also one of the
oldest local preachers belonging to the Wesleyan body.
On the 31st July, occurred the death of Mr. William
Clarke, of C'arr's Hill, Gateshead, senior partner in the
engineering firm of Clarke, Chapman, and Co., Victoria
Works, in that town. Mr. Clarke, who was 59 years of
age, commenced his career at the Bedlington Iron Works,
under the Longridges, who were second only to the
Stephensons at that time. Coming to the Tyne in 1852,
he was employed with Sir W. G. Armstrong and other
firms, and founded the Gateshead business in 1864.
Mr. John Guthrie, of Hexham, died very suddenly on
the 4th of August, aged 53. The deceased was a member
of the Hexham Local Board of Health, of which body he
was chairman from the year 1882 to 1887.
On the same day, died the Rev. Thomas Faulkner,
rector of St. John Lee, near Hexham. Mr. Faulkner was
in his 68th year, had held the living since 1875, and
was for many years a member of the Hexham Board of
Guardians.
Mrs. Sarah Bradley, widow of Mr. George Bradley,
proprietor of the now defunct Newcastle Guardian, died
on the 5th of August.
In bis 73rd year, Mr. Mark Aynsley, who for almost
half-a-century acted as land agent, in turn, for Sir
Walter Trevelyan, Sir Charles Trevclyan, and Sir George
Trevelyan, died at Cambo on the 6th of August. The
deceased was a great authority on the breeding and
exhibition of shorthorns.
On the same day, at the advanced age of 81 years.
died Dr. William Davison, who played an important
part in the public affairs of Alnwick. He was a eon
of Mr. William Davison, a celebrated printer and
publisher, and founder of the Alnwick Mercury, now
incorporated with the Alnwick and County Gazette.
Dr. Davison retired from medical practice about thirty-
five years ago.
Superintendent Charles Campbell, of the Westgate
division of the Newcastle Constabulary, died on the 8th
of August, at the age of 53 years. The deceased, who was
a native of North Shields, joined the 26th Cameronians,
and served five years in Bermuda, after which he bought
his discharge in Dublin on February 16th, 1860. Mr.
Campbell was stationed in the Newcastle Barracks during
his service in the army, and was called to duty at the
great fire on the Tyne in October, 1854, in which one of
his superior officers lost his life. Immediately after hia
discharge from the army in 1860, he joined the police
force, and was made superintendent thirteen years
ago.
Mr. George Noble Clark died at his residence, St.
James's Street, Newcastle, on the 7th of August. He was
the son of Mr. Joseph Clark (see Monthly Chronicle, 1889,
p. 507), who on Christmas Day, 1779, married Miss Eliza-
beth Hindmarsh, a cousin of George Stephenson, the
eminent railway engineer. The marriage took place in
St. Andrew's Church, Newcastle, the officiating clergy-
man being the Rev. Hugh Moises, the famous head
master of the Grammar School. On the 21st June, 1805,
George Noble Clark was born in his father's residence,
Newgate Street, Newcastle, so that at the time of his
death he was in his eighty-sixth year. Trained to the
medical profession, young Clark, after holding several
appointments, commenced, in March, 1828, practice on
his own account, in the house in which he was born in
September )
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
429
Newgate Street. During the cholera epidemics of 1832
and 1853, be rendered valuable assistance in assuaging the
ravages of that disease, and he was a leading witness
before the Commission by which the second outbreak was
followed. Mr. Clark was an active freeman of Newcastle,
and he was also for a short time a member of the Town
Council. He took part in the promotion of the fund to
erect a monument to the late Mr. Archibald Reid, who
for seven times was Mayor of Newcastle. This monu-
ment stands in Jesmond Cemetery ; and the inscription,
which is admired as a piece of literary work of no mean
merit, was from Mr. Clark's pen. The deceased gentle-
man was a prominent member of the Literary and Philo-
sophical Society, and was long identified, as treasurer
and trustee, with the Newcastle Savings Bank.
On the 9th of August, Mr. Robert Spence, a member of
the firm of Hodgkin, Barnett, Pease, Spence, and Co.,
bankers, Newcastle, died at his residence, Rosella Place,
North Shields, in his 73rd year. Mr. Spence was a
member of the Society of Friends, and a brother of Mr.
Alderman John Forster Spence, of North Shields. The
deceased gentleman was an enthusiastic collector of coins,
engravings, autographs, and literary curiosities, bis col-
collection including the original MSS. of George Fox,
the founder of the Society of Friends.
Mr. John Henry Rutherford, secretary to the New-
castle Infirmary, Dame Allan's School, and some other
public institutions, died at his residence in Ridley Place,
Newcastle, on the 10th of August, at the age of 58. The
deceased gentleman commenced his career in the com-
mercial department of the Gateshead Observer, and was
subsequently .connected, in a similar capacityt with the
Northern Daily Express and the Newcastle Courant. For
a time he was part-proprietor, and afterwards sole pro-
prietor, of the last-named paper.
&tcartt at <& bntte.
©ccurrenccs.
JULY.
11. — Mr. Joseph Arch, the well-known agricultural
labourer, addressed a mass meeting in the Albert Hall,
Jarrow, under the auspices of the Tyneside and National
Labour Union of Great Britain and Ireland. On the
following evening he spoke in connection with the same
movement in the Central Hall, Hood Street, Newcastle.
12. — The Durham miners held their annual demonstra-
tion on the Kace Course at Durham. Mr. John Forman
presided at one platform, and Mr. Alderman Fowler at
the other. The speakers included Mr. Pickard, M.P.,
and Sir J. W. Pease, while the attendance was believed
to be the largest ever witnessed on any previous similar
occasion. There was also a very large assemblage at the
twenty-eighth annual gala of the Northumberland miners,
which was held on the Castle Banks at Morpeth. The
chair was occupied by Mr. John Nixon, and the speakers
included Mr. W. O'Brien. M.P., Mr. Thomas Burt, M.P.,
and Mr. Charles Fenwick, M.P.
—At the Newcastle Assizes, Sarah Grieves and John
Grieves were indicted for tha manslaughter of their infant
child, who had died from horrible neglect. The man was
acquitted, but the woman was convicted and sentenced
to five years' penal servitude. On the same day and in
the same court, John Melville, who was charged with
the manslaughter of Ann Melville at Gateshead, was
found not guilty. The man Grieves, at the age of 32,
died very suddenly on the 18th of the month.
14. — The Rev. J. H. Jowett, pastor of St. James's
Congregational Church, Bath Road, was presented, on
behalf of the congregation, with a piece of plate and a
purse of gold, in commemoration of his marriage in May
last. (See ante, p. 333.)
— A commencement was made with the removal of the
inmates and furniture from the old to the new Workhouse
connected with tha Gateshead Poor-Law Union. The
work was completed without a hitch.
15.— A verdict for £2,150 damages was awarded by a
jury at the Northumberland Assizes to Mr. Thomas
Slynn, engineer, as compensation for injuries sustained
by an accident on the North British Railway at Wark,
on the 15th of October last. (See vol. for 1889, p. 573.)
— At a meeting in the Council Chamber, West Hartle-
pool, the honorary freedom of that borough was conferred
upon Sir William Gray. On the same occasion, Mr.
Alderman George Pynian was presented with an oil-
painted portrait of himself, and Mrs. Pyman with a
diamond bracelet. In the evening Sir William Gray was
entertained at a banquet in the Armoury, the chair being
occupied by the Mayor. (See ante, p. 333, and vol. for
1889, pp. 280, 313.)
— Catherine Ann Hobbs, a girl 14 years of age, died at
Jarrow from the effects of injuries received by the
explosion of a paraffin oil lamp.
16.— The Duke of Clarence and Avondale (Prince
Albert Victor) laid the foundation stone of new courts of
justice at York, and opened the summer exhibition ot
pictures in connection with the York Fine Art Institu-
tion.
— A large number of bones, evidently the remains of
persons buried a century ago, were discovered in South-
gate, a narrow lane running by the south side of Bishop-
wearinouth Churchyard, Sunderland.
17. — The annual show of the Durham County Agricul-
tural Society was opened at West Hartlepool.
— Mr. J. S. Foggett and Mr. William Pliilipson, Jun.,
of Newcastle, received the honorary freedom of the Wor-
shipful Company of Coachmakers and Coach Harness
Makers, London.
— Mr. John Wilson, Gladstonian Liberal, was returned
to the House of Commons as member for Mid-Durham,
in room of the late Mr. William Crawford, with 5,469
votes ; his opponent, the Hon. Adolphus Vane-Tempest,
Conservative, having received 3,375 votes.
18. — The Biscayo, a vessel belonging to the Anglo-
Siberian Trading Syndicate, left the East India Docks,
London, for Siberia, by way of the Kara Sea ; but, owing
to the unavoidable detention of his vessel at Rio de
Janeiro, Captain Wiggins was unable to take command
of the expedition. (See vol. for 1889, pp. 526, 547.)
19. — At Durham Assizes, Sarah Gertrude Hall, a young
girl, recovered £1,050 damages from the North-Eastern
Railway Company, for personal injuries sustained in the
accident at Ryhope.
— A young man named Thomas Bartram, 17 years of
age, belonging to North Shields, was drowned while
bathing in the river Tyne at Hexham.
21. — A summary was published of the will of Mr. John
Clayton, dated April 3, 1886. Mr. Nathaniel George
430
MONTHLY C'IRONICLE.
f September
\ 18!)0.
Clayton, Mr. John Bertram Clayton, and Mr. William
Gibson were trustees and executors. The legacies to the
local charities were : — Newcastle Infirmary, £500 ; New-
castle Dispensary, £200 ; Prudhoe Convalescent Home,
£200 ; Northern Counties Orphanage, Philipson Memorial
for Boys. £200 ; the Abbot Memorial Orphanage for Girls,
£200. The testator, after devising a number of legacies
to relatives, friends, and domestic servants, bequeathed
the remainder of his estate to certain specified members
of his family. The personalty was sworn at £728,746
8s. 4d. gross, and £723,405 8s. lOd. net.
— At the Durham Assizes, Frederick Terry (21),
labourer, was found guilty of the murder of a young
woman, named Dennis, at Stockton ; but the jury, after
hearing medical evidence, being of opinion that he was
insane at the time, he was ordered to be detained during
her Majesty's pleasure.
22. — Air. Justice Chitty granted a winding-up order in
connection with the Newcastle, Northumberland, and
Durham Permanent Building Society.
— Sir W. G. Armstrong, Mitchell, and Co., Newcastle,
were indicted on eleven counts at the Durham Assizes,
for breaches of the Explosives Act. The breaches took
place in September and October, 1889, when the defen-
dants anchored a barge laden with ammunition at the
Jarrow Slake. On the 3rd of October an explosion took
place, killing one man and injuring others. The jury
gave a verdict for the Crown, and a fine of £250, being
£25 for each day on which the offence was committee],
was imposed by Mr. Justice Charles.
— At the same Assizes, Thomas Dennison, who pleaded
ftuilty to the embezzlement of moneys belonging to the
Onward Building Society at Darlington, was sentenced
to four months' imprisonment by Mr. Justice Wills, who
expressed his belief that the prisoner had been an
accessory in the ca>e. A charge of attempted suicide,
on which Deunison had also been committed, was with-
drawn.
— John Butewright and Arthur Smith, fishermen, were
capsized and drowned while crossing the bar in a boat at
the mouth of the Tyne.
— By a majority of 31 votes against 8, the Newcastle
City Council decided that a new Town Hall and Munici-
pal Offices should be erected on a site yet to be defined.
— Patrick Boyle was sentenced at Durham Assizes to
18 months' imprisonment for the manslaughter of Isabella
Daglish, or Bone, at Gateshead.
— The foundation stones were laid of a new Wesleyan
Chapel at Stanley.
—At the Theatre Royal, Newcastle, a complimentary
benefit was given to Mr. Alfred Sidney, on the occasion
of the severance of his connection with the Tyne Theatre,
where for a long time past he had officiated as acting
manager.
24.— The annual show of the Northumberland Agricul-
tural Society was held at Alnwick, and was in all respects
a great success.
—Mrs. Hollingsworth, a working man's wife, residing
in Conyers Road, Byker, Newcastle, was safely delivered
of triplets— two boys and a girl ; but one of the infants
died in the course of the day.
— It was announced that the Board of Trad* had
created a North-Eastern Fisheries District, in accordance
with the Sea Fisheries Regulation Act, 1888, and in
answer to the application made to that effect by the
County Councils of Durham, and of the North and East
Ridings of Yorkshire, and by the Borough Councils of
Sunderland, Kingston-upon-Hull, and Scarborough.
— Mrs. Margaret Park, aged 36, widow of the late
Councillor Park, Sunderland, died at her residence,
Brookland, in that town, from the effects of blood-
poisoning, caused by the bursting of a ginger-beer bottle
which she was trying to open.
25. — At a conference of authorities of Miners' Per-
manent Societies and others at the Mansion House,
London, a resolution was passed urging the committee
of the Hartley Fund to maintain the surplus intact,
and obtain powers to appropriate the interest to large
accidents.
— A fire occurred at Sandhoe House, near Hexham, the
residence of Mr. Hugh Fenwick.
26. — John George Devey, an innkeeper at Redmarshall,
near Stockton, committed suicide by shooting himself.
— A vegetarian banquet, under the auspices of the
Newcastle Dietetic Reform Society, was given in the
Banqueting Hall, Jesmond Dene, the chair being occupied
by the Rev. W. Moore Ede.
— An interesting ceremony took place at Tynemouth in
the launching of three finely-modelled pleasure boats,
bearing the now familiar names — "Father Chirpie,"
"D.B.S.," and "Uncle Toby," as additions to the fleet
of Messrs. Ferguson. Besides a very large gathering of
youthful members of the Dicky Bird Society, and the
children from the Whitley Village Homes, there were
present Mr. and Mrs. Drcige and family, Mr. Coun-
cillor Marshall, Captain and Mrs. Marshall, and many
others interested in the work of the society and the
welfare of young people generally. The handy little
craft were gracefully christened by Miss Drbge, and
cheers were given for Uncle Toby and the D.B.S.
— It was ascertained that in accordance with the sliding
scale arrangement there would be a reduction of 3d. per
ton on puddling, and of 2| per cent, on all other forge
and mill wages in connection with the Northern iron
trade.
28. — The new No. 19 Coal Shipping Drop, constructed
at a cost of about £31,000 by the River Wear Com-
missioners in the Hudson Dock South, Sunderland, was
formally opened by Mr. James Laing, chairman of the
Commissioners.
— William Hart and Walter Wilson, two young men
belonging to Leeds, were drowned while bathing at
Redcar.
—A boat was picked up, bottom upwards, at Whitburn,
which had been hired at Roker on the 26th by five persons
from Wardley Colliery. The' whole of the occupants of
the boat had been drowned.
— A meeting in furtherance of an allotment scheme in
connection with the intakes on the Town Moor was held
in Newcastle. It was decided to form a committee to
attend the letting of the intakes, and to secure a suitable
plot for allotment gardens.
—Mr. James Weatherston was elected assistant-overseer
for St. Nicholas', Newcastle, in room of the late Mr.
T. D. Pickering. The other candidates were Mr. W. J.
Frater and Mr. Jonathan Cooke.
29. —Mr. George May, of Simonside Hall, near South
Shields, was elected, without opposition, a member of the
Durham County Council, in the place of Mr. E. J. J.
Browell, J.P., of East Boldon, who had been appointed
an alderman in the room of the late Mr. William
Crawford.
September \
1S9J. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
431
—The nineteenth annual conference of Poor-Law
Guardians of the Northern Counties was held at Gilsland.
—From the first report of the Newcastle Tree Culture
and Protection Society, it appeared that 319 trees had
been planted in the city through the medium of the
organization.
— It was found that the chief honours at the Barry
Artillery Camp, Dundee, had been carried off by the
Durham detachments.
— A reduction of 5 per cent, in wages was accepted by
the steelmakers of the North of England and West of
Scotland ; and a resolution was unanimously adopted
agreeing to the formation of a board of arbitration and
conciliation.
30. — It was officially stated that Mr. Cruickshanks,
governor of Bristol Prison, had been appointed governor
of Her Majesty's Prison at Durham, in the place of
Lieut. -Colonel Armstrong, resigned.
—At a meeting held in Newcastle, under the auspices
of the National Sailors' and Firemen's Union and the
Labour Union, a resolution was carried binding those
present to refuse to purchase Danish goods from any
shopkeepers, pending the Danish sailors' strike at
Copenhagen.
— Judgment was delivered iu the Court of Appeal,
deciding that there should be a new trial in the case of
the action brought by Mr. C. W. Wilson, Newcastle,
against the North-Eastern Railway, for injuries sustained
through the accident at Ryhope, unless the plaintiff (Mr.
Wilsun) agreed to reduce the verdict for £4,000 which
had been given by a jury at the Newcastle Assizes to
£2,000.
31. — It was stated that the living of Killingworth,
rendered vacant by the death of the Rev. J. S. Blair, had
been presented to the Rev. E. B. Hicks, M.A., senior
curate of St. Nicholas' Cathedral, Newcastle.
— The joiners employed in the Tyne shipyards, to the
number of 1,500, came out on strike against the award
of the umpire, Mr. T. Burt, M.P., in the recent arbitra-
tion between the shipwrights and joiners as to the appor-
tionment of ship work to be made to each class of men.
AUGUST.
1. — The first of a series of open-air concerts for poor
people, promoted by Mr. T. Stamp Alder, was given in
the grounds of All Saints' Church, Newcastle.
— The troops composing the Northumberland (Hussars)
Yeomanry Cavalry were inspected on the Newcastle
Town Moor by Colonel C. W. Duncombe.
—At the quarterly meeting of the Stockton Town
Council, a draft agreement for the sale and purchase
of the land in Hartburn fields for a public park was
submitted, and the Town Clerk was directed to insert
the name of Major Ropner as purchaser, it being under-
stood that, as soon as the purchase was completed, that
gentleman would execute a deed of gift to the
Corporation.
2. — Mr. William Cochrane was elected president of the
North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical
Engineers.
—The Rev. W. Dryburgh, B.D., was inducted to the
pastorate of Swalwall Presbyterian Church.
' — Mr. Charles T. Johnson, of Newcastle, was appointed
assistant engineer and surveyor to the Corporation of
Stockton.
4. —At a meeting of the Newcastle Sunday Music
League, it was resolved to discontinue the band perform-
ances for the present. Seven concerts had been given,
and the balance sheet of the Band Fund showed a deficit
of £3 16s. 2d.
— The annual meeting of delegates representing the
Tyneside and National Labour Union was opened in
Newcastle.
— The annual Legislative Council of the British United
Order of Oddfellows was held at Darlington, under the
presidency of Mr. John Purvis, Newcastle, Grand Master.
— The members and friends of the Tyneside Geo-
graphical Society had an excursion to Falloden, the
company being the guests of Sir Edward and Lady Grey.
— This, as the first Monday in August, was Bank
Holiday, and it was generally observed in Newcastle.
— It was concluded, owing to their non-return, that
three men had been drowned between Yarm and Stockton
on the previous night, by the capsizing of a small boat.
— A man named John Dinwoodie, of South Shields,
was drowned by the upsetting of i boat in the river Tyne,
near the Fish Quay, at North Shields.
5. — The grease and oil distillery belonging to Mr. J. B.
Coxon, in Wilson Street, Monkwearmouth, wa.s destroyed
by tire.
— A well-attended meeting, in favour of leasehold
enfranchisement, was held in the Mechanics' Hall,
Jarrow, and was addressed by Mr. Lawson, M. P.
6. — At a meeting at the Newcastle City Council, Mr.
J. G. Youll tendered his resignation as alderman, and
was unanimously elected to the office of Clerk of the
Peace.
— The annual meeting of the Northern Union of
Mechanics' Institutes was held at Jarrow, under the
presidency of Sir Charles Mark Palmer, M.P.
— A report was adopted by the Newcastle City Council
sanctioning the payment to the Exhibition Executive
Committee of £200, in settlement of all claims against
the Model Dwelling, that building afterwards becoming
the property of the Corporation.
— Joseph Lankester, a single young man, 23 years of
age, died from injuries received through the accidental
bursting of an ingot at the Consett Steel Works on tho
previous day.
— Edward Graham, 21 years of age, a miner, was
drowned while bathing in the river Wear, near Tudhoe.
7. — At a meeting of the Morpeth Town Council, a
committee was appointed to inquire into the disappearance
of a sliver punch bowl, the silver measures, and the ancient
halberds belonging to the Corporation.
8. — The seventy-third half-yearly meeting of the share-
holders of the North-Eastern Railway Company was
held at York. Mr. John Dent Dent, chairman of the
directors, presided. The report was adopted, and a
dividend of 6J per cent, was declared.
— Mr. Joseph Cook, of North Biddick Hall, was
elected a member of the Durham County Council for the
Washington Division.
— The twenty-seventh annual show of the Coquetdale
Agricultural Society was held at Rothbury. On the
same day was held the ninety-first annual show of the
Barnard Castle Agricultural Society.
9.— A number of antiquarian relics and a handsomely
paved Roman bath were discovered at Westerton Folly,
near Bishop Auckland.
— As the result of a ballot which had been instituted
among the Durham miners, 30,484 voted for insisting on
43'J
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{September
1890.
a seven hours shift from bank to bank, the number who
voted against this course being 8,728.
— A general meeting of Northumberland colliery
enginemen was held at Morpeth, when it was decided to
accept the owners' offer to advance the wages of all
classes of enginemen Id. per day. The offer to reduce
the colliery locomotive men's hours to 11 per day on the
terms proposed was declined.
©tncral ©ctttrrtnccs.
JULY.
12.— The Princess of Wales performed the inaugural
ceremony of opening the first meeting of the National
Rifle Association at Bisley.
—Mr. Henry Morton Stanley, the celebrated African
explorer, was married at Westminster Abbey to Miss
Dorothy Tennant, a lady who has achieved considerable
distinction as an artist. Miss Tennant has paid several
visits to the North of Eng-
land— once as the guest of
Mr. Thomas Burt, M.P.,
in Newcastle ; at other
times a-* the guest of Sir
George and Lady Tre-
velyan at Wallington.
While at Wallington she
was in the habit of visit-
ing the village school at
Carabo, where she talke.l
pleasantly and instruc-
tively to the children,
illustrating her remarks,
much to the scholars' de-
light, by sketching on the
blackboard. In addition
to this, she painted a pic-
ture of "Boys at Play."
It is of considerable sizi",
and is now hung in a con-
spicuous position on one
of the walls of the school-
room. It represents a number of boys turning somer-
saults on the bar of a fence — the merry-eyed, healthy-
cheeked, bare-legged tatterdemalions that she loves to put
into her pictures, and with whom she feels so much
sympathy. The accompanying sketch is copied from the
picture at Cambo.
13.— Great damage was done in the town of St. Paul,
Minnesota, U.S., by a cyclone. About two hundred lives
were lost.
18.— The Atlantic liner, Egypt, was completely burnt
about 1,100 miles from Land's End. -The crew was
saved ; but the entire cargo was destroyed.
— Hammerfest, a town in the North of Norway, was
destroyed by fire.
— Some members of the second Battalion of Grenadier
Guards having been found guilty of insubordination, four
of them were sentenced to two years' and two others
to eighteen months' imprisonment. The battalion was
afterwards sent to Bermuda.
22.— The Wesleyan Conference was opened at Bristol,
and Dr. W. F. Moulton was elected president for the
year.
—Sergeant H. Bates, of Birmingham, won the Queen's
Prize at Bisley.
26. — A revolt broke out at Buenos Ayres, when severe
fighting took place in the streets. Dr. Pellegrini subse-
quently assumed the presidency of the Argentine
Confederation in place of Dr. Celman.
30.— An action brought by Viscount Dunlo on the 23rd
against his wife, Lady Dunlo, better known as Mi»s Belle
Bilton, a music hall singer, for dissolution of marriage,
was dismissed with costs.
— The publication of abstracts of repressive edicts
against the J ews in Russia aroused universal indignation.
It was afterwards stated that the operation of the laws
was postponed for a year.
AUGUST.
1.— The Sultan of Zanzibar issued a decree against
slavery.
— A mysterious tragedy occurred in London. Mrs.
Townsend, the wife of Dr. Knowlson Townsend, waa
found dead at her residence, 14, Park Road, New Cross.
In the same room Dr. De la Motte, a friend of the
Townsends, was also found dead. Both deaths were
subsequently found to be due to prussic acid, and a
coroner's jury returned an open verdict.
4. — The German Emperor arrived at East Cowes on a
visit to the Queen at Osborne.
6.— A man named Kemmler was executed by electricity
at Auburn Prison, New York. After the first shock, the
victim was found to be still living, and other two currents
had to be passed through his body before death ensued.
— A strike began of servants in the employ of the Taff
Vale, Rhymney, and Barry Railway Companies, South
Wales, the question in dispute being the scale of wages
and the hours of labour. The whole trade and commence
of South Wales was paralysed.
9.— Heligoland was formally transferred to Germany in
acoordance with the Anglo-German Agreement.
Printed by WALTER SCOTT, Felling-on-Tyne.
Chronicle
OF
NORTH-COUNTRY*LORE'AND*LEGEND
VOL. IV.— No. 44.
OCTOBER, 1890.
PRICE 60.
JJHREE miles west of Hawick, on the sloping
northern shore of the river Teviot, stands
Branxholme Tower. It occupies a position
which, in the old days of war and blood-
shed, would be deemed a strong one, but which in these
more peaceful times is changed to one of picturesque
beauty. Behind it a long line of green hills rises gently
from the river. On the east, a brawling streamlet, which
tradition terms the Bloody Burn, owing to its having run
red with blood during some old-time foray, has carved for
itself a precipitous course. In front, "sweet Teviot's
silver tide " ripples on with gentle murmur to the Tweed.
Goldielands Peel looks out from its wooded eminence like
some " hoary sentinel " ; while in summer the fields around
wave with the ripe yellow com, and the hillsides glint with
the yellow and green of the broom and the bracken.
From the accompanying sketch (for which the writer is
indebted to Mr. James Hogg) it will be seen that Branx-
holme at present consists of a long plain building with a
tower at its western extremity. The former is of com-
$r anvsV^oVw.* ^ovii
I
i i i M . i . . I I I < II i
inf'iV'j'i; ,,T
28
434
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
< October
V 1890
paratively recent date, the tower being the only part left
of the old keep. It is supposed by some that the building
originally consisted of a large quadrangle with one such
tower at each corner. Two of these bore the names of
Tentifuto and Nebsie, the latter name being applied to the
tower still existing. However, Mr. David Macgibbon, a
Scottish architect who, in conjunction with Mr. T. Row,
is at present engaged in publishing a valuable work on the
"Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland," is
of opinion that the buildings were shaped like the letter
Z, a form once somewhat common in Scotland.
Behind the tower stands a venerable ash, bearing the
name of the Dule or Hanging Tree, on which, doubtless,
many a stout Border riever and mosstrooper has paid the
last penalty of his marauding propensities. The greater
part of it has been blown down, and what remains is
sorely mutilated.
Apart from the historical associations connected with
Branxholme, it has acquired a classical interest through
its being the scene of the "Lay of the Last Minstrel,"
the first of those great poems with which Sir Walter Scott
delighted the world when the present century was young.
" A single scene," says Scott's biographer and son-in-law,
John Gibson Lockhart, " of feudal festivity in the hall of
Branksome, disturbed by the pranks of a nondescript
goblin, was probably all that h« contemplated ; but his
accidental confinement in the midst of a volunteer camp
gave him leisure to meditate his theme to the sound of the
bugle ; and suddenly there flashed on him the idea of ex-
tending his simple outline, so as to embrace a vivid
panorama of that old Border life of war and tumult, and
all earnest passions, with which his researches on the
minstrelsy had by degrees fed his imagination."
It may be of interest to notice that the substance of the
well-known lines with which the poem opens was borrowed
from a seventeenth century bard, Captain Scot of
Satchells, who wrote a historical poem on " The Name of
Scott."
The Barons of Buckleugh, they kept at their call
Four-and-twenty gentlemen in their hall ;
All being of his name and kin,
Each two had a servant to wait on them.
Before supper and dinner most renowned.
The bells did ring, and the trumpets sound,
And more than that I do confess
They kept four-and-twenty pensioners.
Think not I lie, nor do I blame,
For the pensioners I can all name.
Satchell's lines, however, are of more value as a historical
description than as poetry, and certainly fall far short of
the stirring, martial style so typical of Sir Walter-
Why do these steeds stand ready dight V
Why watch these warriors, armd, by night? —
They watch, to hear the bloodhound baying :
They watch, to hear the war-horn braying ;
To tee St. George's red cross streaming,
To see the midnight beacon gleaming ;
They watch, against Southren force and guile,
Lest Scroop, or Howard, or Percy's powers,
Threaten Branksome's lordly towers.
From Warkworth, or Naworth, or merry Carlisle.
Our knowledge of Branxholme dates from the end of
the twelfth century. An entry in the Register of the
Priory of St. Andrew's mentions that "Henry Lovel
granted to the canons of St. Andrew's two oxen-gang of
land in Brancuella (Branxholme)." The family of Lovel
came over at the Conquest from Normandy, and were
lords of the Barony of Hawick, which at that time in-
cluded Branxholme. In the first year of the reign of
King Robert Bruce the lands of Branxholme were divided
between Henry Balliol and Walter Comyn ; but when
Bruce's son, David IL, was made prisoner at the battle of
Neville's Cross, near Durham, in the year 1546, the
English took possession of the Borders, and the Levels
petitioned Edward to restore to them their former pos-
sessions, which was accordingly done.
In these troublous times no man was sure of long
possession of his property ; consequently we find Branx-
holme changing hands pretty often. In the reign of
James I. we find the Barony of Hawick given by charter
to Sir William Douglas of Drumlanrig, and at the same
period the lands of Branxholme possessed by Sir John
Inglis of Manor. The latter would seem to have been a
somewhat peaceably inclined man, to whom the constant
raids and inroads of the English were a source of annoy-
ance. To such a degree was this the case that he was pre-
vailed on to exchange half of the lands of Branxholme for
a corresponding portion of the estate of Murdiestone, in
Lanarkshire, owned by Robert Scott, lord of Murdie-
stone and Rankleburn. In his notes to the "Lay of the
Last Minstrel," Sir Walter Scott says : — " Tradition
imputes the exchange betwixt Scott and Inglis to a
conversation, in which the latter — a man, it would
appear, of a mild and forbearing nature — complained
much of the injuries to which he was exposed from the
English Borderers, who frequently plundered his lands of
Branksome. Scott instantly offered him the estate of
Murdiestone, in exchange for that wbioh was subject to
such egregious inconvenience. He was probably induced
to this transaction from the vicinity of Branksome to the
extensive domain which he possessed in Ettrick Forest
and in Teviotdale. In the former district he held by
occupancy the estate of Buccleuch, and much of the
forest land on the river Ettrick. In Teviotdale he
enjoyed the barony of Eckford, by a grant from Robert
II. to his ancestor, Walter Scott of Kirknrd." It will be
observed that Sir Walter states that all bis lands changed
hands at one time, but this, as we shall immediately see,
is incorrect.
On the death, in 1426, of Robert Scott, above
mentioned, he was succeeded by Walter Scott, of
Kirkurd, a man of martial character and ever ready for
the fray. He took a prominent part in the suppression of
the family of the Black Douglas, and for his great ser-
vices he was knighted by James II. He also received the
other half of the lands of Branxholme in exchange for
the rest of those of Murdiestone ; and from this time
October 1
1890. /
NORIH-COUNIRY LORE AND LEGEND.
435
<1<H6) Branxholme Castle became the principal residence
of the Scotts.
In the year 1463, Branxholme, which had hitherto been
included in the Barony of Hawick, was made a separate
barony, and a royal charter was given to David Scott and
his heirs "ou condition of his rendering annually to the
Crown one red rose as blench farm at the feast of Saint
John the Baptist " (Midsummer).
Sir Walter Scott and his son David were firm allies of
their sovereign James III., and in his reign their power
and possessions were greatly increased. David Scott
married a daughter of the Earl of Angus in 1472, and
through this marriage he was made governor of Her-
mitage Castle, and, in short, petty sovereign of the whole
of the Scottish Border. In order to preserve peace, he
repaired and strengthened Hermitage, and also enlarged
and strengthened Branxholme, "which from this time,"
says a recent writer, "as one of the principal seats of the
important and powerful family of the Scotts of Buccleuch,
became the centre of many of the exploits which agitated
the Borders during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries,
as well as a place of historical interest."
During the first half of the sixteenth century, " the
Scotts of Tyvydall" (Teviotdale) made frequent inroads
on the English, and it was felt that some retaliation on
the part of the latter was necessary. Accordingly, in
1533, the Earl of Northumberland made a raid on Branx-
holme, and burned it. In a despatch to King Henry
VIII., he says :— " They acty vely did set upon a towne
called Branxholm, where the Laird of Buclough d welly the,
and purpesed theymeselves with a trayne for hym lyke to
his accustomed maner, in rysynge to all frayes: albeit,
that knyghte he was not at home, and so they brynt the
said Branxholm, and other townes. . . . Sundry of
the said Lord Buclough's servants, who dyd issue fourthe
of his gates, was takyn prisoners. They dyd not leve one
house, one stak of corne, nor one shyef, without the gate
of the said Lord Buclough unbrynt."
Eleven years later Branxholme again suffered. This
time it was at the hands of Sir Brian Latoun and Sir
Ralph Evers, who laid waste almost the whole of Teviot-
dale. They burned the "barmeykin," an outer wall
which surrounded the castle, and carried off an immense
number of sheep and cattle, with horses and other spoil.
In 1569, Scott of Buccleuch and his neighbour, Ker of
Fernihurst, at the head of their followers, made a raid
into England and devasted a large portion of the Northern
Counties. On hearing of it Queen Elizabeth was furious,
and immediately sent the Earl of Sussex and Lord Hunsdon
with a large force to retaliate on the Scots. Entering into
Scotland, near Wark, they marched by Crailing, Ferni-
hurst, and Bedrule, into Teviotdale, burning and plun-
dering the whole countryside. On reaching Hawick,
they found that the inhabitants had set fire to the
thatched bouses and fled to the bills, leaving the place
deserted. " From Hawicke," wrote Sussex to Elizabeth,
"we wente to Bransam, the L. of Buckloughes chefe
bowse, which we threwe downe with poulder, and burnte
all the townes and caatells of his friends and kinsmen in
those parts." Sussex's lieutenant, Lord Hunsdon, in a
letter to Sir W. Cecil on the same subject, is a
little more explicit, and shows in what a vindictive
and cruel spirit this incursion was conducted. "My
L. Lieuts. and I, with serten bands of hors-
men, only went to Branksara, Bukklews pryncy-
pale howse, which we found burnt to owr hand by hym-
selfe, as cruelly as our selves cowld have burnt ytt.
But my L. Lieut, thynkynr/e that not sujfucyent fyndyng
one lyttett vawte (vault) yn ytt wheryn was no fyer, he
cawsed poivdcr too be sett, and so blew up the one halfe from
the other. Yt was a very strange howse, and well sett ;
and very pleasant gardens and orchards abowt ytt, and
well kept, but all destroyd."
This was the severest blow Branxholme had yet re-
ceived, for it was now completely demolished. Its owner,
however, did not lose heart, but as soon as the English
left Scotland, in 1570, began to rebuild the castle. He
did not live to see it completed, but died at
Hawick in 1574- shortly after making his will, in
which he declared that he was " sick in body, but
hail in spirit." The building was finished in 1576 by his
widow, Margaret Douglas. A stone with the family arms
engraved on it bears the following inscription : — "Sir
Walter Scott of Branxheim, Knyt, son of Sir William
Scott of Kirkard, Knyt, began ye wark upon ye 24
March, 1571, zeir, qulia departed at God's plesour ye 17
April, 1574. Dame Margaret Douglas, his spous, com-
pleted the foresaid wark in October 157(6)." The stone
over the entrance to the castle also bears the names of
Walter Scott and Margaret Douglas carved on it, along
with the following quaint lines : —
In. warld. is. nocht. Natur. hes. vrought. yt. sal. last. ay.
Thairfor. serve. God. Keip. veil. ye. rod. thy. fame. sal.
nocht. dekay.
There is little of importance to relate of Branxholme
from this period until the beginning of the 17th century.
It waa then occupied by Walter Scott, second Lord of
Buccleuch. In 1619 he was created Earl of Buccleuch and
Lord Eskdaill, and during his residence at Branxholme
it was the scene of great festivities, hospitality, and luxu-
rious revelry, the effect of which was to land the Earl
heavily in debt. He went abroad and fought as a volun-
teer in the Netherlands, and died in London in 1633.
"With the death of the first Earl of Buccleuch, the glory
of Branxholme may be said to have departed, and literally
the ' feast waa o'er in Branksome Tower,' for, after the
acquisition of Dalkeith, which was purchased during the
minority of Francis, the second Earl of Buccleuch, it
ceased to be one of the principal family seats."
From the middle of last century it became the residence
of the Duke's chamberlains, and is now occupied by the
436
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/October
\ 1890.
present holder of that office, Mr. W. Eliott Lockhart, of
Cleghorn. W. E. WILSON.
in.
THE CHURCH AND THE BORDERERS.
HE clergy scattered over the Border district
were not much less vicious and disorderly
than the bulk of their flocks. They were
not indisposed sometimes to go out and take
fk prey on their own account, and were at least always
ready and willing to connive with their parishioners who
did. They had no influence whatever to deter the people
from "stouthrift," the scope of their priestly calling being
confined to spiritual matters. Bishop Fox, in 1*98, had,
on informations being taken to him of the great number
of robbers who infested these parts, issued his mandate to
all the clergy of Tynedale and Redesdale, charging them
to visit with the terrors of the greater excommunication
all the inhabitants of their several cures who should,
excepting against the Scots, presume to go from home
armed in a jack and sallet, or knapscull, or other defen-
sive armour ; or should ride a horse worth more than six
shillings and eightpence ; or should wear in any church or
churchyard, during the time of divine service, any offen-
sive weapon more than a cubit in length. But it may be
taken for granted that the good bishop's well-meant
mandate remained a dead letter, as much owing to the
average character of the Sir Johns or Mass Johns of the
dales to whom it was addressed, as to that of the "lewd
men, "or laymen of the district, against whom, if dis-
obedient, it was to be put in force; for the prslate
elsewhere describes the Redesdale curates (and pre-
sumably their brethren of the yet ruder twin dale) as
publicly and openly living with concubines, irregular,
suspended, excommunicated, interdicted, wholly ignorant
of letters, so much so that the priest of ten years' stand-
ing did not know how to read the breviary. Some of
them, we are told, were nothing more than sham priests,
having never been ordained, and these interlopers per-
formed divine service, not only in places dedicated to
that purpose, but in such as were unconsecrated and
interdicted. The priest and curate of Newcastle are
both included (we quote the fact from Mr. Sidney Gibson)
in a list of "Border thieves" early in the reign of
Elizabeth. In April, 1524, Cardinal Wolsey caused an
interdict to be laid on all the churches of Tynedale ; and
about the same time the Archbishop of Glasgow published,
on the Scottish side, an interdict and excommunication
against the outlaws of Liddesdale and their harbourers,
couched in the strongest possible language. But the
Borderers seem to have reverenced neither church nor
king ; for William Frankelyn, writing to Wolsey in 1524,
tells the cardinal that after he had, in obedience to his
grace's letter, caused all the churches to be interdicted,
the thieves " temerariously " disobeyed the order, and
caused a Scotch friar, notwithstanding the interdict, to
minister the communion to them after his fashion. And
one of their captains, Hector Charlton, whom tradition
identifies with the Cbarltons of the House of Chirdon
Burn, ancestors of the Charltons of Reedsmouth, received
the pensions due, and served them all with wine. For
though the mosstroopers in general, and these dalesmen
in particular, were, as may be supposed, very ignorant
about religious matters, deficient in anything like real
piety or devotion, and lax in their moral code, most of
them would have considered themselves insulted had they
been told they were not good Catholics ; and it was their
habit regularly to tell their beads, and go occasionally to
hear mass, and never with more zeal than when setting
out on a plundering expedition.
LORD DACRK AND THE THIEVES.
Proclamation was made at Bellingham and elsewhere
against giving food to the outlaws, and for keeping their
wives and servants from attending markets. Driven thus
to extremity, most of them seemed disposed to come to
terms, stating that, if their own lives and those of their
pledges or hostages given into the hands of the sheriffs
were respected and made safe, they would then submit to
the king. Only two of them, Gerard Charltou and
Hector Charlton, "great captains" among the thieves,
resolutely held out. The latter worthy, it would appear,
was emboldened to do so through Lord Dacre himself
"consorting him in his misdemeanour." For there is
documentary evidence still extant to prove that his
lordship accepted a present of certain stolen cattle from
Hector, with whom he was "familiarly and daily con-
versant, "and that he delivered up to him, to be ordered
at his pleasure, two thieves taken in Gilsland, whom
Hector afterwards ransomed and suffered to go at large,
for twenty nobles of current money, which the thieves'
friends had raised amongst them by the sale of goods
stolen from the king's true subjects. This being on the
face of the record, it is easy to believe that Lord Dacre's
severity to thieves of inferior rank in North Tynedale
raised against him a host of bitter enemies, from whose
accusations he had some difficulty in clearing himself
when afterwards tried for his conduct in Westminster
Hall.
THE SCOTTISH THIEVES.
On the Scottish side, even greater perversion of the
course of justice then prevailed. For there, as an old
historian pays, " there dared no man strive at law with a
Douglas ; for if he did, he was sure to get the worst of his
lawsuit." The partiality of the Earl of Angus, then all-
powerful, for his friends, kinsmen, and adherents, was
quite shameful ; and although, as the same writer adds,
he "travelled through the country under the pretence of
punishing thieves, robbers and murderers, there were
October 1
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
437
no malefactors so great as those which rode in his own
company. "
THE FEUD OF THE SCOTS AND KERS.
Sir Walter Scott, of Buccleuch, a man of great courage
and military talent, head of a numerous and powerful
clan, and possessed of much influence on the Border, was
believed, probably with truth, to have connived at some
more than ordinary outrages which had lately taken place
in Teviotdale and Liddesdale. On Angus marching
southwards to call the thieves to account, he was joined
by the clans of Home and Ker, with whom he marched
unopposed as far as Jedburgb ; but on his return his
passage was interrupted by Buccleuch, at the head of a
thousand rough Borderers, at Melrose Bridge, and a
sharp skirmish took place, in which the Border riders
were defeated. About eighty Scotts were left dead on
the field, as well as several of the Kers ; and one of the
latter, Ker of Cessford, a chief of the name, having been
killed with a lance-thrust by one of the Elliots, a retainer
of Buccleuch, it occasioned a deadly feud between the
clans of Scott and Ker, which lasted for a full century,
and caused much bloodshed. Indeed, it almost seemed at
one time as if
While Cessford owned the rule of Carr,
While Ettric held the line of Scott,
The slaughtered chiefs, the mortal jar,
The havoc of the feudal war,
Would never, never be forgot.
Scott's "Lay of the Last Minstrel" relates, we need
scarcely remind our readers, to this remarkable feud.
A BAID INTO THE COUNTY PALATINE.
At times when the Tynedale and Redesdale thieves
durst not make a raid into Scotland, owing to the
vigilance of the wardens, they never hesitated to pay
moonlight visits to the lowland districts of Northumber-
land, or over the rivers into the bishopric of Durham. In
1528, William Charlton, of Shitlington, and Archibald
Dodd, with two Scotsmen, Harry Noble and Roper Arm-
strong, rode a foray into the latter county. The party,
nine in all, advanced to the neighbourhood of Wolsiug-
ham, on the 20th of January, seized the parson of
Muggleswick in passing, and bore him off a prisoner. On
their return they broke into three houses at Pencoardside,
and robbed and spoiled the gear therein. The country
rose in pursuit. Edward Horsley, the bailiff of Hexham,
led the fray. The river Tyne happened to be in high
flood, so the thieves could not ford it anywhere. They
were therefore driven of necessity to the bridge at Hay-
don, which, however, was barred, chained, and locked
fast, so that they could not pass with their horses over
the same, but were constrained to leave them behind and
flee away afoot. A servant of the Earl of Northumber-
land, called Thomas Errington, " ruler " of his lordship's
tenants in those quarters, pursued them with a sleuth
hound, and was joined by divers inhabitants of Tynedale,
including another William Charlton, "which forward-
ness in oppressing malefactors had not been seen afore-
time in Tynedale men." Charlton, of Shitlington, was
slain in the pursuit by Thomas Errington ; Harry Noble
shared the same fate ; and Roger Armstrong and Archie
Dodd were executed. Charlton's body was hung in
chains at Hexham ; Noble's on Haydon Bridge ; and the
other two were treated in the same way at Newcastle and
Alnwick. The remaining five outlaws escaped. Noble
and Armstrong had in all probability been outlawed from
Liddesdale for acts of violence committed in Scotland,
and had taken refuge among their English cousins of the
same honourable profession, with whom they could quite
lovingly hunt in couples. In their own country they
would have been liable to be taken and hanged as
"broken men," for whom, disowned by their clan, no
chief or headsman would be responsible. The old hall of
Shitlington was standing till within the last few years
on the north side of Blacklaw Burn, in the parish of
Wark, and in the near neighbourhood of the extensive
wastes formerly known as the Scots' Coltherd Wastes.
In the same year in which the Laird of Shitlington Hall
was "justified," six other Tynedale thieves were hanged
at Alnwick. This seems to have struck terror for a while
into the confraternity. At all events, a few years later,
the Earl of Northumberland met the "headsmen of the
surnames" at Hexham, and took bonds for their good
behaviour and that of their retainers.
LUSHBURN HOLES.
It was not in their nature, however, to remain quiet
long; and accordingly, in 1536, they were again causing
uneasiness. A place called Lushburn (New Lewisburn)
Holes, "a marvellous strong ground of woods and waters,"
a few miles from Keilder, and within a short ride of
Larriston Burn Head in Liddesdale, afforded them a
refuge into which no king's messenger dare penetrate.
Fourteen years later (1550), we read in a Border survey
that "the whole country of Northumberland is much
given to riot, especially the young gentlemen or head
men, and divers also of them to thefts and other greater
offences." Even Hexham Market was commonly at-
tended by "a hundred strong Border thieves," who over-
awed the country people they robbed.
THE DACRKS AND OGLES.
In a will made by an inhabitant of Morpeth in 1583,
the testator describes himself as dying of the wounds
murderously inflicted by four of the Ogle family and
their accessories, in consequence of his having presumed
to say that the Dacres, then lords of Morpeth, were of as
good blood as the Ogles.
"SAUFEY MONEY."
Quite indifferent as the Border thieves were as to whom
they laid under contributions, it was difficult to follow
them and regain by force the property they had stolen.
There were few men of note in all the country who had
not made occasional raids into both England and Scot-
land, and they were at once daring and vigilant, well
acquainted with all the by-roads, stealthy and rapid in
438
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/October
\ 1890.
their motions. Besides, most of them bad their dwellings
in places which were naturally difficult of access, and the
passes to which they obstructed, when they dreaded
pursuit, with the trunks of trees. Therefore, says Sir
Robert Bowes, in a report made to the Marquis of Dorset,
Warden-General of the Marches, in the fifth year of the
reign of Edward VI. (A.D. 1551) : " If any True man of
England get knowledge of the thieves that steal his
goods in Tynedale or Redesdale, he had much rather take
a part of bis goods again in composition than pursue to
the extremity of the law against the thief. For if he be
of any great surname or kindred, and be lawfully
executed by order of justice, the next of his kin or sur-
name bear as such malice against all that follow the law
against their cousin the thief, as though he had unlaw-
fully killed him with a sword, and will by all means they
can seek revenge thereupon." On this account, it was a
common practice for persons whose cattle had been driven
off by the thieves to treat with some of the chiefs of the
clan who had committed the theft, and pay them n
certain sum, which was called "saufpy money," for the
restitution of their property. Others agreed to pay thu
headsmen "blackmail," in consideration that the clan
they belonged to should not steal anything that pertained
to them, and that they should assist them in recovering
their property in the event of their being robbed by any
other thieves. The exactors or receivers of this black
mail or " saufey money'' rendered themselves liable to
capital punishment, and to pay it was a heinous offence,
namely, theft-bote ; but as must of the thieves were out-
lawed already, and the law was really powerless in these
districts, all parties probably thought it made little
matter to what extent they were theoretically considered
accessories.
JAMES V. : PIEES COCKBURN.
In 1529, James the Fifth of Scotland made a convention
at Edinburgh, for the purpose of considering the best
mode of quelling the Border robbers, who, during the
confusion into which the country had been thrown after
the battle of Flodden, had committed many enormities.
His first step was to secure the persons of the principal
chieftains by whom these disorders were privately en-
couraged. The Earl of Bothwell, Lord Home, Lord Max-
well, Scott of Buccleuch, Kerr of Fairniehirst, and other
powerful chiefs, who might have opposed and frustrated
the king's purposes, were seized and imprisoned in sepa-
rate fortresses in the inland country. James then assem-
bled an army of ten thousand men, consisting of the rest
of the nobility and their followers ; but he gave it out
that the grand object of the expedition was sylvan sport
and martial e.\ercise— nothing more. The gentlemen in
the wild districts he intended to visit were ordered to
bring in their best dogs and favourite hawks, so that the
monarch and his train might refresh themselves with
hunting and hawking. This was to prevent the Borderers
from taking alarm, in which case they would have re-
treated into their mountain fastnesses, from whence
it would have been difficult to dislodge them. They
had no sense of guilt, for they had only been
following the habitual bent of their lives. They
were not aware, either, that there was any harm
in taking the law into their own hands at home,
whenever they felt themselves aggrieved ; neither had
they the least idea that it was wrong to take advantage
of the Michaelmas moon by night, or of a Scotch mist
by day, to make a raid over the fells or across the Esk.
They had consequently no apprehension of the king's
displeasure. So thorough, indeed, was their security,
that the greatest malefactors amongst them either came
out with their followers to swell the royal train, or made
ready to entertain James and his courtiers when they
should arrive in their neighbourhood. Sweeping through
Ettrick Forest, the King of Scots came to Henderland,
a pele or tower in the shire of Peebles, belonging to
Piers Cockburn, who had never shown any backwardness
in helping himself when anything was to be got on either
side of the Border. Cockburn was in the act of providing
a great entertainment to welcome the king, when James
caused him to be suddenly seized and hanged over the
gate of his own castle. His wife is said to have fled to
the recesses of a wild glen, near the tower, called the
Dow Glen, during the execution of her husband, hoping
to drown the cries of the soldiery in the roar of the
mountain torrent that rushes impetuously through it to
join the Meggat and reach St. Mary's Loch. The solitary
spot where she sat, close beside a waterfall, is still
called the Lady's Seat. In the "Lament of the Border
Widow," composed in poor Marjory Cockburn's name,
we read how the king brake her bower and slew her
knight, while her servants all for life did flee, and left
her in extremity. Then she is represented as saying —
I sewed his sheet, making my mane ;
I watched the corpse, myself alane ;
I watched his body, night and day ;
No living creature came that way.
I took his body on my back.
And whyles I gaed and whyles I sat ;
I digged a grave, and laid him in.
And happed him with the sward so green.
A large stone, broken into three pieces, marks the place
where both husband and wife were buried, in the old
graveyard of St. Mary's Chapel. The following inscrip-
tion is visible on its surface : — "Here lyes Perys of Cock-
burne and his wife Marjory."
JOHNNY ABMSTEONO.
Adam Scott, of Tushilaw, who was distinguished by
the title of King of the Border, won in many a daring
successful raid, was the next victim of note. But the
most famous of all was John Armstrong, of Gilnockie,
near Langholme, famous in Scottish song as Johnny
Armstrong. This freebooting chief had risen to great
consequence, and the whole of that part of Cumberland
bordering on Liddesdale and Dumfriesshire paid him
black mail, in consideration of which he abstained from
October!
1890. I
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
439
harrying it. He had a high idea of his own importance,
as a sort of self-constituted warden of the Western
March, and spems to have been quite unconscious of
having merited any severe usage at the king's hands.
Confiding in his imagined innocence, he went out to meet
his sovereign at a place about ten miles from Hawick,
called Caerlanrig Chapel, richly draped, and having with
him thirty-six gentlemen, his constant retinue, as well
attired as himself. The king, incensed to see a freebooter
so gallantly equipped, commanded him instantly to be
led to execution, and he and his retinue were forthwith
hanged. The effect of this severity on the part of the
king was such that, as the vulgar expressed it, "the
rash-bush " thenceforth "kept the cow." "Thereafter,"
as Fitscottie tells us, "was great peace and rest a long
time, wherethrough the king had great profit ; for he
had ten thousand sheep grazing in the Ettrick Forest, in
keeping by Andrew Bell, who made the king as good
account as if they had been grazing in the bounds
of Fife."
THE NOHTHUMBEBLAND FBNCIBLES.
In the year 1538, a muster of all the fencible inhabi-
tants of Northumberland was instituted, by order of
Henry VIII. The burgesses of Newcastle, all armed
in plate and mail, with bows, bills, and battle-axes,
were assembled by their aldermen on the Town Moor :
and the population of the landward part of the county
was called together in the various wards by the principal
gentlemen of each district, vested with the king's com-
mission. In the musters of Sir Raynold Carnaby and
Sir Cuthbert Radcliffe, held on Aberwick Moor,
Ruberslaw, and other convenient places, there were
hard upon six hundred Redesdale and North Tynedale
"thieves," all "able men, .with horse, harness, and
spears," besides all the "foot thieves" of the same
valleys. We may be sure they would not have presented
themselves on this occasion for the king's service, had
they not beforehand received trustworthy assurances that
bygones would be bygones. Their hardihood otherwise
would have been about equal to that of Johnny Arm-
strong himself, since they had always been quite as
prone when they had the chance to plunder their own
countrymen as "the blue bonnets over the Border."
WILLIAM BKOCKIE.
(fcbtvti, STeatfter at
MEMBER of the Newcastle Town Council,
the author of "Steam and the Steam Engine,"
and the head master of the Elswick Science
Classes, Mr. Henry Evers, whose portrait ia here
engraved, has bf en described in Science and Art as "one
of the pioneers of science teaching."
Mr. Evers was born in 1830 at Amblecote, Stafford-
shire, near Stourbridge, and received his early education
at the Oldswinford Hospital, adjoining the latter town.
At the age of nineteen he entered the Cheltenham
Training College, then lately established by the influence
of the Rev. Francis Close, Incumbent of Cheltenham,
afterwards Dean of Carlisle. During the two years of
his stay at Cheltenham under Dr. Bromby, afterwards
Bishop of Tasmania, he saw the foundation of the
Training College laid, and the whole completed, being
among those then in residence who entered into the
new buildings in 1850. On leaving Cheltenham, Mr.
Evers was appointed to St. Sepulchre's Schools, North-
ampton, where he remained for two years, and then
removed to Plymouth, where, for twenty years or more,
he was thf head-master of the Charles Boys' School,
the largest Church of England School in the West of
England in those days. About 1865, science classes
were first commenced in Plymouth, and Mr. Evers at
once took the position of leading science teacher.
Appointed to tho head-mastership of the Elswick
Mechanics' Institute Science Classes about 1876, Mr.
Evers was eminently successful from the very commence-
ment. A very lar/e number of honours students have
passed through these schools, with a very fair proportion
of Whitworth Scholars. Last year, for instance, was a
year of great achievements : two out of the four Whit-
worth Scholarships were awarded to Elswick students —
Mr. Reginald T. Smith, now of St. John's College,
Cambridge, and Mr. John Harbottle, now of Owens'
College, Manchester.
Mr. Evers is at present engaged in producing the
" Elswick Science Series," for which he has written
"Trigonometry (Practical and Theoretical)," and "Steam
440
MONIHL\ CHRONICLE.
and other Prime Movers." The respect and honour in
which he is held at Newcastle is shown by his election
for one of the Elswick Wards as a Town Councillor. Ag
an author, Mr. Evers's work stands out in a marked
manner, and competent authorities declare that his book
on "Steam and the Steam Engine" is "an absolute
addition to the literature of mechanical science."
jjHEN journeying between Morpeth and Bel-
ford, one of the most prominent landmarks
seen from the railway, from almost every
point of view, is Brislee, or Brislaw, Tower.
This is a highly ornamented structure in the form of a
column, divided by string-courses and mouldings into six
~tages, standing on a heather-clad mount adjoining the
•leer-park at Alnwick or Hulne Park, which mount is
583 feet above the sea level.
The column at its base has an arcaded portico running
all round it, which forms a pleasant shelter below ; and on
the flat roof of it a wide balcony with a handsome open-
work stone parapet, which makes an agreeable break in
BBISLKE TOWER, A1.1WICK.
the ascent for those who step out on to it. As the sum-
mit of the mount is thickly planted with pine trees, there
is not a good view of the surrounding country from this
elevation, and visitors generally decide to continue the
ascent to a second and smaller balcony nearer to the top
of the column. This second balcony, as the illustration
will indicate, also passes all the way round the column,
and is likewise furnished with an elaborately open-worked
parapet. The tower finishes with an embattled cornice,
and on the top of it is placed an open iron brazier for
a beacon fire, at a height of 90 feet from the ground. It
was built by Hugh, the first Duke of Northumberland.
Near a medallion portrait of this nobleman on the face of
the tower, is cut the following inscription : — " CIBCUM-
8PICE. EGO OMNIA ISTA SUM DIMENSU8. MEI BUNT OBMNE8.
MEA DESCRIPTIO. MULT* ETIAM ISTAEUM ARBORCM MEA
MANU SUNT SATA" (Look around. I have measured all
these things. They are my orders. My planning.
Many of these trees T have even planted with my own
hand.)
The prospect from the upper balcony of this tower is
one of the most varied, beautiful, and interesting in the
country. Close at the foot of it is a sea of heather; just
below lies Hulne Abbey ; and an arrowy silvery thread
passing through low green banks is the
river Alne. Close at the foot, too, is a
keeper's pleasant-looking cottage, and the
spot where Sir James Smith made his
observations of the annular eclipse in 1836.
On a clear day, looking farther, Flodden
field can be distinguished, where James
the Fourth of Scotland was killed in the
great battle ; Bam borough Castle, probably
the Garde Joyeuse to which Sir Launcelot
brought Queen Guinever when he rescued
her from the burning at Carlisle ; Dun-
stanborough Castle, that played such an
important part in the Wars of the Roses ;
Alnwick Castle, not only the residence of
theDe Vesciesand Percies, but on occasion
of King John, Henry the Third, Edward
the First, Edward the Second, and Edward
the Third ; Heaforlawe Tower, one of the
possessions of the abbots of Alnwick
Abbey ; Warkworth Castle, Coquet Island,
Alnmonth, the Fame Islands, the scene of
Grace Darling's bravery and benevolence,
the peaceful vale of Whittingham, the
p'easant village of Eglingham, the great
Cheviot range; and between these lead-
ing features a sweep of country and rocky
coast associated with the most romantic
traditions of the North Country. On very
clear days the hills of Teviotdale, forty
miles away, are visible.
On the mount, among the abundant ferns
October 1
1890. /
NORIH-COUNTRy LORE AND LEGEND.
441
and mosses grow large quantities of the pretty white
Trientalia Europceus, and masses of rhododendrons find a
congenial soil. Blaberries are also very abundant, as
well as brilliant hued fungi. About half-way up the
mount), a road branching eastwards leads to a cavern
in a low sandstone cliff, known by the curious name of
the Nine Year Aud Hole. Not very far from this is a
tall, slender monolith, called the Long-stone, which is
probably a relic of pre-historic times.
Messrs. Parson and White wrote in their gazetteer, in
1827, that Brislee Tower was said to have been erected
from a model made of pastry by a French cook. Looking
at its exact correspondence with all the work designed by
the architect of the first Duke of Northumberland, and re-
membering the elaborate devices with which it was the
fashion to adorn the banquet-tables in his day, it is much
more probable that the French cook made a model of the
tower after it was erected, to please bis noble employer and
grace some great entertainment. SARAH WILSON.
'd Cftttrcft,
NE of the architectural adornments of West
Jesmond, Newcastle, is St. George's Church,
whose lofty campanile tower is a conspicuous
feature in the surrounding landscape. This
important addition to the list of local
places of worship was the gift of Mr.
Charles Mitchell to the Church of Eng-
land, that gentleman having provided
everything, from the site to the hymn
books. St. George's Church, an extension
from Jesmond Church, is the nucleus of a
new parish, of which the Kev. S. E.
Pennefather is the vicar. To Mr.
Pennefather we are indebted for the loan
of the accompanying engraving of the
interior of the sacred edifice. From this
drawing a fair idea may be gained of the
great beauty of the eastward view. The
first object that will strike the attention
is the noble stained-glass window which,
when flooded with the light of the sun, is a
glorious sight indeed. The figures, which
represent the Birth of Our Lord, the Magi.
and the Shepherds, were designed by Mr.
John W. Brown, a native of Newcastle,
now of Church Street, Stoke Newington,
London, who was also responsible for the
design and execution of the west window.
The altar and reredos are made of the
famous Pavonazza marble. The two top
Bteps of the sanctuary are of the same
material, the third step being of rouge
jasper, and the fourth and fifth of the finest Sienna
marble. The dado is formed of dark English marble,
surmounted with specially designed emblematical tiles.
Above the reredos there is some fine stone work, besides
three figures in mosaic, one of Our Lord, the others arch
angels, the whole terminating in a cross. As may be
seen from the engraving, the general aspect of the church
from the west end is at once rich and chaste. St. George's
was erected from designs by Mr. T. R. Spence, formerly
of Newcastle, but now residing in London. (For view
of exterior of the church, see Monthly Chronicle, 1888,
p. 527.)
Men af tffTarlt
atttr
cHclfort).
GHltott,
SURGEON AND PHILANTHROPIST.
j|T the beginning of the present century every-
body in Newcastle knew Dr. Elliott, gratui-
tous adviser of the indigent sick, benevolent
friend of the aped poor, and earnest pro-
muter of a medical charity that, in a quiet and
442
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/October
\ 1890.
unobtrusive way, has done, and is still doing, useful
work amongst us.
Lineally descended from the Elliotts of Stobbs, in
Roxburghshire, the philanthropic doctor was born at
Haydon Bridge in the year 1759. Completing his
education in the Free Grammar School of his native
village, he obtained a lieutenant's commission in the
Marines from his uncle, General Elliott, and entered
the service of his country. He accompanied his regiment
to America, where Lord Cornwallis was vainly trying to
reduce the revolted colonists to obedience, and, being
severely wounded, was placed upon half pay, which
practically meant retirement from the active pursuit of
his profession. Unwilling to lead an inactive life, and
having gained a knowledge of surgery while on duty,
he determined to become a doctor. With this object in
view he entered the University of Edinburgh, walked
the hospitals, obtained his diploma, and, in 1792, com-
menced life anew as a surgeon. He selected Wolsingham,
in the county of Durham, as a suitable place for his
first experiments in doctoring; but, after five years'
residence there, he was encouraged to remove to New-
castle. His practice in the town at first was naturally
small ; in a short time it began to grow ; by-and-by it
became extensive, and assumed a varied character. Rich
and poor alike sought his aid; in Saville Row equally
with Sandgate his services were put into requisition.
The greater part of his work lay by choice among the
indigent. Devoting to them the best share of his time
:md his means, he did not attain to riches ; he was
content to be rewarded by the grateful soubriqvet of
"The Poor Man's Doctor."
Among Mr. Elliott's professional appointments in
Newcastle was one that suited his benevolent tempera-
ment— that of surgeon to the Lying-in Hospital. This
institution had been started as an experiment, about the
close of the year 1760, in an old dwelling-house situated
in Rosemary Lane. It was a poor concern, in an
confined neighbourhood, and there seemed to be no
prospect of improving its position till Doctor Elliott took
the matter in hand. He devised a new departure in
charitable enterprise. On New Year's Day, 1819, by
special letter to the trustees of the hospital, he pointed
out the imperative need of a newer institution, estab-
lished upon a wider basis, and as proof of his practical
sympathy with the movement he enclosed a five pound
note. The plan was successful. " Elliott's Fund "
became popular. The clergy preached for it, philosophers
lectured for it, musical amateurs sang for it. In course
of time a sum of £1,300 was collected, and then the
trustees found themselves able to contemplate seriously
the construction of a building that should be worthy
of the charity and of the town. A piece of ground in
New Bridge Street, which had been declined by the
Literary and Philosophical Society as a site for their
new library, became available ; the Corporation gave it
to the charity; benevolent John Dobson the architect
drew plans and specifications gratuitously; and thus
the convenient edifice which stands at the north end of
Croft Street, facing the Public Library, rose from its
foundations. Unhappily, the liberal-hearted doctor did
not live to see the full realization of his hopes. He died
in 1824, before the building was completed. But in the
great window which overhangs the main entrance to
the hospital, a glowing coat of arms preserves the
memory of his benevolence, and bears perpetual witness
to the success of " Elliott's Fund."
A POETICAL ATTORNEY.
James Ellis was a native of Hexham, in which place
his father was town sergeant. He was born in or about
the year 1763, and at the proper time was put to the
law in the office of William Hunter, a Hexham solicitor.
Before his articles had run their course, Mr. Hunter
died, and in the beginning of 1783 he was turned over to
the Messrs. Davidson, of Newcastle. These gentlemen
had received from their father, who was a well-known
public official, an admirable legal training, and their
business was of an extensive and diversified character.
In their office Mr. Ellis had for his fellow-clerks two
young men of literary pretensions — Thomas Bedingfeld
[see Monthly Chronicle, vol. ii., p. 197] and George
Pickering. Forsaking the madcap diversions common
to the period, the trio occupied their spare hours in
reading poetry, in making rhymes, in criticism, in
discussion, and in other pursuits tending to mental
culture. Towards these mild delights the Messrs.
Davidson were themselves inclined, for they, too, had
literary aspirations. It must have been a phenomenal
lawyer's office in which the heads of the firm and the
three youths who helped to carry on the business were
alike imbued with literary tastes — each of the former
able to discuss the latest book or the newest poem ; each
of the latter ready at any time to imitate the lawyer's
clerk
Who penned a stanza when he should engross.
Placed on the rolls as an attorney, Mr. Ellis settled
at Hexham ; but, finding that there was no room for an
addition to the list of lawyers in his native town, he
returned to Newcastle, and practised for a number of
years with considerable success. While so engaged, he
purchased, in conjunction with one of his former
employers, Mr. John Davidson, a portion of the Otter-
burn Estate. The mansion house, called Otterburn
Castle, fell to his lot, and he made it his home. When
he gave up his practice in Newcastle, he retired to
Otterburn, and there, engaged in various literary and
antiquarian pursuits, he spent the remainder of his life.
One of the "Tracts" published by the "Newcastle
Typographical Society" for Mr. John Fenwick consists
of letters which passed between Mr. Ellis and Walter
October!
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
443
(afterwards Sir Walter) Scott. Mr. Ellis had observed
two or three errors in the " Battle of Otterbourne "
— one of the ballads quoted by Scott in the "Border
Minstrelry," and in February, 1812, he courteously
communicated with the author, pointing out the mistakes.
Scott replied in the same spirit, and a few months later,
on his way to visit Mr. Morritt at Rokeby, he brought
Mrs. Scott and their two children to Otterburn Castle,
and remained with Mr. Ellis all night. Next day Mr.
Ellis accompanied him to Risingham, showed him the
rudely-sculptured figure of Robin, the Roman antiquities,
&c., and had the reward of seeing later on, when the
poem of Rokeby appeared, how ingeniously the poet had
weaved the morning's occurrences into his narrative :—
And near the spot that gave me name,
The moated mound of Risingham,
Where Reed upon her margin sees
Sweet Woodburn's cottages and trees.
Some ancient sculptor's art has shown
An outlaw's image on the stone :
Unmatch'd in strength, a giant he.
With quiver'd back, and kirtled knee.
In 1815, Mr. Ellis issued a volume of 182- pages,
entitled "Poetry, Fugitive and Original, by the late
Thomas Bedingfeld, Esq., and Mr. George Pickering,
with notes and some additional pieces. By a Friend.
Newcastle: S. Hodgson." The book, which is dedicated
to "Walter Scott, Esquire," to whom it "in a great
measure owed its existence," contains ten effusions of
Mr. Bedingfeld's, nineteen of Mr, Pickering's, followed
by a joint production, and ending with a dozen "Trifles "
from the pen of the editor.
Itffrea <£kinsf, p.p.,
DEAN OP CARLISLE AND RECTOR OF MOBPETH.
The family of Ekins held Church preferments in various
parts of England during many generations. The living
of Barton Seagrave, in Northamptonshire, belonged to
them, and in the rectory house of that parish, in 1730,
the subject of this sketch was born. Destined for the
Church, he matriculated at King's College, Cambridge,
where he distinguished himself in classical literature, and
taking his Bachelor's degree in 1755, proceeded to that of
Master in 1758. His first preferment came to him in
1764, in which year he obtained the living of Quainton, in
Buckinghamshire — a pleasant rural village, overlooking
the wide and fertile vale of Aylesbury. The following
year he married Anne, daughter of Philip Baker, Deputy
Secretary-at-War, and settling down at Quainton Rec-
tory, added to pastoral life and parochial administration
the cultivation of the poetic Muse. Six years after his
marriage he published in quarto "The Loves of Medea
and Jason," a poem in three books, translated from the
Greek of Apollonius Rhodius' "Argonauts." This work
was well received among scholars, and ran into a second
edition. Among other patrons of literature and art who
were captivated by its soft and melodious cadences was
Frederick, fifth Earl of Carlisle, and his lordship's
appreciation led to happy results for the author. For in
1775, upon the death of Oliver Naylor, Rector of Mor-
peth, he received from his noble admirer an offer of that
valuable living. The offer was accepted, and Mr. Ekins,
exchanging the mild and balmy neighbourhood of the
Chilterns for the robuster climate of Northumberland,
came to Morpeth to reside.
In the North. Mr. Ekins's poetical genius and polished
manners rapidly brought around him appreciative friends.
His scholarship commended him to that judicious and
far-seeing prelate Bishop Egerton, who, in 1777, two
years after his arrival at Morpeth, made him an offer of
the living of Sedgefield. Plurality of livings being
common in those days, for nobody ventured to dispute
the rights of patrons to dispose of Church preferments
as they pleased, and to whom they pleased, Mr. Ekins
availed himself of the proffered honour, with its sub-
stantial emoluments, and, residing at Morpeth, discharged
the duties of Sedgefield by deputy. In 1780, his friend
and patron, Lord Carlisle, being appointed Lord-
Lieutenant of Ireland, made him his chaplain, and he
accompanied that nobleman to Dublin Castle. Lord
Carlisle's occupancy of the Lord-Lieutenancy lasted two
years, and towards the close of it Mr. Ekins was selected
to fill the episcopal chair of Dromore. But the honour of
being an Irish bishop was not to his taste. He declined
to wear a mitre, and was allowed to bargain it away for
a position more congenial to his haoits. Dr. Percy, Dean
of Carlisle, the industrious collector of ballad poetry,
was willing to take the post, and an arraneement was
made by which Dr. Percy became Bishop of Dromore
and Mr. Ekins became Dean of Carlisle, with the degree
of Doctor of Divinity.
These changes made but little alteration in Mr. Ekins's
connection with the diocese of Durham. He retained
both Morpeth and Sedgerield, and when not in residence
at Carlisle made the Rectory House on the banks of the
Wansbeck his home. There he composed elegant poetic
epistles, and wrote about philosophy, literature, and
divinity to his friends, Archdeacon Paley, Bishop Law,
and other notable clerics of his time. Unfortunately,
but few of these charming effusions have been preserved.
One of them, mentioned more than once by Hodgson in
the "History of Northumberland," is printed by Dr.
Raine in his life of that eminent historian. It is an ode
in hexameter and pentameter verse, and is said to be an
admirable specimen of chaste and refined Latinity.
After his death, which occurred while on a visit to
London in 1791, his "Jason and Medea" was re-issued
with several of his poetical effusions attached, and distri-
buted as a souvenir among his literary friends.
Dr. Ekins was succeeded at Morpeth by his son,
Frederick Ekins, MA., who married Jane Ogle, daughter
and co-heir of James Tyler, of Whalton, land-steward to
the Duke of Portland, and by her had an only son and
three daughters. The son, named after his grandfather,
444
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
( October
\ 1890.
Jeffrey, was a fellow of New College, Oxford, Dean
of Civil Law, and Bursar in 1836-37, and Rector of
Little Sampford, Essex, from 1831 till his death in 1872.
The eldest daughter, Caroline Isabella, married John
Lambton (afterwards Sir John Lambton) Loraine, Bart.,
and dying in 1847, was buried in Jesmond Cemetery,
Newcastle, leaving issue the present holder of the title,
Sir Lambton Loraine, Bart.
EaJilltam CHjstob,
SAXON SCHOLAR.
At Foxtou, three miles south of Sedgefield, lived for
centuries a family of Elstobs. Deriving their name from
an adjoining hamlet, they held at one time nearly the
whole of the property of the vill. The family pedigree
commences with John de Ellestobbe, who was living at
Foxton in 1393, and comes down to the sale of the estate
in 1746 by Anne, daughter of John Elstob of that place,
and widow of Humphrey March, son of John March,
vicar of Newcastle. None of the earlier members of the
family played any prominent part in local history, nor
does public interest attach to later generations, till Ralph
Elstob, a younger son of one of the Foxton squires,
settling in Newcastle, gave to the world two brilliant
scholars, who immortalised the name by laborious invest-
gations into a neglected branch of learning — the language
and literature of the Saxons.
Ralph Elstob (second son of Charles Elstob, of Foxton,
by his marriage with Mary, daughter of Ralph Feather-
stonehaugh, of Stanhope), came to Newcastle in 1662, and
was bound apprentice to Robert Rutter, Merchant Ad-
ventuier. With him he remained only a few months,
and was then set over to Gabriel Fulthorpe, hero of a
notable quarrel, the unsavoury details of which are
printed in Richardson's Tract, "The Eve of the Revolu-
tion in Newcastle." Fulthorpe, like Rutter, was unable
to fulfil bis contract, and in 1666 Elstob was turned over
to Peter Sanderson, an eminent Puritan, who had served
his time as a youth with John Blakiston the regicide.
Under Sanderson's tuition he completed his articles and
in April, 1672, obtained the freedom of his company.
Six months afterwards he married, at All Saints' Church,
Jane, daughter of William Hall, merchant, and com-
menced business on his own account. Brief and not too
successful was his mercantile career. He filled the office
of sheriff of the town in 1686-7, and the following year
(13th April, 1688), he was buried, leaving a widow and
three children with but slender provision for their main-
tenance. Two of these children, William and Elizabeth,
were the future Saxon scholars.
William Elstob was baptized at All Saints' Church,
Newcastle, on the 1st of January, 16734, and received
his preliminary education at the Royal Free Grammar
School, under the tuition of Richard Garthwaite. His
uncle and guardian, Dr. Charles Elstob, prebendary of
Canterbury, designing him for the Church, sent him to
Eton, and afterwards to Catherine Hall, Cambridge, and
Queen's College, Oxford. In July, 1790, he entered
University College, and having taken his B.A. degree,
was elected a fellow of that ancient foundation. The
following year he proceeded to the degree of M.A., and
in 1702, through the influence of his uncle, the Dean and
Chapter of Canterbury presented him to the care of the
united parishes of St. Swithin and St. Mary Bothaw, in
the City of London, worth about £140 per annum. To
Bush Lane, adjoining the church of St. Swithin, taking
his sister Elizabeth to be his housekeeper, he removed the
same year. Dissatisfied with the meagre provision which
had been made for him, he endeavoured unsuccessfully to
gain promotion. All that he obtained was the titular office
of chaplain to Bishop Nicolson of Carlisle. The post of
preacher at Lincoln's Inn, which he had been anxious to
receive, was refused him, and he did not long outlive his
disappointment. He applied for the preachership in
February, 1713, and on March 3, 1714-15, he died. His
remains were interred beneath the altar table of St.
Swithin's.
Mr. Elstob's literary career, as described by his sister,
was remarkable. His first attempt in Saxon literature
was a Latin translation of the Homily of Lapus, made
while at college. He wrote about the same time an
" Essay on the Great Affinity and Mutual Agreement of
the two professious of Divinity and Law, and on the joint
Interest of Church and State, in Vindication of the
Clergy's concerning themselves in Political Matters."
Before he left Oxford, he printed, with large additions,
an edition (the fifth) of Roger Ascham's Epistles; to
which he subjoined the letters which Johau Sturmius,
Hieron Osorio, and others wrote to Ascham and various
English gentlemen. Soon after he was settled in his
benefice at London, he published "A Sermon upon the
Thanksgiving for the Victory obtained by Her Majesty's
Forces, and those of her Allies, over the French and
Bavarians near Hochstet, under the conduct of his Grace
the Duke of Marlborough. London: 1704." Also, "A
Sermon on the Anniversary Thanksgiving for Her
Majesty's happy Accession to the Throne. London :
1704."
In 1709, his Latin version of the Saxon Homily on St.
Gregory's Day. which he presented to his sister in a short
Latin epistle, was printed at the end of her fine edition
of the Saxon original. Next he published the larger
Devotions that the Saxons made use of in their own
language, which he fancied to be the performance either
of ^Elfric, Archbishop of Canterbury, or of Wolfstan,
Archbishop of York. He made a collection of materials
towards a history of Newcastle, gathered together a vast
number of proper names of men and women formerly
used in northern countries, and wrote an essay concerning
the Latin tongue, with a short account of its history and
use. The most considerable of Mr. Elstob's designs was
an edition of the Saxon Laws, with great additions, and
October)
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
445
a new Latin version by Somner, notes of various learned
men, and a prefatory history of the origin and process of
the English Laws down to the Conqueror, and to Magna
Charta. He was prevented by death from realising
another project, which was to publish King Alfred's
paraphrastic Saxon version of the Latin historian Orosius.
William Elstob, his sister assures us, was a most
dutiful son to his parents, "affectionate to his relations,
a most sincere friend, very charitable to the poor, a kind
master to his servants, and generous to all, which was his
greatest fault. He was of so sweet a temper that hardly
anything could make him show his resentment, but when
anything was said or done to the prejudice of religion, or
disadvantage of his country. He had what might justly
be called an universal genius, no art or science being
despised by him ; he had a particular genius for
languages, and was a master of the Greek and Latin.
Of the latter he was esteemed a good judge, and to
write it with great purity. Nor was he ignorant either
of the Oriental languages, or of the Septentrional. He
was a great lover of the antiquities of other countries,
but more especially those of our own, having been at the
pains and expense of visiting most of the places in this
nation that are remarkable either for natural or ancient
curiosities, architecture, paintings, sculpture, &c. What
time he could spare from the study of divinity was spent
chiefly in the Saxon learning."
THE LEARNED NOVOCASTRIAN.
Elizabeth, sister and companion of William Elstob,
survived him for many years. She was ten years his
junior, having been born on the 29th September, 1683,
and baptized at St. Nicholas' Church on the 7th of
October following. A biographical MS. left in the
hands of Mr. Ballard by this learned lady indicates that
she owed much of her taste for literature to the early
training of her mother. Unhappily the good mother
died when Elizabeth was eight years old, and her pro-
gress in learning was arrested. Her uncle and guardian,
Dr. Charles Elstob, entertained the old-fashioned theory
that one tongue was enough for a woman, and refused
to allow his niece to study any tongue but her own.
The force of natural inclination cannot, however, always
be restrained even by guardians. Elizabeth Elstob
persevered, and as her propensity was strong towards
languages, she, with much difficulty, obtained leave to
learn the French tongue. But her situation in this
respect was happily altered when she went to live with
her brother, who, being impressed with more liberal
sentiments concerning the education of women, assisted
and encouraged her in her studies. Under his eye she
translated and published an "Essay on Glory," written
in French by Mademoiselle de Scudery. But what
distinguished Miss Elstob most was that she was the
first Englishwoman that had ever attempted the Saxon
language. She was an excellent linguist in other
respects, being not only mistress of her own and the
Latin tongue, but also of seven other languages. She
was withal a good antiquary and divine, as appears
evident from her works.
Miss Elstob published, in 1709, "An English-Saxon
Homily on the Birthday of St. Gregory, anciently used
in the English-Saxon Church, giving an account of the
Conversion of the English from Paganism to Christianity,
translated into Modern English, with Notes, " &c. It is a
pompous book, in large octavo, with a fine frontispiece,
headpieces, tailpieces, and blooming letters. In 1715,
she printed, with a fulsome dedication to the Princess
of Wales, "The Rudiments of Grammar for the English-
Saxon Tongue, first given in English ; with an Apology
for the Study of Northern Antiquities, being very useful
towards the understanding our ancient English Poets
and other Writers." From this work, at the beginning
of which it peers through the initial letter "G," our
portrait of Elizabeth Elstob has been copied.
Mr. Astle had in his collection a MS. volume, chiefly
in her handwriting, but partly in that of her brother,
entitled, " Collectanea quaedam Anglo-Saxonica." It
appears also, from a work of her brother's, that she had
joined with him in preparing and adorning an edition
of Gregory's Pastoral ; and in the preface to the Anelo-
Saxon Grammar, she speaks of a work of larger extent
upon which she was engaged — a collection of the English-
Saxon Homilies of ^Elfric, Archbishop of Canterbury.
Notwithstanding her profound learning and masculine
abilities, Elizabeth Elstob was very unfortunate in life.
After the death of her brother, she was obliged to depend
upon her friends for subsistence ; but, not meeting with
446
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/October
\ 1890.
the generosity she expected, she determined to retire to a
place unknown, and to try to get her bread by teaching
children to read and work ; and she settled for that
purpose at Evesham, in Worcestershire. Here she led at
first an uncomfortable and penurious life ; but, growing
acquainted afterwards with the gentry of the town, her
affairs mended. She became known at this time to Mr.
George Ballard, before mentioned ; and about the year
1733, Mrs. Chapone, the wife of a clergyman of French
extraction, who kept a private boarding-school at
Stan ton, in Gloucestershire, and was herself a person
of literature, inquired of him after her, and, being
informed of the place of her abode, made her a visit.
Mrs. Chapone, not being in circumstances to assist her
herself, wrote a circular letter to some friends, in order
to promote a subscription in her behalf. This letter had
the desired effect, and an annuity of twenty guineas was
raised for her. A lady soon after showed Mrs. Chapone's
1' tter to Queen Caroline, who, recollecting her name,
and delighted with the opportunity of taking such
eminent merit under her protection, said she would
allow her £20 per annum, "but," added she, "as she is
so proper to be mistress of a boarding-school for young
JadieR of a iiigher rank, I will, instead of an annual
allowance, send her £100 now, and repeat the same at
the end of every five years."
On the death of Queen Caroline, in 1737, Elizabeth
f^lstob was recommended to the Dowager Duchess of
Portland, who appointed her governess to her children.
This was in the year 1739, and from that period the
letters she wrote to Mr. Ballard, which are now in the
Bodleian Library, are observed to have a more sprightly
turn. She died at an advanced age, in the Duchess of
Portland's service, May 30, 1756, and was buried at St.
Margaret's, Westminster.
QcQmptum rrf tfte
Cnunttcd.
IICHAEL DRAYTON was bom in the village
of Harahull, Warwickshire, in or about the
year 1563. His parents are believed to
have been persons in humble circum-
stances. Nothing is known of his youth except that he
manifested a propensity to read poetry, and was anxious
to learn ;> what kind of creatures poets were." It is sup-
posed that he spent some time at Oxford, but without
taking any degree. At the age of twenty-eight he begun
to publish poetry. His earliest efforts were of a religious
character. The three works by which he is best known
are his "Pastorals," "England's Heroical Epistles," and
his " Poly-olbion." He enjoyed great renown in his own
day, and his verses called forth from his contemporaries
the warmest encomiums. He is said to have been the
friend of Jonson and Selden, and Shakspeare himself
has been enumerated amongst his acquaintances. He
became Poet Laureate, died in 1631, and was buried in
Poet's Corner, Westminster Abbey, where a blue marble
monument, surmounted by his bust, bears an epitaph from
the pen of Ben Jonson.
Drayton's poetry has its merits. It is free from the
coarseness which characterized much of the literary work
of his age. One of his contemporaries says of him : —
" He wants one true note of a poet of our times, and that
is this : he cannot swagger it well at a tavern, or domineer
in a pothouse." And the vulgarity which did not disgrace
his life does not disgrace his verses. There is a certain
dignity, too, about much that he wrote, though it must be
confessed to be of a heavy, stilted, and formal character.
Many fine passages may easily be selected from his works,
and one at least of his poems, his "Nymphidia," displays
a sprightly imagination and considerable brilliance of
versification. It must, however, be confessed that he is
generally ponderous and turgid, and this, together with
his voluminousness, results in his having extremely few
readers in our day.
But it is with the " Poly-olbion " that we are now con
cerned. The first eighteen books of this work were pub-
lished in 1621, and the whole thirty books in 1622. It
is a versified description of England, its natural pro-
ductions, scenery, and legends. The " Poly-olbion" is a
work of the greatest possible value. Antiquaries refer to it
for information, and regard it as authoritative. Gough says
that it contains many particulars which escaped Camden's
notice. It is, however, scarcely an attractive composi-
sition, and I must own I cannot imagine any one sitting
down to read it for relaxation or pleasure. The writer
personifies every river, mountain, and wood that he
describes, and this practice soon becomes unendurably
tedious.
Such account as Drayton gives of the counties of Dur-
•ham and Northumberland is contained in the twenty-
ninth book— the last but one. The Tees, the Wear, and
the Tyne are successively personsified, and in turn the
poet puts into their mouths the most egotistic speeches on
their own peculiar charms and virtues. The Tees begins
her song with a contemptuous sneer at the rivers of York-
shire. She exclaims,
Doth every rillet win
Applause for their small worths, and I that am a queen.
With those poor brooks compared?
She then describes her source, and after mentioning the
tributaries by which she is fed, she proceeds —
Then do I bid adieu
To Bernard's battled towers, and seriously pursue
My course to Neptune's court. But as forthright I run,
The Skern, a dainty nymph, saluting Darlington,
Comes in to give me aid ; and, being proud and rank,
She chanced to look aside, and ppietb, near her bank,
Three black and horrid pits, which from their boiling heat
(That from their loathsome brims do breathe a sulphurous
sweat)
Hell Kettles rightly called, that, with the very sight,
October!
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
447
This water-nymph, my Skern, is put in such a fright,
That with unusual speed, she on her course doth haste,
And rashly runs herself into my widened waist.
In pomp I thus approach great Amphitrite's state.
The Wear grows impatient at the length of Queen
Tees's harangue, and is annoyed at her vanity. " What
wouldst thou say," she cries.
Vain-glorious bragging brook, hadst thou so clear a way
To advance thee as I have, or hadst thou such means and
might,
How wouldst thou then exult ? 0, then, to what a height
Wouldst thou put up thy price \
Wear glories in the three streams which join to form her
earliest course, and which " in their consenting sounds "
— Kellop, Wellop, and Burdop — ''do so well agree."
As Kellop coming in from Kellop Law, her sire,
A mountain much in fame, small Wellop doth require
With her to walk along, which Burdop with her brings.
Thus from the full conttux of these three several springs
My greatness is begot, as Nature meant to show
My future strength and state.
The valley through which her course lies she describes as
My delicious dale, with every pleasure rife.
At Auckland she is joined by "clear Gauntless," when,
she declares : —
I begin to gad,
And, whirling in and out, as I were waxed mad,
I change my posture oft, to many a snaky gyre ;
To my first fountain now, as seeming to retire,
Then suddenly again I turn my watery trail ;
Now I indent the earth, and then I it engrail
With many a turn and trace.
At length she reaches Durham —
With which beloved place I seem so pleased here,
As that I clip it close, and sweetly hug it in
My clear and amorous arms, as jealous time should win
Me farther off from it.
Tyne is as tired of Wear's tedium as Wear was with the
length of Tees's self -sung eulogy; yet, and perhaps
characteristically, her own song is five times as long as
that of either of her sisters.
Good Lord (quoth she), had I
No other thing wherein my labour to employ,
But to set out myself, how much well could I say
In mine own proper praise, in this kind, everyway
As skilful as the best.
She sings the praise, however, of " the prosperous springs
of these two floods uf mine" — the North Tyne and the
South. The South Tyne
From Stanmore takes her spring, for mines of brass that's
famed.
The North Tyne
is out of Wheel-Fell sprung,
Amongst these English Alps, which, as they run along,
England and Scotland here impartially divide.
The East and West Allans she described as " two fair
and full-brimmed floods." Arriving at Newcastle, she
somewhat enigmatically declares that that town
The honour hath alone to entertain me there,
As or those mighty ships that in my mouth I bear,
Fraught with my country coal, of this Newcastle named,
From which both far and near, that place no less is
famed
Thau India for her mines.
Presently, Mistress Tyne breaks into a glorification of
the deeds of English valour in general, and Northumbrian
in particular,'in the various conflicts between England and
Scotland, which had been waged in the Northern
Counties. The story is well told, but is not to our pre-
sent purpose, and can, besides, be found readily elsewhere
and in more desirable form. Indeed, our coaly river
having taken up this congenial theme, pursues it to such
length that neighbouring streams " besought the Tyne to
hold her tongue."
The Roman Wall, called by Dray ton "Pictswall," is
the next and last singer. He,
As though he had been lost,
Not mentioned by the Muse, began to fret and pine
That every pietty brook thus proudly should presume
To talk, and he, whom first the Romans did invent.
And of their greatness yet the long'st lived monument,
Should thus be over-trod.
He is determined to be heard, and thus he breaks
forth :—
Methinks that Offa's-ditch in Cambria should not dare
To think himself my match, who, with sucli cost and care,
The Romans did erect, and for my safeguard set
Their legions, from my spoil the prowling Pict to let,
That often inroads made our earth from them to win.
By Hadrian beaten back, so he to keep them in,
To sea from east to west, begun we first a wall
Of eighty miles in length.
Whilst Pict's Wall has been speaking, the fame of
Tyne's self-laudatory speech has reached the streams of
Scotland, and so incensed are they that they determine
upon an invasion, when the river nymphs of Northumber-
land shall be duly punished. A council of war is sum-
moned at Holy Island to which the Northumbrian water-
nymphs make (t a solemn pilgrimage" —
the virtues of which place
They knew could very much avail them in this case.
With an enumeration of the streams which resorted to this
council Drayton concludes the book of " Poly-olbion''
which is devoted to Northumberland and Durham.
J. R. BOYLE, F.S.A.
"Cite Jpatwtttarj)."
j]MONGr the pictures exhibited at the Royal
Academy this year was a painting, entitled
" The Sanctuary," by the Newcastle artist,
Mr. Ralph Hedley. It is a successful attempt to depict
what may have been a not unusual scene at the great
door of Durham Cathedral some three or four centuries
ago. The reader is referred to the Monthly Chronicle for
July, 1889, for particulars as to sanctuary at Durham.
It is there stated that when the claimant of sanctuary
reached the cathedral door he raised the bronze ring
that hangs from the bronze monster's mouth, and
knocked loudly for admission. This is the dramatic
incident which Mr. Hedley has portrayed. Some rash,
448
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/October
\ 1890.
hot-headed, beardless youth has, probably in a moment
of anger, taken the life of a fellow-creature, and, realising
the possible consequences of such an act, has hastened
with all speed to Durham to claim the temporary pro-
tection of the Church. The friends of his victim have
evidently been close upon his heels, if one may judge
from his broken blade and bloody sword arm. Exhausted,
breathless, and terror-stricken, be has just sufficient
strength to raise his left arm to the knocker. But he is
not quite out of danger, and the sound of voices almost
im
mmm.
i < I ™ '
?f^: !«1M^:^
M.JI ^OTiii
October 1
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
449
paralyses him. The scene is bathed in tender moonlight,
and the general effect is striking, as the reader may see
from our drawing of the picture.
j]STABLISHED by the Gateshead High School
for Boys Company to supply the rising man-
hood of the Tyneside district with a high-class
education, this school was opened to the public in May,
1883. The idea of the promoters is not merely to supply
intellectual training, but to cultivate a feeling of cor-
porateness, or citizenship, which is one of the most
distinctive and excellent features of life in the old
English public schools.
The school buildings (shown in the accompanying
engraving) occupy an admirable site on the Durham
Road, near Saltwell Park, and overlooking Kavensworth
Castle. Messrs. Oliver and Leeson, architects, designed
the structure, which is well adapted for school purposes.
The school contains a large hall (capable of holding more
than 300 boys, and fitted for use as a gymnasium ), class
rooms, library, dining-room, workshop, &c., while the
playground is no less than seven acres in extent.
The course of instruction comprises English language
and literature, scripture, history and geography, ma-
thematics, physical science and languages, drawing,
shorthand, &c. Boys are fitted for the Universities, or
for entrance into professional, manufacturing, engineering,
or commercial life. While most of the pupils are drawn
from Gateshead, a steadily increasing number comes from
Newcastle and the surrounding district.
The president of the School Company is Lord North-
bourne, while the chairman of the company is Mr. G. T.
France. Three head-masters have had control of the
school itself since it was opened — the Rev. Thomas
Adams, M.A., St. John's College, Cambridge, now
Principal of Bishop's College, Lennox ville, Ontario,
Canada ; Mr. J. C. Tarver, M.A., King's College,
Cambridge, now Head-Master of Newcastle Public
School; and Mr. John T. Dunn, D.Sc.. F.C.S., late
Fellow of Durham. The present head -master, Dr. Dunn,
is ably assisted by Mr. R. C. E. Allen, M.A.. Mr. G. A.
Wright, M.A., Mr. C. S. Terry, B.A., and Mr. George
Hurrell, Inter. B.A.
j|N the old turnpike road which leads from
Berwick to Kelso, through Cornhill, along
the south bank of the Tweed, the traveller,
ten miles from Berwick, passes the Till at
Twizel Bridge, built in the sixteenth century by a lady
named Selby. The banks here are particularly beautiful,
the shelving rocks being broken into many a grotesque
shape ; and forest and fruit trees are mingled with the
hawthorn, whose sweet odours fill the air in spring time.
Just above the bridge is an unfinished castle, of white
freestone, begun to be built about the end of last centurv
by Sir Francis Blake, the first baronet of the name, who
29
450
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/October
I 1890.
was a political as well as an architectural genius, having
issued a proposal in 1784- for the liquidation of the
National Debt by every landholder transferring a pro-
portional part of his property to the fundholders, and
having printed at the Berwick press, four years later, a
volume of political tracts, of which all that can now be
said is that it may be found on the library shelves of
curious local book collectors.
Sir Francis died in 1786, leaving an elaborate will,
framed by a skilful conveyancer, wherein he did his
best to ensure that his large estates in the counties of
Durham and Northumberland, and within the liberties of
the town of Berwick, should descend undivided to heirs
bearing his name and arms. He devised his lands to Ms
son Francis for life ; then to his son's two male children
in succession for life, and to their male issue successively.
In case there was a failure of the male line, the estate
was to go to an unmarried daughter of the testator and
her male children, and, failing these, to the daughters,
if any, of his sons and their male issue in succession.
It was the clear intention of the testator, first of all, to
keep the estates together, and next to keep them in the
male line intact, and in possession of one person as head
of the family. It was likewise his express wish to
exclude his own second daughter, who had married
against his will, and whose name was accordingly omitted
from the deed of entail. The conveyancer who drew up
the document, anxious to provide for every possib'e
contingency, inserted a clause providing that, if all the
limitations to the living descendants of the testator and
their children, with the exception named, should fail,
the property should go to Sir Francis's "other issue,"
and be divided among all the heirs of his body. On
these ambiguous words a deal of litigation turned, long
after the testator had been gathered to his fathers, and
long after all the persons in whose welfare he had a
direct interest, and for whom he had intended to provide,
had passed away from this sublunary world.
At the death of the first baronet, his son Francis
succeeded him in the title and estates. He inherited
also his passion for architecture and electioneering — two
gentlemanly tastes of a somewhat expensive description.
In his earlier days he spent enormous sums in contesting
the representation of Berwick. His expenditure on
building was likewise very great. Tilmouth Park — a
residence fit for any nobleman below the first rank — was
almost wholly built by him, and its gallery was enriched
with a collection of oil paintings surpassed by few in the
kingdom in sterling value. But the glories of this man-
sion were far outshone by Twizel Castle, which he resumed
building on even a more magnificent scale than that erigin-
ally projected, till he was compelled to stop short from
want of funds. From first to last the work went on
persistently for 50 years at least, without so much as
the floors having been laid in many of the rooms. Twizel
Castle was, like Abbotsford, a romance in stone and
lime, but without the poetical and romantic associations
clinging around the equally whimsical and only a little
less pretentious home of the great Wizard of the North.
Two generations of masons and joiners fattened on the
work, which never was, and perhaps never will be,
finished, though it presents a grand and imposing aspect
from the neighbouring carriage road, and excites the ad-
miration of the passing traveller on the Berwick and
Kelso branch of the North-Eastern Railway which runs
near it. Sir Francis was his own architect, inspector,
and clerk of works, and the men employed at the castle
were all on days' wages. Some began their apprentice-
ship and served out their time while there; and it is
said that the foreman mason built quite a village out of
the honest profits which he had the wit to make. Many
of the joiners, we have heard, were in the habit of
making articles of furniture in the good baronet's time
and out of his well-seasoned timber, and of selling them
for their own behoof at Berwick or Coldstream.
Sir Walter Scott termed Twizel Castle "a splendid
pile of Gothic architecture"; but it seems to have been
built without any regular design at all, except to ascer-
tain how many windows could be crowded into one huge
edifice. It was intended to be six storeys high, with
circular fifteen-feet turrets at the corners, affording a
great command of prospect. The interior was commo-
dious, and all the apartments were vaulted to prevent
accidents from fire. It contained a handsome gallery
ninety feet in length and twenty-two feet in width, to
accommodate the splendid collection of paintings belong-
ing to the family. There is a fine steel engraving of
the castle in Grose's "Antiquities," published in 1783,
from which we make a copy on page 000. The facing
stones of the castle were removed five or six years ago,
and were used in the construction of a neighbouring
mansion.
By this expensive building folly, and his not much less
expensive and far more nonsensical electioneering contests,
the second Sir Francis nearly beggared himself. Tor-
mented by his numerous creditors whose urgent demands
he could neither satisfy nor stave off, he took refuge, when
no longer a member of Parliament, in that Scottish Alsatia
yclept Croftangry, a well-known sanctuary for debtors,
within the precincts of Holyrood Palace. From this asylum
he was wont to issue forth on Sundays, and drive to within
sight of the English Border in a postchaise, take a look
from afar off at his grand castle, and hurry back to get
across the strand at the foot of the Canongate before
midnight. He died in the inn at Cornhill on his way out
from Edinburgh in June, 1818, in his 81st year.
The third Sir Francis, who was, like his father, as poor
as Job, was only protected from arrest by the privilege of
Parliament, being member for Berwick. He had
bear the expense of several contests. Impoverished by
such profitless investments, continued during three suc-
cessive generations, it cannot be matter of surprise tha
October!
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
451
he died leaving barely sufficient personal property to
satisfy his creditors.
On his last will and testament being opened after his
death, which took place on the 3rd of August, 1860, it was
found that he had devised his Twizel and Tilmouth estates
to his eldest son Francis, and his Seghill estates to his
second sou Frederick — referring at the same time to a
certain deed be had previously executed, but without
giving any explanation of its nature or contents. The
lady with whom he lived, and who was the mother of
these children, had never, it seems, been married to him
in England. Popularly, she was set down as his house-
keeper, though they lived together as man and wife. It
was alleged, however, that a marriage had taken place in
Scotland, and that one child at least was born there,
under circumstances which showed that the parties
accepted each other as regularly wedded folks. Yet no
positive proof of this could be obtained, and the deceased
baronet's two sons, Francis and Frederick, were con-
sequently held to be illegitimate, and incapable of
succeeding by descent to the estate, which was what the
lawyers term " an estate tail."
But Sir Francis, as it afterwards turned out, had taken
the precaution, so far back as 1834, of converting his ex-
pectancy in tail, on the failure of the direct line of heirs
possessing a life interest under the will of the first
baronet, to an expectancy in fee ; and he was thus en-
abled to d ispose of his possessions by will, to come into
operation on the death of the last of these parties without
male issue. This was the identical deed which Sir
Francis alluded to in his will, but of which no trace could
be discovered at the time of his death.
When that event occured in 1860, as above stated, the
devisees under the will were immediately dispossessed of
the property, and Mrs. Stagg, sister of Sir Francis, the
legitimate heir-at-law, and the last in the direct line of
heirs under the deed of entail, took possession. Mrs.
Stagg, we have been told, never paid a personal visit to
Tilmouth, but resided almost constantly at Brighton.
Mr. Francis Blake, who was a captain in the Northum-
berland Artillery Militia, was overwhelmed by the
reverse of fortune he sustained by the death of his father.
He became reckless, fell into bad health, and in little more
than a year died of grief and disappointment, leaving a
widow and four children. Mr. Frederick Blake held a
commission in the army, and while in India had the
misfortune to receive a sunstroke. Returning home
invalided, he became an inmate of a lunatic asylum.
No further event took place until, on the 12th March,
1869, Mrs. Stagg died, leaving a daughter, who claimed
to succeed her in the estates. This lady, however, owing
to her sex, could not succeed under the will of the firs
baronet. With the death of Mrs. Stagg the direct line of
heirs entail under the will became extinct, and the
expectancy of the heirs entail and their heirs came into
force ; and Mrs. Stagg having executed no disentailing
deed, and tiie third baronet having converted his expect-
ancy entail and devised his expectancy in fee by will to
his sons, they became the rightful heirs, irrespective of
any question of legitimacy. Shortly after Mrs. Stagg'a
452
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/October
I 1890.
death, Sir Francis's disentailing deed was found in the
possession of his London lawyers, who appear to have
forgotten its existence after the lapse of twenty-six years.
On the discovery of the deed, the Blakes at once came
forward to assert their title under the last baronet's will,
and actual possession was taken by them accordingly.
At the same time, several fainilies, descendants of the
first baronet, asserted their claims to the estate in various
ways, particularly under the "other issue " clause.
It was not, however, till the month of April, 1872, that
the case came on for trial, in the Court of Exchequer,
sitting in banco, before the Lord Chief Baron and Barons
Martin, Bramwell, and Cleasby. The plaintiffs— Allgood
and others — forty-eight in number, then instituted proceed-
ings to recover the property under the proviso mentioned
in the will of their ancestor, and sought to exclude the
defendant, Blake, who claimed as devisee under the
third baronet's will. There were in all six actions. Sir
Roundell Palmer (afterwards Lord Selborne) appeared
for the plaintiffs — fourteen in number — in the first action,
namely, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren
of Mrs. Reid, a descendant of a daughter of the
testator. The Solicitor-General appeared for Mrs. Roche,
plaintiff in the second action, her claim being that she,
as a daughter of Mrs. Stagg, who was a sister of Mrs.
Reid, was entitled to the whole of the property. In the
event of that claim not being made out, however, she
reserved her right to participate in the advantages which
would accrue to the descendants of the first baronet,
in the event of Sir Roundell Palmer's action proving
successful. Mr. Bristoe, Q.C., appeared for Mr. Percival
Fenwick Clennell, who claimed as a child of Mrs. Reid.
Mr. Pollock, Q.C, appeared in the fourth action for Mr.
Francis Reid, eldest and only surviving son of John
Reid, who was a sou of Sarah Blake (Mrs. Reid), and
who claimed the whole of the estate as entail male, or
if the tenancy was decided to be in common, he reserved
his right to claim his share with the rest. In a sixth
action, Mr. Manisty, Q.C. (afterwards Mr. Justice
Manisty), appeared for the plaintiffs, and stated that his
claim was similar to that made by Sir Roundell Palmer,
the only difference being that the claim was for different
estates.
Sir Roundell Palmer, stated bis case at considerable
length, and from his opening remarks it appeared that
that portion of the first baronet's pedigree on behalf of
which he (the learned counsel) claimed was as follows : —
Mrs. Sarah Reid, one of the testator's daughters, died
during his lifetime, leaving five children, who became
the heads of lines, namely, John, Francis, Archibald,
Martha (who married a Mr. Allgood), and Sarah (who
married Mr. Clennell). These had children alive as
follows : — John, five, one of whom, the Rev. John Reid,
was one of his (the learned counsel's) plaintiffs, and
another a plaintiff in the second action ; Frances, three,
two of whom (daughters) were plaintiffs in the first
action — the third, a son, was not a plaintiff ; Archibald,
three, all of whom were plaintiffs in that action, and four
grandchildren, none of whom, however, were plaintiffs ;
Martha (Mrs. Allgood), one, and six grandchildren and
nineteen great-grandchildren ; and Sarah (Mrs. Clennell),
one who was plaintiff in the third action. With those he
had mentioned, and others represented by his learned
brethren, the number of plaintiffs altogether amounted
to forty-eight. His argument, which he supported by
precedents, was briefly this, that his clients were entitled
to recover on a so-called penultimate clause in the will of
the first baronet. The third baronet executed a disen-
tailing assurance, which made him master in fee simple
of the whole of the property. On his death without
lawful issue, he gave everything it was in his power
to give, or conceived it to be in his power to give,
to his illegitimate children, and these were represented
by Frederick Blake, the defendant, who claimed as
devisee under the third baronet's will, and who, by
himself or agents, was in posseesion of the property.
The Solicitor-General, on behalf of his client, argued
that the word "issue" in the will of the first baronet
should be taken in the sense in which it was often read,
and then it would be seen that what was meant in the
clause was heirs of the body ; and if this were the case,
Mrs. Roche was entitled to the entirety of the estate.
Mr. Bristoe, on behalf of Mr Percival Fenwick
Clennell, the son of Sarah Clennell, who was the last
surviving child of Sarah Blake, a descendant of the
testator, said his argument was similar to that of Sir
Roundell Palmer, except on a question of issue. He
contended that the class who were mentioned in the will
as being competent to become joint tenants in fee, in the
event of the expiration of the entail, were those who
could be ascertained at the death of the first baronet,
and not at the time the entail expired. His client was
all that survived of that class ; consequently she was
entitled to recover the estates and property in the
possession of Frederick Blake.
Mr. Pollock's contention was of a very simple char-
acter, his claim being, he explained, that his client was
entitled to the estates under the penultimate limitation
as the entail male, while Mr. Manisty stated that his
argument was exactly similar to that of Sir Roundell
Palmer.
The defence was conducted by Mr. H. Matthews,
Q.C., Mr. Kemplay, Q.C., and Mr. Charles Hall. Their
arguments fully satisfied the court, which discarded all
the claims, jointly and severally, and decided in favour of
the Blakes.
One branch of the first baronet's descendants, the
Clennells, submitted to the decision ; but the other
claimants appealed to the Court of Exchequer Chamber,
and again failed to substantiate their claims. The real
contest was between the illegitimate children and grand-
children of the third Sir Francis Blake, and Mrs. Roche,
October!
1890. J
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
453
his sister's daughter, the appellant in the suit. That
lady, we have seen, claimed as heir-at-law ; and the point
at issue was whether Sir Francis held under his grand-
father's will an estate which he could disentail in the
usual way, or an anomalous kind of estate, which would
have kept in suspense, but still alive, the rights of Mrs.
Roche as heir-at-law of the three baronets. The solution
of this question depended on the construction to be put
on the clause leaving over a limitation to the "other
issue "of the original testator. If under this clause the
. last Sir Francis had an estate tail, he was entitled as
tenant in tail to create in his own favour an estate in fee
by a disentailing deed. He did so in perfectly correct
and strict form, and devised the lands in fee simple thus
acquired to his illegitimate sons. But on the part of his
niece, Mrs. Roche, the contention was raised that the
limitations to "other issue " constituted the estate of the
last Sir Francis Blake, an estate differing from an
ordinary estate tail in essential points, and especially in
its incapacity of transformation into an estate of fee
simple. The Solicitor-General argued upon this view of
the case very ably and ingeniously, but the court refused
to adopt his construction of the first Sir Francis's
will. More correctly speaking, it declined to construe
the single word " other " as covering the multitudinous
provisions which the appellant argued it did, and further
declared that "no such estate has ever been known up to
the present time, nor do we think any such estate could
be created, and we think it impossible to suppose that
the testator intended to create it."
The practical result of this decision was to confirm the
third Sir Francis Blake's disentailing deed, and to uphold
the devise of his estate in fee to his illegitimate sons.
The estate of Seghill thereupon became the property of
Mr. Frederick Blake, and the rights of the late Captain
Blake to the Twizel and Tilmouth estates passed to his
eldest son, Mr. Francis Douglas Blake, then a young
man in his teens.
STfte Hirrtft=€0imtrg
at
£tokoe.
KINMONT WILLIE.
JF the ballad of "Kinmont Willie," Sir Walter
Scott, in bis "Minstrelsy of the Scottish
Border," says: — "In the following rude
strains our forefathers commemorated one
of the last and most gallant achievements performed
upon the Border. This ballad is preserved by tradition
on the West Borders, but much mangled by reciters, so
that some conjectured emendations have been absolutely
necessary to render it intelligible. In particular the
Eden has been substituted for the Eske, the latter name
being inconsistent with topography." The mention of
Staneshaw Bank is also incongruous, as that place
(Stagshaw Bank) is in the neighbourhood of Hexham,
and forty miles from Carlisle. The tune is a true old
Border tune, though now but little known.
4g
O bae ye n» heard o' the fause Sa-kelde, O
rjMk-^.-. =,t-
hae ye na heard o' the keen Lord Scroope? How
they hae ta'en bauld Kin-mont Wil - lie, On
'-
Hair
• brie to hang him up.
O hae ye na heard o' the fause Sakelde,
0 hae ye na heard o' the keen Lord Scroop ?
How they hae ta'en bauld Kinmont Willie
On Hairibree* to hang him up.
Had Willie had but twenty men,
But twenty men as stout as he,
Fause Sakelde had never the Kinmont ta'en,
Wi' audit score in his companie !
They band his legs beneath the steed ;
They tied his hands behind bis back ;
They guarded him tivesome on each side,
And brocht him owre the Liddell rack.
They led him owre the Liddell rack.t
And also through the Carlisle Sands ;
They brocht him to Carlisle Castle,
To be at my Lord Scroop's commands.
"My hands are tied, but my tongue is free,
And wha will daur this deed avow,
Or answer by the Border law,
Or answer to the bauld Buccleuch?"
"Now baud thy tongue, though rank reiver '.
There's never a Scot shall set ye free :
Afore that ye cross my castle yett,
1 trow ye shall tak farewell o' me. "
"Fear ye na that, my lord ! " quo' Willie,
"By the faith o' my body, Lord Scroop," he said,
" I never yet lodged in a hostelrie,
But I paid my lawiug^ afore I gaed. "
Now word has gaen to the bauld Keeper
In Branksome Ha' where that he lay,
That they hae ta!en the Kinmont Willie,
Between the hours of nicht and day.
He has ta'en the table wi' his hand,
He garr'd the red wine spring on hie —
"Now Christ's curse on my head," he cried,
"But avenged on Lord Scroop I'll be.
Oh, is my basnet|| a widow's curch ?§
(jr my lance a wand o' the willow tree ?
Or my arm a lady's lily hand,
That an English lord should lichtlyTT me ?
"And have they ta'en him, Kinmont Willie,
Against the truce of Border tide,
And forgotten that the bauld Buccleuch
Is Keeper here on the Scottish side ?
And have they ta'en him, Kinmont Willie,
Withouten either dread or fear,
And forgotten that ihe bauld Buccleuch
Can back a steed or shake a spear ?
* The hill on which criminals were executed. t A ford on the
Liddell. I Reckoning. I! Helmet § Coif. U Slight : make light of.
454
MONIHL7 CHRONICLE.
/October
\ 1890.
•'Oh, were there war between the lands,
As well I wot that there is pane ;
I wad slieht Carlisle Castle hie,
Though it were builded o' marble scane !
I wad set that castle in a low,
' And slocken it wi' English blood ;
There's never a man in Cumberland
Should ken where Carlisle Castle stood !
"But since nae war's between the lands,
And there is peace, and peace should be ;
I'll neither harm English lad nor lass,
And yet the Kinmont shall be free ! "
He has called him forty marchmen stout,
Were kinsmen to the bauld Buccleuch ;
Wi' spur on heel and splent on spauld,*
And gloves o' green and feathers blue.
There were five and five before them a',
Wi' hunting horns and bugles bright ;
And five and five cam' wi' Buccleuch,
Like Warden's men array'd for fight.
And five and five like a mason gang
That carried ladders lang and hie ;
And five and five like broken men,
And so they reached the Woodhouselee.
And an we cross'd the 'batpable land.
When to the English side we held,
The first o' men that we met wi',
Wha suld it be but the fause Sakelde?
"Where be ye gaun, ye hunters keen?"
Quo" fause Sakelde, "come tell to me ! "
"We (rang to hunt an English stag,
Has trespassed on the Scots countrie. "
"Where be he gaun, ye marshal men?"
Quo' fause Sakelde, "come tell me true ! "
"We gaun to catch a rank reiver,
Has broken faith wi' the bauld Buccleuch."
"Where be ye gaun, ye mason lads,
Wi' a' your ladders lang and hie ''. "
"We're gang to harry a corbie's nest
That wons na far frae tlie Woodhouselee."
"Where be ye gaun, ye broken men?"
Quo' fause Sakelde, "come tell to mo ! "
Now Dickie o' Dryhope led that band,
And the never a word o' leart had he.
"Why trespass ye on the English side*
Row-footed outlaws, stand ! " quo' he :
The never a word had Dickie to say,
Sae he thrust his lance through his fause bodie !
Then on we held to Carlisle town.
And at Staneshaw Bank the Eden we cross'd ;
The water was great and meikle o' spait,
But the never a man or horse we lost.
And when we reach'd the Staneshaw Bank,
The wind began full loud to blaw ;
But 'twas wind and weet, and fire and sleet.
When we cam beneath the castle wa'.
We crept on knees and held our breath,
Till we placed the ladders again' the wa' ;
And sae ready was bauld Buccleuch himsel'
To mount the first before us a'.
He has ta'en the watchman by the throat,
He flung him down upon the lead —
"Had there not been peace between our land,
Upon the other side thou'dst gaed ! "
"Now sound out trumpets ! " quo' Buccleuch,
" Let's waken Lord Scroop right merrilie 1 "
Then loud the Warden's trumpet blew,
" Oh I wha daur meddle wi me ? "J
Then speedily to work we gaed,
And raised the slogan ane and a',
And cut a hole through a sheet o' lead,
And sae we won to the castle ha'.
They thocht King James and a' his men
Had won the house wi' bow and spear ;
It was but twenty Scots and ten,
•Armour on the thoulder. t Learning. J A well-known Border tune.
That put a thousand in sic a steer !
Wi' coulters and wi' fore-hammers
We garr'd the bars bang merilie,
Until we cam' to the inner prison,
Where Willie of Kinmont he did lie.
And when we cam to the inner prison,
Where Willie o' Kinmont lie did lie —
" Oh ! sleep ye, wake ye, Kinmont Willie,
Upon the morn that thou's to die?"
" Oh ! I sleep saft, and I wake aft,
It's lang sin sleeping was fley'd* frae me ;
Gie my service back to my wife and bairns,
And a' gude fellows that speirt for me."
The Red Rowan has hentj him up,
The starkest man in Teviotdale —
"Abide, abide now, Red Rowan,
Tell o' Lord Scroop I tak' farewell.
Farewell, farewell, my gude Lord Scroop,
My good Lord Scroop, farewell," he cried ;
" I'll pay ye for my lodging maill
When neist we meet on the Border side. "
Then shoulder high, wi' shout and cry,
We bore him down the ladder lang ;
At every stride Red Rowan made,
I wot the Kinmont's airms play'd clang !
"Oh, many a time," quo' Kinmont Willie,
"I've ridden a horse baith wild and wud j
But a rougher beast than Red Rowan
I ween my legs hae ne'er bestrode."
"And mony a time," quo" Kinmont Willie,
" I've prick'd a horse out owre the furs§ ;
But sin' the day I back'd a steed,
I never wore sic cumbrous spurs ! "
We scarce had won the Staneshaw Bank,
When a' the Carlisle bells were rung,
And a thousand men, on horse and foot,
Cam' wi' the keen Lord Scroop along.
Buccleuch has turn'd to Eden Water,
Even where it flow'd frae bank to brim ;
And he has plunged in wi' a' his band,
And safely swam them through the stream.
He turn'd him on the further side,
And at Lord Scroop his glove flung he —
"An' ye like na my visit in merry England,
In fair Scotland come visit me."
All sore astonished stood Lord Scroop,
He stood as still as a rock o' stane ;
He scarcely daured to trewlf his eyes,
When throueh the water they had gane.
" He is either himsel' a devil frae hell.
Or else his mother a witch maun be ;
I wadna hae ridden that wan water
For a' the gowd in Christendie."
JS*rtouft
jjETWEEN bridging the Tweed in the seven-
teenth century and throwing cantilevers
across the Forth in the nineteenth there
is a wide difference ; but the engineering of
the reign of Charles I. was of a steady and enduring
character, and proof of it remains to this day in the
structure which spans the Border river at Berwick.
Builders were in no hurry in those days, and ancient
documents inform us, in a manner that can easily be re-
membered, that the bridge was constructed " in the space
of twenty-four years, four months, and four days, ended
the 24th day of October, 1634, in the tenth year of the
•Frightened, t Inquire. t Lifted. l[ Rent § Furrows. T Believe.
October!
1890. |
NORIH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
455
reign of King Charles." Such was the care bestowed
upon it, however, that for more than two-and-a-half cen-
turies it has withstood all floods and storms, and still
betrays no sign of weakness in its firmly planted pillars.
When the bridge was finished, it was found that, save
£39 18s. 6d., it had cost altogether £15,000; and,
although this was a goodly sum, at the rate of wages then
paid, it must be admitted that a work of such stability
was cheap at the price, seeing that it was of "so much
good consequence to the subjects of England and of Scot-
land." There was a clause in the Royal grant directing
that any surplus should be "employed towards the
building of a church at Berwick " ; but tbe overseers were
evidently determined to satisfy temporal needs rather
than spiritual wants, and Fuller informs us, with a touch
of irony, that "there does not appear to have been any
of this money applied to the building of a church."
Previous to the reign of King Charles, communication
across the Tweed at Berwick had always been precarious.
A wooden bridge was thrown over the river about a hun-
dred yards above where the present stone structure
stands ; but in the reign of King John, as we read in
Leland's Collectanea, " the bridge of Berwick brake with
great force of water, bycause the arches of it were to
low." It was restored by William, King of Scotland.
As time rolled on, however, the inhabitants desired more
security against the " braking" propensities of the turbu-
lent stream, and eventually advantage was taken of the
Union between England and Scotland to establish a per-
manent link from bank to bank. The work was inaugu-
rated by King James, under the Great Seal of England,
in the sixth year of his reign, and " two honest and dis-
creet burgesses " were charged with the daily overseeing
of the workmen and labourers, while "the Mayor and
six of the best and most sufficient Aldermen and Bur-
gesses of the town " were to subscribe their names weekly
to the pay-books. These accounts were discovered by
Dr. Fuller, and given in detail in his " History of Ber-
wick." It is interesting to note that the wages paid
ranged from 2s. 6d. per day and 15d. per tide down to 4d.
per day and 2d. per tide. But a businesslike Bishop of
Durham came upon the scene in August, 1620, and
" received less contentment than he expected, finding that
the expences of his Majesty's monies rise apace, but the
bridge riseth slowly." Whereupon, with an early appre-
ciation of the advantages of contracting, he determined
" to bring the whole business to a certaintie upon articles
both for the charge and the time of finishing the whole
work." The energy thus imparted to the undertaking
bore fruit, we have no doubt, in the curtailment of the
time occupied in the erection of the bridge; but what
with the delay caused by the scarcity of material, and
floods which brought down " strange abundance of stacks
of hay, corn, and timber " — in one case sweeping away
the old wooden bridge and overthrowing a whole year's
work in the new— it was fourteen years after the bishop's
visit before the undertaking was completed. His lord-
ship considerately reported to the King upon " the good
and faithful service " of the Mayor of Berwick, Sir
William Bowyer, knight, "during divers years past,"
about the work of the bridge, and his Majesty, well
pleased, directed that the sum of £100 be paid to Sir
William at the rate of £20 per annum for five years. We
trust that the worthy knight was as "well pleased" as
his Majesty.
There was one incident in the building of the bridge
which is worth more than passing mention. It was 011
the 2nd of June, 1633, that King Charles, on his progress
to Edinburgh to be crowned, was met by a deputation
from the Border town, headed by the Recorder, Mr.
Widdrington, of Gray's Inn, who addressed his "most
gracious and dread sovereign " in language that must
have tickled the monarch and his train. While he
assured the King that his Majesty's presence brought as
much joy and comfort to them all as ever the loss of the
town of Berwick brought sorrow to the English or Scot-
tish nations, "you have in your Majesty's eye," pro-
ceeded the grandiloquent orator, "the representative
body of a town that hath been the delight, nay, the ran-
som of kings ; a true Helena, for which many bloody
battles have been fought, lost, and regained, several times
within the compass of one century of years. " And he con-
cluded by most affectionately wishing "that the throne of
King Charles, the great and wise son of our British
Solomon, may be like that of King David, the father of
Solomon, established before the Lord for ever." We
have thus a clear • connection established between King
Charles and Berwick Bridge, but it is a mistake to assume
that it was across the present structure that James, " the
British Solomon," passed to ascend the throne of Eng-
land.
Though Fuller wrote about a hundred years ago, his
description of the bridge will still bear to be quoted. " It
is built," he says, "of fine hewn stone, and has 15 spa-
cious and elegant arches. It measures 1,164 feet in
length, including the landstalls. Its width is 17 feet.
At each of the pillars, which are 14 in number, there is
an outlet to both sides ; without these there would be
much greater danger in walking or riding along the
bridge than there is at present. " Then he refers to the
sixth pillar separating Berwick from the County Palatine
of Durham, sods being formerly placed on the battle-
ments at this point as a guide to constables and others in
the execution of warrants. There is now no necessity for
the sods, but the pillar is still distinguished by having
battlements slightly higher than the others. Berwick,
being a walled town, possessed gates which were closely
guarded at night within living memory. The south gate
of the town shut up the northern end of the bridge, while
two strong wooden barriers, 148 feet distant from each
other, and projecting beyond the battlements on each
side, were placed midway across. These hindrances to
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MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
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traffic, however, could not long be tolerated as the cen-
tury advanced, and they were therefore entirely swept
way.
Our view of Berwick Bridge (from a drawing by Mr.
MacWhirter) is taken from the Royal Border Bridge, a
lofty railway viaduct crossing the Tweed near the Old
Castle, and connecting the North-Eastern with the North
British Railway. The Royal Border, of which we also give
an illustration (taken from a photograph by Mr. J. Her-
riott, Berwick), was opened by the Queen on August 29,
1850. Much of the ruins of the Castle was destroyed in the
course of the erection of the railway bridge, and Berwick
Station has obliterated a large portion which formerly
crowned the high ground on the northern bank. The
Water Tower, the Breakneck Stairs, another tower in
Tarn the Miller's Field, a large mass of masonry called
Long John, and the Bell Tower— by which the burghers
were warned of the approach of the Scots — are now the
principal remains of the Old Walls, which may be traced
by the side ot the ancient moat, on the north of the town,
from the river on the one side to a point within sight of
the sea on the other, the line being from west to east.
To distinguish it from the Royal Border Bridge, the
structure whose history we have traced is locally termed
the Old Bridge. Our illustration shows Berwick, with
the spire of the Town Hall, on the high ground on the
left, while Tweedmouth lies at the south end of the
bridge, and Spittal, a rising watering place, on the same
bank at the mouth of the river, the sea being shown in
the distance. The New Road, a pathway seen on the
left, is a favourite promenade — completely sheltered from
the north winds — which lead.s tliruugli a romantic-looking
gateway in the Water Tower of the Old Castle and on to
some pleasant woods lying further up the river. The
artist has been very successful in catching the summer
aspect of a picturesque and interesting scene. But Ber-
wick, cramped up as it is within the ramparts of the
Elizabethan period, which took the place of the Old
Walls, has quite an old-world look about it, and is full
of quaint scenes and memories.
fellows whose business it was to defend their country and
their homes.
Berwick, that once important Border town, has natur-
ally enough suffered severely from the numerous
sieges and assaults to which it has been subjected. Its
once impregnable castle is now a heap of shapeless stone ;
its old fortifications are razed to the ground; while the
monastic institutions, of which it had so many, have
all disappeared, leaving but faint indications of their
situation and size. But while these and other ancient
relics are in a ruinous state, or are altogether non-existent,
one link connecting us with the older life of Berwick still
remains — the Bell Tower.
After the siege and capture of Berwick in 1296, King
Edward I. caused a wall to be built round the town, pro-
vided with numerous towers. This was further strength-
j|HE English side of the Border is studded
with numerous old castles, pele-towers, and
other places of strength, all rich in lore and
legend. These silent witnesses of past pain
and sorrow, of raid and pillage, of battles lost and won,
are for the most part now in ruins. Some there are
that have escaped the common lot, and are to be seen in
much the same state as when inhabited by onr forefathers.
From these strongholds the student can learn much of
the habits, cnntoms, and mode of warfare of the brave
ened by a deep fosse or moat. Some idea of the size and
strength of these towers may be formed from an inspec-
tion of the only remaining one, situate in the Greenses
at the extreme north end of the town, and about four
hundred yards north-east of the castle.
The Bell Tower, as it is called, was originally of five
storeys, but the wear and tear of successive ages have
reduced its height considerably. It is octagonal in shape,
and at present is about 50 feet in height. There are
apertures or small niches on each flat, facing the north,
south, east, and west, with a doorway, originally level
with the fortifications, on the east and west sides re-
spectively. Above the door-lintels are spaces from which
stones have been removed. Old inhabitants say that on
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NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
459
these stones were carved certain coata-of-arms, but of
what nation, or family, is unknown.
The tower was used for outpost purposes. In it men
were stationed, during the daytime only, to alarm the
garrison and inhabitants, by means of a large bell, on the
approach of an enemy from Scotland. In 15*7, a new
alarm bell was supplied for " the Day Watch Tower, the
old one being riven BO that the sound cannot be well heard. "
This bell, which weighed about 750 Ibs., appears to have
been in use until the year 1617, when it was sold for the
sum of £36 10s. The building also became deserted, and,
being neglected, gradually fell into decay. But it is
pleasing to know that this remnant of an interesting past
is not to be allowed to pass away. The Freemen of the
Borough, to whom the tower belongs, have entrusted its
preservation to the Committee of the Berwick Improve-
ment Society, which has already partly restored it.
The building commands an extensive view of Halidon
Hill, the town of Berwick, the North Sea, the Tweed,
and the adjacent country. EDWABD F. HKRDMAN.
Dtmd
JOHANNES DUNS SCOTUS was a very
learned man, who lived about the end of
the thirteenth and the beginning of the
fourteenth century. English, Scotch, and
Irish writers have long disputed as to which of the three
kingdoms should wear the honour of having given him
birth ; and the question is not likely ever to be satis-
factorily settled, any more than that of the birthplace of
Homer or St. Patrick.
According to the English authorities, he was born,
about the year 1265, at the little village of Dunstan, near
Dunstanborough Castle, in the parish of Embleton,
Northumberland, six-and-a-half miles north-east of
Alnwick. The compilers of the "Biographia Britan-
nica," following Camden, quote in favour of Duns's
English birthplace a Latin inscription at the end of a
manuscript copy of his works in the library of Merton
College, Oxford, of the following tenor : — " Here end the
Lecture of the Subtle Doctor in the University of Oxford,
upon the Fourth Book of Sentences (Opinions, Thoughts,
by Peter Lombard), to wit, of Master John Duns, born
in a certain hamlet in the parish of Emylton, called
Dunstan, in the County of Northumberland, pertaining
to the house of the scholars of Merton Hall in Oxford,
and formerly fellow of the said house. " Dunstan belongs,
we believe, to Merton College to this day.
But the advocates for Duns's Scottish, or rather Scoto-
Northumbrian extraction, are not satisfied with this
evidence. The inscription, they say, proves nothing,
except that the individual that wrote it, whoever he was,
had heard that John Duns was born at Dunstan. They
overlook the significant fact that that place was the
property of the college where the great man was
educated, and that it was therefore exceedingly likely
that he should be sent thence to Oxford to study and
take his degree, when it was found that he had an extra-
ordinary genius for imbibing knowledge. At any rate,
Buchanan and other Scottish historians, followed by
Moreri, the competent forerunner of the indefatigable
Bayle, mentions that John Duns was born in the year
1274 in the old town of Dunse, in the Merse, the
neighbouring county to Northumberland, and for long
centuries a part of the Anglo-Danish kingdom of
Northumberland. He first saw the light, they allege.
under the frowning walls of Dunse Castle, the stronghold
of Randolph, Earl of Moray, the nephew and compatriot
of Bruce. Hence he was called "John of Dunso, the
Scot," — the third joint of his name being a common
Gentile appellative, likewise borne, we may add, by the
first Mayor of Newcastle.
The Scotch hypothesis is fortified by the terms of the
Latin epitaph upon Duns's tomb, which reads thus in
English : —
Scotland bore me, England adopted me,
France taught me, Germany holds me.
It is stated by the Rev. Dr. Robert Bowmaker, in his
statistical account of the parish of Dunse, that the
family of which Duns was a scion continued in the town
of Dunse till after the beginning of last century, and
were proprietors of a small estate in that neighbourhood,
called in old writings "Duns's Half of Grueldykes."
An elegant portrait of John Duns has been appreciatively,
even if not appropriately, placed in the court-room of
what aspires to be his native town.
The Irish claimants found their title to reckon Duns
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MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
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\ 1890
as a countryman of their own chiefly on the fact that he
was surnamed Scotus, a term originally applied to none
but natives of the Emerald Isle, and only secondarily,
and in comparatively modern times, extended to North
Britons. But Scotus, le Scot, Scot, and Scott, are found
in the records of the town of Newcastle always denoting
persons from the land beyond the Tweed, and never,
in any cose, Irishmen. There wag, besides, another
Johannes Scotus, who lived several centuries before our
Johannes, and who, because he was of Hibernian origin,
was distinguished as Erigena, born in Erin.
Dismissing these fruitless controversies, this much is
certain, that John Duns, while yet a youth, attached
himself to the Minorites, Franciscans, Cordeliers, or
Grey Friars, in Newcastle, whose monastery stood close
to the walls of the town, near the Pilgrim Street Gate.
He donned, as a matter of course, the thick, grey cloth
cloak appropriate to the order, with the girdle of rope
or cord, tied with three knots, symbolic of the Ever
Blessed Trinity. But his ambition was not confined to
the narrow bounds of a cell, or to the routine duties
of the monastic life. And so the promising youth was
soon sent to Oxford, where he was admitted to Merton
College, of which he became a fellow, and where he
greatly distinguished himself by his unusual proficiency
in scholastic acquirements. He is said to have become
extraordinarily learned in the canon and civil laws, as
well as in logic, physics, metaphysics, mathematics, and
astronomy. He read lectures on natural philosophy,
which were very popular. Among the apocryphal stories
told of him is one that, during the time when be filled
the chair of theology on the banks of the Isis, his fame
grew so great that thirty thousand scholars came thither
to listen to him. But his motto being still onward and
upward, he removed from Oxford to Paris, probably in
1301. He was chosen regent of the monks of his order
at a meeting at Toulouse, and about the same time he
took the presidency of the theological school at Paris, in
the renowned college of the Sorbonne. Here his arguments
and authority carried the day, against the rival monastic
order of the Dominicans, for the Immaculate Conception
of the Blessed Virgin. The heads of the University of
Paris determined to admit no scholars to degrees but
such as were of John Duns's mind. They also appointed
a festival— the Feast of the Immaculate Conception— to
be held every year on the anniversary of Duns's
triumphant demonstration of the new cardinal point of
faith. It was on this occasion that the title of the
Subtle Doctor was first conferred upon him, a title no
man ever deserved better. For, in the whole history
of scholasticism, we meet with few so well qualified
at he to —
Weave fine cobwebs for the skull
That's empty when the moon is full ;
For he a rope of sand could twist
A» tough as any Sorbonist.
In 1308, he was commanded by Gonsalvo, the General
of the Minorites, to go to Cologne, the city of the Three
Magian Kings, to dispute against the Beghards,
Begnines, bag-women or begging sisters of Flanders,
who, without having taken monastic vows, had united
for the purpose of devotion and charity, and lived
together in houses called beguinages. It is reported that
the citizens met him in solemn procession, and conducted
him into the city. But he was not permitted to do
more than merely enter upon his new crusade against
wilful women's presumption ; for, very soon after, he
was seized with apoplexy, and died on the 8th of
November, 1308, in the forty-third year of his age.
The account of his death is legendary. According to
Gorries, he fell down in a fit, and was immediately
buried as dead ; but, afterwards, coming to his senses, he
languished in his coffin, beating his head and hands
;:.'.iinst its sides till he expired.
On the eternally disputed topic of predestination and
free-will, Duns Scotus took one side, and Thomas
Aquinas the other. The one was styled, as we have
said, the Subtle Doctor ; the other, the Angelical Doctor.
Duns was a Franciscan, Aquinas a Dominican — so of
rival and to some extent hostile orders. Between them,
the two doughty champions new-modelled the school
theology, which had been based upon Aristotle fully as
much as on St. Augustine, and recognised the authority
of the Stagyrite as almost if not equal to that of Paul
of Tarsus. The learned Christian world was divided,
even in those pre- Reformation days, into two camps of
irreconcilables — the Thomists and the Scotists. The
former held Aquinas's opinions with regard to predesti-
nation and grace ; the latter stood up as stoutly for
those of John Duns.
It is a common story that the word Dunce is derived
from this great schoolman's local name being applied, by
way of irony, to stupid scholars, on the same principle
as a blockhead is called a Solon or a bully Hector, and as
Moses is the vulgar name of contempt for a Jew. So
says Sou they in " The Doctor."
The works of Duns Scotus are very voluminous.
"One man is hardly able to read them, and no one man
is able to understand them." The speculative part of
them alone, collected by Luke Wadding, an industrious
and learned Irishman, and published at Lyons in 1639,
fills twelve folio volumes. The positive part was meant
by the editor for a future publication, which never
appeared ; but the sum and substance of them, as well us
more or less luminous and satisfactory epitomes of the
whole, have appeared in sundry shapes at divers times.
And in Bitter's "History of Philosophy," and other
works of the kind, the curious reader may find all he is
likely to want regarding this every way wonderful man,
"the most ingenious, acute, and subtle of the sous of
Adam."
October \
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NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
461
itfintrlr ^Jlnns nntf
tit tit*
j]F we accept the general belief that ancient
Greek tragedy was in its earliest form a
purely religious worship, it is easy to under
stand the commencement of Passion plays
or mysteries. The fathers of the Christian Church, even
in the second century, desiring to make their worship
attractive, observed pagan feasts as religious festivals,
and substituted plays from the Old and New Testament
in the place of the dramas of Sophocles and Euripides,
turning the choruses, which formed so important a part
of classical dramatic representations, into Christian
hymns. Thus they substituted religious shows for an-
cient spectacles in order to wean the people from Greek
or heathen learning, which, even in its simplest form,
was, in the early ages of Christianity, and for many
centuries after, held in great abhorrence,
The first instance of a religious play having been per-
formed in this country is recorded by Matthew Paris,
who relates that in the year 1100 a learned Norman,
master of the Abbey School at Dunstable, wrote a
mystery entitled the "Life of St. Catherine," and had
it acted by his scholars. But the earliest notices of
sacred plays performed by trading societies on Corpus
Christi Day (as the Thursday after Trinity Sunday is
called) are those connected with the York Guilds, which,
from about the middle of the thirteenth century, annually
exhibited a variety of those dramatised religious tradi-
tions. Every trade in the city was obliged by its terms
of incorporation to furnish a pageant at its own expense,
and so extraordinary was the splendour displayed in the
ancient Yorkshire city that large concourses of people
flocked from all parts of the country to witness the
pious entertainments, and many orders and ordinances
still exist in the municipal registers regulating them.
One minute affirms that the plays are good in them-
selves and commendable, but that "the citizens of the
said city, and other foreigners coming to the feast, had
greatly disgraced the play by tevellings, drunkenness,
shouts and songs, and other insolences, little regarding
the divine offices of the said day." Mr. Toulmin Smith,
in his " History of English Guilds," tells us that "once
on a time a play, setting forth the goodness of the Lord's
Prayer, was played in the city of York ; in which play
all manner of vices and sins were held up to scorn, and
the virtues held up to praise." So popular did this
"Morality" become that a guild of men and women
was founded for the purpose of keeping it up. The play
itself is now lost, though Wyclif, who died in 1304, refers
to "Ye paternoster in Engliysch tunge as men seyen in
ye pley of York."
Our forefathers were strangers to modern delicacy, but
their morals were as pure as, perhaps purer and stricter
than, our own ; yet these incorruptible Englishmen would
look calmly on many things which would certainly shock
their descendants ; nay, they even regarded with solemn
awe the representation of the Coventry play of the
" Temptation, " though during that performance Adam
and Eve appeared on the stage in puris naturaiibus.
"This extraordinary spectacle," says Warton, "was be-
held by a numerous company of both sexes with great
composure; they had the authority of Scripture for such
a representation, and gave matters just as they found
them in the first chapter of Genesis."
Bourne, in his history of Newcastle, has fortunately
rescued from oblivion the only vestige that remains
to us of Newcastle mysteries. It is entitled "Noah's
Ark, or the Shipwrights' Ancient Play or Dirge."
Brand, who so eagerly collected relics of a bygone
age, sought vainly in the archives of several local
societies for another, and gives it as his opinion
that they were probably all destroyed after the Re-
formation, as the spirit of Protestantism was strongly
adverse to the preservation of these compositions, con-
sidering them doubtless as savouring of Popish super-
stition. In "Ndah's Ark" the Almighty, an angel,
Noah, his wife, and the Devil are the dramatis persona.
The dirge commences with a long soliloquy from the
Almighty, who, after explaining his resolution to destroy
mankind, "all but Noah, my darling, free," sends au
angel to Noah, bidding him
Go, make a ship
Of stiff board and great,
Although he be not a wright.
The angel finds Noah asleep, awakens him, and bids him
" take tent" of God's command. After some conversation,
during which the angel further explains the situation,
Noah responds : —
I am six hundred winters old ;
Unlusty I am to do such a deed.
For I have neither ryff nor ruff,
Spyer, sprond, spront, nor sproll —
Christ be the shaper of this ship,
For a ship needs make I must.
The Devil overhears this conversation, and, displeased at
the determination expressed by the patriarch, exclaims,
in sonorous Saxon phrase : —
Put off Harro, and wele away
That ever I uprose this day.
The Father of All Evil then determines to prevent the
building of the ark, and, going to Noah's wife (who, as in
the Chester play on the same subject, is represented as an
ill-tempered, vixenish woman), warns her :
I tell thee secretly,
And thou do after thy husband read —
Thou and thy children will all be dead
And that right hastily.
Uxor dicat.
Go, devil, how say for shame.
Deabolus dicat,
Yes. hold thee still, le dame,
And I shall tell how ;
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MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
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I swear thee by my crooked snout,
All that thy husband goes about
Is little for thy profit.
Noah's wife is now thoroughly aroused by Satan's repre-
sentations, and promises to give her husband a potion
which will render him unable to work. Noah, however,
is deaf to her entreaties, and refuses to take the draught,
whereon she loses her temper, and, with a sublime indiffer-
ence to anachronism, swears by Christ and St. John.
Her last words are —
The devil of hell thee speed
To ship when thou shalt go.
Noah is much downcast after this quarrel with his
spouse; but the angel comforts and counsels him. The
ark is completed, and Satan, baffled and disappointed,
finally prays
. . . To Dolphin, prince of dead,
Scald you all in his lead,
That never a one of you thrive, nor thee.
Miracle plays appear generally to have been acted in
the open air. A pageant car, supporting a stage of three
platforms, was usually drawn to a spot calculated to show
the performance to the greatest crowd of spectators. The
entertainment was under the control of the Mayor and
other town officials, who directed the manner of moving
the car from street to street. Each craft had its assigned
pageant, and had to play at the time and place appointed,
any of the brethren who failed to attend at the hour
specified being punished by tines. These tines varied ;
the Saddlers in Newcastle were mulcted in forty pence,
while if one of the Guild of Millers was absent at the
performance of " the antient playe " of their fellowship,
entitled "The Deliverance of the Children of Isrell
out of the Thaldome, Bondage, and the Servytude
of King Pharo," he had to pay a penalty of 20s.
Considerable cost was entailed on the various companies,
who severally bore the expense of their own plays.
Many notices occur relating to the sums expended on
Corpus Christi Day ; for instance, in an old book of the
Newcastle Merchant Adventurers, dated A.D. 1552, the
following financial entry may still be read:— "Item,
paide of this revenus above said for the fyve playes,
whereof the towne must pay for the ost men playe,
£4, and as. their playes paid for with the fees and
ordinarie charg'u as aperes by perticulars wrytten in
the stewards' book of this yere ys £31 Is. Id." The
earliest mention of Corpus Christi plays in Newcastle
occurs in an ordinary of the Coopers, dated 1426. The
Smiths soon followed their example, as in January, 1437,
they are enjoined to go together in procession on the
feast day, and play their play at their own expense, every
brother to be at St. Nicholas' Church at the setting forth
of the procession, on pain of forfeiting a pound of wax.
In 1442, the Barber Chirugeons had to play the " Bap-
tysing of Crist," and to form part of the pageant when it
should be shown in a livery. The House Carpenters had
to perform the "Burial of Christ," which anciently
belonged to their fellowship, "whensoever the generall
plaies of the towne shall be plaied." In 1527. the
ordinary of the Incorporated Weaver* enjoined the
brethren to assemble every year on Corpus Christi Day,
and go together in procession and play their play and
pageant of the "Bearing of the Cross, "each brother to
forfeit sixpence if absent from the place appointed at the
hour assigned. In September, 1536, the Plumbers,
Glaziers, Jewellers, and Painters were incorporated in one
fraternity, and were bound, by the rules of their society,
to maintain the miracle play of the "Three Kyngs of
Coleyn." The title of the Weavers' play was the
"Beringe of the Crosse," and that of the Bricklayers
" The Flying of our Ladye into Egype." The Tailors had
to act and exhibit the " Descent into Hell," and must have
been rather a quarrelsome set, for at a meeting of their
guild, in 1560, it was ordered and agreed that all the
tailors dwelling in Newcastle shall live together as lov-
ing brethren of their fellowship, and shall gather them-
selves together, in their accustomed places, upon Corpus
Christi Day, and amicably play their play, at their own
cost and charges. In 1561, the Fullers and Dyers paid
for the setting forth of their play as follows : —
The play letten to Sir Robert Hert (of All
Saints), Sir W. Hert (of St. Nicholas),
George Wallus, and K. Murton 9s.
First for the rehersall of the playe before
ye crafft 10s.
Item tu a mynetrell yt night 3d.
Item for paynting the geyre 10s.
Item for a salmone trowt 15d.
Item for the Mawndy loves and caks 2s. 8d.
Item for wyn 3s.
Item for 3 yerds and a d. lyn cloth for
God'scot 3s. 2d.
Item for ye hoyser (hose) and cot makyng.. 6d.
Item for a payr of gloves 3d.
Item for the care banner berryng 20d.
Item for the carynge of the trowt and wyn
about the towne 12d.
Item for the mynstrell 12d.
Item for 2 spareb for stanges 6d.
Item for drynke and thaye suppers that
wated of the paient 5s.
Item for tenter howks 3d.
Summa totalis 50s. 01.
Towards the end of the sixteenth century, miracle plays
seemed to be on the decline, as they were never acted but
by a special command of the magistrates of Newcastle,
and we find that on May 29, 1567, a mystery play cost the
Corporation as follows : —
For sixty men's dennors 50s.
For 35 horses for the players, at 4d. a horse 11s. 8d.
For wine at their dinners 6s. 8d.
For a drum 8d.
The waits for playing before the players ... 2s.
Painting the sergeant's staff 2s.
To John Hardcastel for making 46 little
castles and 6 great castles 8s.
For painting Beelzebub's cloak 4d.
An ordinary of the Joiners' Company, dated 1589,
provided that "Whensoever it shall be thought necessary
by the Mayor, 4c., to command to be set forth and
plaied or exercised any general playe or martial exercise,
they shall attend on the same and do what is assigned
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NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
463
them." -Little is heard of these entertainments after the
dace mentioned, and shortly after the accession of James
I., they were finally suppressed in every town in the
kingdom.
In the Earl of Northumberland's household book (1512)
we find that at Christmas and Easter the children of
his chapel performed mysteries under the direction
of the master of the revels ; indeed, the exhibition
of scriptural dramas formed on great festivals a regular
part of the domestic entertainment of our ancient
nobility, and it was then as much the business of the
chaplain of the household to compose biblical plays as
it is now his duty to write sermons.
Theatrical entertainments have always been popular
in Newcastle, and we gather from municipal records that
a couple of years before Sbakspeare saw the light the
burgesses, whenever they had a chance, patronised the
drama, and gladly welcomed to Tyneside any strolling
players who found themselves in the neighbourhood.
The ordinary gratuity for a performance was 20s., and
it is recorded that various companies that professed to
be the "servants" of my Lord of Leycester, the Earl
of Hardforthe, my Lord of Worsytur, the Duchess of
Sowfolke, and other strangely named grandees acted for
this sum. The "players of Durham" were evidently
held in greater estimation, for when they came to the
town the Mavor entertained his fellow-citizens with a
performance, the cost of which was £3 3s. 4d., viz. : — To
the players, £3; a quart of wine, 4d. ; four links for
lights, 2s. ; three loads of coals to keep the actors
warm, Is.
Sacred stories or events taken from Scriptural sources
have yet a strong hold on the public mind, for the ever
favourite oratorio is only a mystery or morality set to
music, and periodically vast concourses are drawn from
all parts of Europe by the Ober Ammergau plays.
M. S. HARDOASTLE.
23irtr
nit tfte
[EMORABLE as are the Fames as the scene
of the heroism of Grace Darling, interest
also centres in them as the home of innumer-
able sea birds. In the height of the season
there is an incessant clamour while the birds cluster on
the various rocks or circle in clouds overhead. Coupled
with the noise of the beating surf, the effect is singu-
larly wild.
The Fame group consists of twenty-five islands, about
ten of which are covered at high water. They lie from
one and a half to five miles from the Northumberland
THE PINNACLES, FARNE ISLANDS.
461
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/Octobtr
\ 1890.
coast. North Sunderland being the chief rendezvous of
visitors, and Monkshouse the nearest point. The voyage
ncross the channel may be easily and safely accomplished ;
but, owing to the depredations of visitors in the past,
no one can now land upon the islands without per-
mission. So thickly are some of the islets strewn with
nests in the breeding season that it is impossible to
walk without treading upon eggs or young. In 1536,
Henry VIII. bestowed the islands upon the Dean and
Chapter of Durham. The Outer Fames are controlled
by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners; the Inner Fames
are now leased to the Fame Islands Association. The
largest of the whole group, commonly known as the
House Island, but also as the Fame proper, is associated
with the memory of St. Cuthbert, particulars of whom
were given in the Monthly Chronicle for November, 1887.
Its name is supposed to have been derived from the
Anglo-Saxon Fdrena (alandc, meaning "Island of the
Pilgrims." The island is irregular in form, with an area
of sixteen acres at low water, three parts being bare
rock, with cliffs of basalt rising to a height of eighty feet.
Eastward of the Fame, separated by a channel, are the
AVedums, or Wideopen, and the Noxes, forming at low
water one island. To the north-westward of the Fame
lie two rocks, the Swedman and Megstone. A channel
about a mile in width separates the inner from the outer
group of islands. A reef in this channel has been noted
as being the breeding ground of the great seal. Then
there is Stapel Island, and separated from it by a narrow
channel is the Brownsman, where the bird-keeper lives.
To the north ia the Wawmsea, the breeding place of the
cormorants, and to the east the Big and Little Harcar.
The story connected with the wreck of the Forfarshire
on the Big Harcar will be found in the Monthly Chronicle
for June, 1888.
The accompanying views, two of which are taken from
photographs kindly supplied by Mr. W. Green, of
Berwick-on-Tweed, whose series representing bird life
on the coast is exceptionally beautiful and interesting,
will give the reader some idea of one of the principal
resorts of sea birds on the North-East Coast.
Mr. John Hancock's "Catalogue of the Birds of North-
umberland and Durham " records that the following
fifteen species of sea fowl breed on the Fame Islands : —
Ring dotterel, oystercatcher, lesser black-backed gull,
herring gull, kittiwake gull, sandwich tern, common
tern, arctic tern, roseate tern, cormorant, shag, eider
duck, guillemot, puffin, and razorbill. Mr. Hancock
gives also in the same work the subjoined interesting
particulars : —
The guillemots have possession of the Pinnacles, three
basaltic columns of no great size, and about forty feet
high. The eggs are deposited on the top of these isolated
columns, and can only be readied by climbing. There
used to be a rope suspended from the top of one of the
columns, and with the aid of this rope, and with one foot
against one column and the other foot against the
adjacent one, an active climber might haul himself to the
top. When I visited the locality in June, 1831, in com-
pany with Mr. W. C. Hewitson and my brother Albany,
our supply of these eggs was obtained in this manner : —
October 1
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
465
Mr. Hewitson, who was a bold and active climber,
disdaining the rope, bravely ascended the Pinnacles
and lowered down to us, in the boat at iheir base, the
eggs in his hat. The kittiwake, which, though plentiful,
is in no great abundance, avails itself of the inequalities
of the precipitous faces of the Pinnacles and the neigh-
bouring cliffs to build its nest. The lesser black-backed
gull is numerous, and is not confined to any particular
islet. Only a few pairs of puffins were breeding at that
time; they are now, however, much more numerous.
The eggs of this species are placed at arm's length
within rabbit-holes on one of the hummocky grassy
islets. The cormorants had possession of a rocky islet
of little elevation here. Their nests, which are composed
of sea-weed, are associated together, these birds forming
a small colony by themselves. As we approached, the
cormorants went off in a body to an adjacent rock at
no great distance, and watched our movements. The
shag and razorbill were both very scarce ; we did not
obtain an egg of either ; they are probably only occasional
breeders in this locality. The ring dotterel and oyster-
catcher are also not by any means common. The eider
duck nests chiefly on the main or inner island, but is
found on several of the other islands, and, though con-
stantly found there, is in no great number. It likewise
occasionally nests on the neighbouring mainland ; we
found a single nest so situated on our visit to this district.
The ring dotterel, too, likewise breeds on the mainland ;
and we found several pairs of the little tern breeding on
the shore of the Old Law, opposite to Holy Island ; and
on the links in this neighbourhood the shieldrake is
found nesting in rabbit holes.
A specimen of the great auk, which is probably now
extinct, appears to have been taken at the Fame Islands
about a century ago. In Wallis's " History of North-
umberland " it is stated, under the head "Penguin," that
"a curious and uncommon bird was taken alive a few
years ago in the island of Farn, and presented to the late
John William Bacon, Esq., of Etherstone, with whom it
grew so tame and familiar that it would follow him with
its body erect to be fed." There can be little doubt that
this so called penguin was really the great auk. The
only bird with which it might have been confounded
is one or other of the great divers, the northern or the
black-throated ; but as neither of these can walk, it could
not be said that it followed Mr. Bacon " with its body
erect to be fed "; while there is reason to believe, Mr.
Symington Grieve thinks, that the great auk could move
in this particular position, as the razorbill does.
In his recently published work on "The Great Auk, or
Garefowl," Mr. Grieve says : —
The discovery of traces of the great auk in a cave
near Whitburn Lizards, county Durham, during the
spring of 1878, is very interesting, as until that time
no remains of this bird, so far as known, had been found
in England. There can be little doubt that at one time
the great auk waa in the habit of visiting the shores of
even the most southern parts of Britain, but it is long
since these visits became of very rare occurrence. The
last notice that we know of the great auk having been
met with in the North-East of England is the mention
that a specimen had been captured on the Fame Islands
about a century ago.
It appears that the workmen employed by the Whit-
466
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
(•October
\ 1890.
burn Coal Company had been quarrying limestone on the
eastern escarpment of the Cleadon Hills, named on the
Ordnance Survey map "Whitburn Lizards," when, under-
neath a qtfantity of debrii, which had at one time fallen
from the face of the cliff, they discovered a cave, which
at some remote period had evidently been formed by the
sea when the land was at a lower level, as it was situated
on the north-east escarpment of the hill, about 15 feet from
its summit, and 140 feet above the present sea level.
Mr. Howse, who was one of those who examined it. has
written a preliminary description of the cave and its
contents. He states that he believes this cave, along with
other two adjoining it that have since been discovered,
were raised to their present elevation long before being
occupied by the creatures whose remains have been found
in them, and that probably the deposits on the cave-floors
are not of extreme antiquity, as in none of them were
discovered traces of the hyasna and cave-bear, met with
in such abundance in some other English caves.
Until this discovery the scientists acquainted with
the locality h,ad no idea of the existence of any caves in
the neighbourhood, and it must have caused consider-
able surprise to the officials of the Museum of the
Natural History Society, Newcastle-on-Tyne, when, in
the spring of 1878, they received the first box contain-
ing the remains, which were kindly sent them by Sir.
John Daglish, Tynemouth, who at the same time gave
.liberty for some members of the society to excavate
in the cave. It was fortunate that such a competent
authority as Mr. John Hancock undertook the examina-
lion of the remains, as his labours have resulted in the
identification of bones that have belonged to a consider-
able number of mammalia and birds, along with the shells
of several of the mollusca. Among the former of these
it is worthy of notice that there are several domestic
animals, but their remains are associated with those of
some animals that have long been extinct in the North or
England.
THE HERRING GULL.
The herring gull (Larus arrjcntatu.3} is a, common
resident in Northumberland, and breeds on the Fame
Islands. This species is also found along the whole of the
•South Coast of England, and is particularly numerous in
the Isle of Wight, from Freshwater Bay to the Needles.
Herring gulls feed on shellfish, and occasionally large
dead fishes, crustaceans, molluscs, echini, &c., and we
have it on the authority of Mr. Hancock that they
steal and eat the eggs of the cormorant. In summer the
adults have the head and neck pure white ; the back and
all the wing covers are uniform delicate French grey ;
tertials, tipped with white ; primaries, mostly black ; but
grey on basil portion of inner web, and the first primary
with a triangular patch of pure white ; cbin, throat,
breast, belly, and the whole of the under surface of the
body and tail, pure white ; legs and feet, flesh
colour ; bill, yellow ; angle of under mandible,
red ; edges of eyelids, orange ; irides, straw-yellow.
The length of the herring gull is from twenty-two inches
to twenty-four and a half inches, depending on the age
and sex ; wing, from sixteen and a half to seventeen and
a quarter inches long. In winter the adults have the
head streaked with dusky grey. The nest of the
herring gull, which is frequently placed on ledges of rocks,
is usually formed of grass or any other vegetable matter
that may be at hand.
THE GREAT AUK.
The great auk (Alca impennis), which may be de-
scribed as a gigantic razorbill, but having wings so small
as to be incapable of flight, was a common bird at one
period, hundreds being caught periodically on the small
islands olf Newfoundland, and on the coast of Iceland.
The .-pecies also occurred in St. Kilda, and the Orkney
and Faroe Islands. Tbe last specimen seen in the
Orkneys was killed in 1812; that on St. Kilda was in
1622. The last recorded capture of the great auk was
made on Eldey, off the coast of Iceland, in 1844. So
recent has been the extinction of this fine species, that in
October!
1890. |
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
467
the early editions of Yarrell's 1: Birds," and even in Mac-
gillivray'a fifth volume of "British Birds," published in
1852, it is spoken of as still existing.
The great auk was about the size of a goose, its length
being about thirty inches. The wing was not more than
six and a half or seven and a half inches in length ; the
tail measured three inches or three and a half in length.
Upon the upper surface of the body the plumage was
glossy black ; on the throat blackish brown ; an oval
white patch was situated immediately in front of the eye.
The under side and a thin streak across the tips of the
secondary wing quills were white.
The value of the egg of the great auk has risen
rapidly of late years. In 1830, one was bought in Paris
for 4s. Id. ; but in 1888 another realized the unprece-
dented sum of £225, and it is stated that this egg has
since changed hands at an advanced figure.
THE COMMON GUILLEMOT.
The common guillemot (Uria troile) inhabits the
northern coasts of Europe and the North Atlantic, and is
strictly a bird of the ocean. It breeds extensively on the
Fame Islands, Northumberland, and in many other parts
of the United Kingdom. The bird is about seventeen
inches in length, and twenty-seven in breadth. The
head, neck, and upper parts are blackish brown, with a
slaty tinge on the back ; the under parts below the throat
and tips of secondaries are white ; the bill is almost
uniform black; the legs and feet are olivaceous brown;
the irides hazel brown. Very old birds retain the sum-
mer plumage throughout the year. Like the auk, which
it greatly resembles, the guillemot lays but one egg,
which is large in proportion to her size ; sometimes it is
of pale blue or sea-green colour, and at other times white
or spotted ; indeed, it varies so much in appearance that
hardly two eggs are alike.
THE PUFFIX.
The puffin (Mormon fratercula), which breeds on the
Fame Islands, at Flamborough in Yorkshire, and at many
stations on the Scottish coast, has a variety of common
names, such as coulterneb, sea parrot, pope, mullet, and
Tammie Norrie. This last term seems to be applied to
the puffin on the east coast of Scotland ; and the local
rhyme shows that it breeds on the Bass Rock.
Thus :—
Tammie Norrie o' the Bass,
Canna kiss a pretty lass.
The puffin from its peculiar conformation, is ill able to
walk on land; but en the sea, which may almost be termed
its native elements, it is most expert in swimming and
diving. Its food consists of sprats and other small fish,
the smaller Crustacea, such as shrimps. &c. The note is
alow "orr, orr." It breeds in holes in high cliifs over-
hanging the sea, in holes in the turf, and in deserted
rabbit burrows. The holes, most authorities state, are made
by the male birds, and the solitary egg is deposited at
the far end. The male puffin weighs from twelve to
thriteen ounces ; length, one foot to thirteen inches. The
curious bill, from which the bird derives one of its
common names, coulterneb, is of several colours — the fore
part about the mouth, which projects a little both above
and below, yellowish white, the next portion bluish grey,
followed by orange red, and again by bright red. It
seems that the bill does not attain its full size till the third
year. The wings expand to the width of one foot nine
inches ; greater and lesser wing coverts, glossy black ;
primaries, dusky black, but paler than the secondaries,
468
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/October
\ 1890.
which are also black. The tail is short, and black in
colour. Upper tail coverts, black ; legs and toes, bright
orange red ; claws, black, the inner one much hooked ;
weba, orange red. The female in size and plumage
resembles the male.
Cumfcerlairtr piet:
Jltlpl) of £ebergl)a:in.
HE village of Sebergham, about ten miles
south-west of Carlisle, is located amongst
some of the most charming and picturesque
scenery in the whole county of Cumber-
land. Here was born, lived, and died, during the first
half of last century, Josiah Relph, a remarkable man, a
genuine poet, but one about whom little is known at the
present day. Ralph's father was a yeoman of humble
rank, possessing a small paternal estate in the parish of
Sebergham. Here the poet was born on the 3rd of
December, 1712. At an early age he was sent to
Appleby, and placed under the care of a schoolmaster
of great repute, a Mr. Yates, whose abilities as a
preceptor gained him the name of " the northern Busby."
On reaching the age of fifteen, Relph was transferred to
the University of Glasgow, where he is said to have
given proofs of his remarkable genius. Here, however,
he did not remain long, but returned to his native village.
One of his biographers conjectures, with great probability,
that he was induced to leave the Scottish seat of learning
by his "love of retirement and the pleasure of being near
his favourite home." At the village of Sebergham he
became the master of the grammar school. In 1733 the
minister, or, as we should say in this day, the vicar of
Sebergham, one Reverend James Kinneir, died, and
Relph was chosen by the Dean and Chapter of Carlisle to
succeed him. The living was worth about thirty pounds
a year, but the new minister's income, from church and
school together, is believed never to have exceeded fifty
pounds per annum.
Relph's predecessor in the pulpit of Sebergham was a
Scotch Episcopalian, who, at the downfall of Episco-
palianism in Scotland, had been driven by the fury
of the Presbyterians from the rectory of Annan, and
had found a refuge in this secluded Cumberland village,
Eefore his time there had been no settled minister
at Sebergham, but the Chapter of Carlisle had sent
over once a month one of their own number to render
to the parishioners the small modicum of religious
instruction which the slender value of the tithes
warranted. Under such circumstances we are scarcely
surprised to learn that Kinnear found the inhabitants
rude and unpolished, ignorant and illiberal, abjectly
superstitious in the belief of exploded stories of witches,
ghosts, and apparitions, with but little morality and less
religion. "They spent their Sundays in tumultuous
meetings at ale-houses, or in the rude diversions of foot-
ball." Kinnear set himself the task of reforming these
people. He was an austere man, his religion gloomy
and unsocial, his conversation distant and reserved, and
his manners ungracious. Attacking and roundly con-
demning all amusements, even the most innocent, he
lost by his moroseness what else he might have gained
by the blameless tenor of his life. " His parishioners
despised and neglected him, and he gave them up as
desperately abandoned, profligate, and irreclaimable."
He spent forty-five years in the parish, and left the
people much as he found them.
Relph only held the living for the short period of ten
years. He was a man of great ability united with
extreme modesty. His temperament was social and
cheerful, his manners were amiable, and his friendships
warm. His influence on his people was of the most
marked character. A writer who lived amongst them
shortly after his day speaks of "elegance of conversation,
esteem for learning, and reverence for religion " as their
distinguishing traits. A lecturer who frequented Seberg-
ham shortly after Relph's death was often heard to say
that " in no part of the world, not even in the metropolis,
did he ever address an audience by whom he appeared to
be so well understood as at Sebergham." Relph deserves
to be remembered, too, for the catholicity of his character.
"He was so averse," says one writer, "to cavilling about
the abstract questions of sectarian controversy, that his
esteem was frequently bestowed on men whose ideas of
religion were entirely opposite to his own ; it was not the
profession of religion which ensured his regard, but the
zealous practice of its duties. "
Relph's career was uneventful. A step-mother was the
great trouble of his life. But from all his cares he had
two happy retreats. " In a lonely dell, by a murmuring
stream, under the canopy of heaven, he had provided a
table and stool, and a little raised seat of sods." Hither
he retired for solitary meditation. But within his father's
small estate, which, despite its smallness, enclosed
"flowery meadows, silver streams, and hanging groves,"
there was a favourite fountain. "It poured, in soft
meanders, down a gentle declivity, till it gained the
Caldew, whose waters here lave the borders of a beautiful
valley." Here, says his biographer, " he had a fish-pond,
and a chair and table formed from the natural rock, where
he was accustomed to entertain a select party of cheerful
friends in the primitive simplicity which characterises the
pastoral age."
He spent many of his nights in pacing the churchyard,
or the silent aisles of his church. Then it was that
"without any light, or with a light only sufficient to
render darkness visible, " he composed his sermons. Long
after his death the awe excited amongst his parishioners
by his nightly walks was well remembered.
Relph is described as a tall and thin man, with a com-
October!
1890.
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
469
manding aspect, and a certain dignity of carriage which
in no way detracted from his obvious modesty. He
appears to have been always delicate. "He was ab-
stemious to a very great degree; for he lived entirely
upon milk and vegetables for many years." His numerous
duties and bis sedentary habits, and, perhaps, his nightly
vigils, at length broke down his health. He died on the
26th June, 1743, at the age of thirty years. Before his
death he sent for all his former pupils and poor
parishioners, and received them one by one in his
chamber, addressing to each words of advice and consola-
tion. To the poor he made bountiful gifts, but strictly
enjoined their secrecy. "Thus," says one of his friends
and pupils, "he took more care in concealing his virtues
tban other people do their vices."
Fifty years after his death, a monument, inscribed to
his memory in elegant Latin phrases, was placed on the
wall of Sebergham Church. I venture to translate a part
of the inscription : "To the memory of tho Reverend
Josiah Relpb, whose genius and learning, whose candour
of mind and sanctity of life would have worthily sus-
tained and adorned the highest positions in the Church.
But God saw otherwise. It was his part to move in the
more humble though not less useful capacity of school-
master and minister of this church. He undertook the
duties willingly, and faithfully fulfilled them. A friend
to the muses, like another Theocritus, he happily sung
the manners of homely life."
I can offer the reader no better or truer estimate of
Relph's poetic talents than by quoting the very just and
discrimating remarks of the Rev. Mr. Boucher in a life
of the poet contributed to Hutchinson's "History of
Cumberland."
"As a poet his merit has long been felt and acknow-
ledged. We do not indeed presume to recommend him
to those high-soaring critic-i who affect to be pleased
with nothing but the vivida vis, the energy and majestic
grandeur of poetry. Relph's verses aspire only to the
character of being natural, terse, and easy, and that
character they certainly merit in an extraordinary degree.
His Fables may vie with Gay's for smoothness of diction,
and are superior to Gay's by having their moral always
obvious and apt. But it is on his Pastorals in the
Cumberland dialect that, if we might presume to seat
ourselves in the chair of criticism, we would found his
pretensions to poetical fame. That our opinion is per-
fectly right it might be presumptuous in us to suppose ;
but we certainly have persuaded ourselves that a dialect
is, if not essential, yet highly advantageous, to pastoral
poetry, and that the rich, strong, Doric dialect of this
county is, of all dialects, the most proper. On this
ground Relph's Pastorals have transcendent merit.
With but a little more of sentiment in them, and
perhaps tenderness, they would very nearly come up to
the inimitably beautiful pastoral, 'The Gentle Shepherd,'
of Allan Ramsay. Relph drew his portraits from real
life, and so faithful were his transcripts that there was
hardly a person in the village who could not point out
those who had sat for his Cursty and his Peggy. The
Amorous Maiden was well known, and a very few years
ago (this was written in 1794) was still living."
After such high and, as I think, deserved praise of
Relph's poetry, the reader will probably be anxious to
see a specimen. I have only space for one of the pastorals
in the Cumberland dialect.
HARVEST; OB, THE BASHFUL SHEPHERD.
When welcome rain the weary reapers drove
Beneath the shelter of a neighbouring grove ;
Robin, a love-sick swain, lagged far behind.
Nor seemed the weight of falling showers to mind ;
A distant, solitary shade he sought,
And thus disclosed the troubles of his thought.
Ay, ay, thur drops may cuil my outside heat ;
Thur callar blasts may wear (1) the boilen sweat :
But my het bluid, my heart aw' in a bruil,
Nor callar blasts can wear, nor drops can cuil.
Here, here it was (a wae light on the pleace !)
At first I gat a gliff (2) o' Betty's feace ;
Blyth on this trod (3) the smurker (4) tripped, and theer
At the deail-head (5) unluckily we shear : (6)
Heedless I glimed, (7) nor could my een command,
Till gash the sickle went into my hand.
Down helled (8) the bluid ; the shearers aw brast out
In sweela of laughter ; (9) Betty luiked about ;
Reed grew my fingers, reeder far my feace :
What could I de in seek a dispert kease?
Away I sleenged, (10) to Grandy meade my mean, (11)
My Grandy (God be wud (12) her, now she's geane !)
Skilfu' the gushen bluid wi' cockwebs staid,
Then on the sair an healen plaister laid ;
The healen plaister eased the painful sair,
The arr (13) indeed remains, but naething mair.
Not sae that other wound, that inward smart, —
My Grandy could not cure a bleedin heart ;
I've bworn the bitter torment three lang year,
And aw my life-time mun be fworced to bear,
"Less Betty will a kind physician pruive ;
For nin but she has skill to medcin luive.
But how should honest Betty give relief?
Betty's a perfet stranger to my grief.
Oft I've resolved my ailment to explain ;
Oft I've resolved indeed, but all in vain :
A springin blush spred fast owr aither cheek.
Down Robin luiked and deuce a word could speak.
Can I forget that night? (I never can)
When on the clean sweeped hearth the spinnels ran. (14)
The lasses drew their line wi' busy speed,
The lads as busy minded every thread.
When, sad ! the line sae slender Betty drew,
Snap went the thread and down the spinnel fiew.
To me it meade — the lads began to glop — (15)
What could I de? I mud, mud take it up.
I tuik it up, and (what gangs pleaguy hard)
Een reached it back without the sweet reward.
U lustiii stain ! even yet it's eith (16) to treace
A guilty conscience in my blushen feace :
I fain would wesh it out, but never can,
Still fair it bides, like bluid of sackless (17) man.
Nought sae was Wully bashfu'. Wully spyd
A pair of scissors at the lass's side ;
NOTES.
(1) To wear, to dry. (2) A gliff, a passing sight (3) Trod, a
foot-path. (4) A smurker, a smiling girt (5) Deail-head, the
higher part of a narrow plot of ground in a common Held, set out
by land-marks. (6) To shear, to reap. (7) To glime, to look
askance. (8) To hell, to pour. (9) Swcels o' laughter, bursts of
laughter. (10) To sleenge, to skulk away. (11) Mean, moan,
complaint (12) Wud, with. (13) Arr, a soar. (14) Tb« girls were
sitting: round the fire spinning. If the thread should break, and
tha distaff— the spinnel— fell on the floor, then the young men
rushed to seize it and restore it to its owner. The one who was
fortunate enough to recover it claimed a kiss for his services. (IS)
To glop, to stare. (16) Eith, easy. (17) Saokless, innocent.
470
MOAIIJLY CHRONICLE.
/October
X 1890.
Thar lowsed, (18) he sleely droped the spinnel down.
And what said Betty? Betty struive to frown ;
Up flew her hand to souse the cowren (19) lad,
But ah. I thought it fell not down owr sad.
What followed I think mickle to repeat,
Mv teeth aw wattered then, and watter yet.
Een weel is he 'at ever he was bworn ;
He's free frae aw this bitterment and scworn.
What? mun I still be fashed (20) wi' straglen sheep,
Wi' far fetched sighs, and things I said asleep;
Still shamefully left snaftien (21) by my sell,
And still, still dogged wi' the damned neame o' mell? (22)
Whare's now the uith(23)(thhluive! the deuce ga'wi't !)
The pith I showed, wheneer we struive, to beat?
When a lung Iwonin through the cworn I meade
And, bustlin far behind, the leave (24) surveyed ?
Dear heart ! that pith is geane and comes nae mair
Till Betty's kindness sail the loss repair.
And she's not like (how sud she ':) to be kind,
Till I have freely spoken out my mind, —
Till I have learned to feace the maiden clean,
Oiled niy slow tongue, and edged my sheepish een.
A buik theer is — a buik — the neame — shem law't ; (25)
Something o" compliments I think they caw't,
'At meakes a clownish lad a clever spark.
0 hed I this, this buik wad de my wark !
And I's resolved to have't what ever't cost !
My Hute— for what's my flute it Betty's lost?
And if sae bony a la.ss but be my bride,
1 need not any comfort lait (26) beside.
Farewell my flute then, yet or Carlisle fair,
When to the stationers I'll stright repair,
And bauldly for thur Compliments euquear ;
Care I a fardin, let the prentice jeer.
That duine, a handsome letter I'll indite,
Haudsonie as ever country lad did write; —
A letter 'at sail tell tier aw 1 feel,
And aw my wants without a blush reveal.
But now the clouds brek off and sineways (27) run ;
Out frae his shelter lively luiks the sun ;
Brave hearty blasts the droopin barley dry ;
The lads are gawn to shear— and sae mun I.
' B.
Cfrurth
jlARLIXGTON Market Place is our starting.
point, and Haughton-le-Skerne our destina-
tion. The distance to be traversed is not
great — not more, in fact, than a tnile and
a half — yet it compasses the great distance between com-
merce and husbandry, between town life and country life,
between bustle, noise, a ceaseless going to and fro of many
hurried lives, and quietude, peace, and leisure to watch
the moving shadows of the day, and recognise the purpose
of existence. The change is great and refreshing. Leav-
ing behind us the streets of what is certainly not the most
inviting side of Darlington, we soon find ourselves on the
hedge-skirted road, and when the clamorous sounds of
forges and foundries have fairly ceased to reach our ears,
we arc at Haughton Bridge over the Skerne— "the
NOTES.
(18) Thar lowsed, then loosed or cut. Wully, a sad rogue, was de-
termined to show our bashful hero that he would restore the distaff
to greater personal advantage. He did not wait for the thread to
break, but slyly out it What followed the shepherd hesitates to
relate, but when bis rival secured the rewarding kiss his teeth
"aw wattered." (19) Cowren, crouching. (20) Fashed, troubled.
(21) Snafflen, sauntering. (22) Mell, a beetle ; a term of reproach,
meaning the hindmost. (25) Pith, stamina, physical vigour. (24)
The leave, the rest (25) Shem faw't, shame fall on it. (26) To
lait to seek. (27) Sineways, sundry ways.
stream that divides, " as the name means. The shallow
river flows placidly, and, looking over the parapet, we find
the yellow waterlily bearing up its golden blossom, and
swaying to and fro on the gently moving water.
The village stretches away for a quarter of a mile
beyond the church, skirting only one broad street, formed
evidently in times when airy open spaces were liberally
granted. So wide is the road that great patches can be
allowed to retain their green turf, overshadowed by
venerable trees.
Haughton is a place of remote antiquity. The name
occurs in early documents as Hailtune, Hailietune,
Halaghton, and some other forms, and may possibly
mean "the holy town." It is first mentioned in history
in a very singular way. Bishop Aldhune, the builder of
the first cathedral at Durham, had a very extraordinary
daughter. This girl, whose name was Ecgfrida, was
given in marriage to Uchtred, the son of Cospatric,
Earl of Northumberland. But the dowry given with
the bride was almost as extraordinary as the lady her-
self, for it consisted of no fewer than six townships, all
of which rightfully belonged to the Church of StCuthbert.
For some unrecorded reason Uchtred soon grew tired of
his wife, and sent her back to her father, who resumed
possession of the lands he had given with her. She after-
wards became the wife of a Yorkshire thane named
Kilvert, who after a time also sent her away, and, at her
father's command, she returned to Durham, took the veil,
and became a very good nun. Meantime, her first hus-
band, Uchtred, married one Sigen, the daughter of Styr,
a rich citizen. The condition upon which Styr gave his
daughter to Uchtred was that he should kill one of Styr's
enemies, named Turbrand. Whether Styr's daughter
died, or, like her predecessor, was sent off to her
father, we know not ; but we certainly learn that
Uchtred married a third wife, Elfgiva, the daughter of
King Ethelred. This singular narrative tells us nearly
all that we know of Styr. But he was a benefactor to
Aldhune's church at Durham, and an ancient charter,
transcribed in one of the lives of St. Cuthbert, records
that he gave to that church, amongst other possessions,
four carucates of land in Halhtune, which is our
Haughton-le-Skerne. The date of this grant is not
stated ; but, from the connection in which it is mentioned
in Symeon's "History of the Church of Durham," there
can be little doubt that it shortly followed the erection of
Aldhune °s cathedral, near the end of the tenth century.
Even at this early period, we are justified in believing,
there was a church at Haughton. When it was founded,
or by whom, we shall never learn, but its existence is
attested by a stone bearing decoration of Saxon character,
and built into the south wall of the chancel, near the west
end.
The present church is in many ways an interesting
edifice. Though sadly mutilated and patched, it yet
retains its original outlines. It is the only example of a
October 1
1890. I
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
471
Norman village church in the whole county of Durham,
and was probably built during the second quarter of the
twelfth century. Its most striking feature is its broad,
massive tower, which, though rude and plain, is still
picturesque, and from many points groups well with the
tall trees that environ the churchyard.
The tower possesses several peculiarities. First of all,
its ground plan is not square, but measures considerably
more from north to south than from east to west. Then,
too, it is not, as is usually the case, built centrally in
relation to the west front of the church, but goes further
to the north than to the south. The west doorway, which
is the principal entrance to the whole edifice, is opposite
the centre line of the nave, with the inevitable result
that it is not in the middle of the west front of the tower.
This doorway, with its plain arch, flat lintel, nook shafts,
and rude cushioned capitals, though totally devoid of
any attempt at decoration, possesses a certain dignified
simplicity. Over it, but a little to the north, so as to co-
incide with the centre of the tower front, is a very unpre-
tending inserted window of three lights and of Perpen-
dicular date. The upper stage of the tower has been
greatly rent and shaken, and the repairs which have been
considered desirable have obliterated the west window of
the belfry. The other windows of this stage, each of two
lights, still remain. The tower is ascended by a spiral
staircase, enclosed in a projecting turret, which is square
below and octagonal above.
There are three bells in the tower. One of these is of
pre-Reformation date. The only inscription it bears con-
sists simply of parts of the alphabet reversed. Alphabet
bells are not very uncommon. There is one at Bywell
which bears the complete alphabet. The letters on the
Haughton bell are arranged in three panels, as follows : —
VTSB QP Jaa
As will be noticed, three of the letters are upside down.
Both the other bells bear the date 166*, and were cast by
Samuel Smith, of York, a famous bell-founder. One is
inscribed
SOLI DEO GLORIA
(Glory to God alone), and the other,
VEJTITE EXVLTEM3 DOMINO
(Come, let us sing unto the Lord).
On entering the church we are at once struck by ite
unmodernised aspect. The fashions of the day in matters
of ecclesiastical furniture and arrangement have not yet
been allowed to intrude into this venerable edifice. Not
only to the lover of antiquity, but to every one who has
any perception of what is congruous, it can but be painful,
after seeing the mouldering outside of an ancient church,
to find, on entering its doors, everything "span new,"
and brought up to the requirements of the latest craze of
the restorer or the sacerdotalist. This is happily not the
case at Haughton. It is a church which remains as it
was in the days of our great-great-grandfatherg. Such
churches are now few, indeed. In most counties of Eng-
land they might be counted on the fingers of one hand.
The stall work, of dark oak, which fills the church
from end to end. is of the time of the Restoration,
or thereabouts. The iron latches on the pew doors
are quaint, and now very rare. The pulpit, on
the south side of the chancel arch, and the reading
desk on the north side, are of almost identical
design. Each is surmounted by a massive sounding
board, with open cornice and carved pediment. Even
the communion table and the font cover, the latter richly
carved, with pierced tracery of excellent design for its
period, are of the same date as pulpit and stalls.
There are two good seventeenth century oak chairs
within the altar rails. I doubt whether any other church
in the Northern Counties, except Brancepeth, contains so
complete a series of internal fittings of one date.
The chancel arch is rude and massive. It is perfectly
plain, consisting of two square orders, and rests on heavy
chamfered abaci. It is very narrow, and its south jamb
has been cut away. There are two large squints or
hagioscopes, one on each side of the arch, the south one
now blocked up. They are as rude and simple in char-
acter as could possibly be conceived, and have been
described as " mere rude holes, made anyhow, in order to
get a peep at the altar. ''
The windows have been sadly tampered with. The
chancel was originally lighted by four round-headed win-
dows, two in the north wall and two in the south, and a
triplet of similar lights in the east wall. Those in the side
walls have been blocked up, and the place of the east
window has been taken by a modern caricature of an early
four-light window. Another modern window, also of
four lights, has been broken through the south wall.
There is a walled-up priest's door in the north wall of the
chancel, and a "low-side window," also walled up,
opposite.
The windows of the nave are of most heterogeneous
character. At the east end, on each side, is a broad and
low round-headed window, with a central mullion running
up into the arch. The hood-moulding of the one in the
south wall bears ornaments which appear to indicate that
it is ancient. Then, in each wall, we have a very plain
and tall lancet light, of the thirteenth century. Next, in
the south wall, comes a square-headed window, enclosing
three round-headed lights, and bearing it8 date— the year
1725 — in the inner splay. This window has been copied
in the two western windows of the north side. The last
one on the south is a large, ugly aperture, of no style, and
consequently of unassignable date.
The font i» circular, standing on a shaft of unusual
design. It is of the thirteenth century. The roofs, both
of nave and chancel, are nearly flat. There is not much
attempt at ornament about them, though that of the
chancel is the richer of the two. Both belong to the
fifteenth century.
472
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/October
\ 1890.
Besides its present means of ingress, the nave had
formerly two others, one in the north wall and one in the
south. The doorway on the north, with its flat lintel, and
jambs incircliug inwards, is of the plainest character. It
is now walled up. The south doorway is concealed by a
late porch, now used as a tool house, in the walls of which
are fragments of ancient stones, one of them part of a
thirteenth century grave cover. This doorway is very
similar to that in the west wall of the tower, except that
the arch is surmounted by a billeted hood-moulding.
The church contains two monuments of more than
ordinary interest. One of these, a stone slab in the floor
beneath the tower, bears the following inscription : —
51ni)cr jigto Imtl) p
am (Sleabeth. nantoit
$riorec of tjje J?aul Jlju
Ijaue merer.
(Under this stone lieth Dame Elizabeth Nanton,
Prioress. Of the Soul Jesu have mercy.) Elizabeth
Nanton, or Naunton, was prioress of Neasham in 14-88 and
1489.
The second monument to which I refer is a brass, now
fixed to the east wall of the nave. It represents a lady in
Elizabethan costume, with head dress, deep ruff, and
embroidered gown, holding two infants in swaddling
clothes, one in each arm. Beneath the figure is the fol-
lowing inscription : —
HEBE LTKTH SHE WHOSE BIRTH WHOSE LIFE WHOSE END
DOE ALL IN ONE HIB HAPPY STATE COMMEND
HIB BIBTHE WAS WOBSHIPFTLL OF GENTLE BLOOD
HIB VEBTVOVS LIFE STILL PBAISED FOB DOINO GOOD
HIB GODLY DEATH A HEAVENLY LIGHT HAITH GAINED
WHICH NEVEB CANN BY DEATH OB SIN BE STAKED.
DOROTHY DAVGHTEB OP RICHARD OHOLMLEY ESQVIRE THE
THIRD SONNE TO SB RIOHABD CHOLMELEY KNIGHT LATE
WIFE OF EGBERT PABKINSON OF WHESSEY GENTLEMAN
DEPABTED THIS LIFE THE NINTENTH OP IVLYE 1592, AND
LTETH BVRYED NEAKE THIS PLACE WITH HIS TWO
TWINES RICHARD PARKINSON AND MARMADVKE PABKINSON
SONNES OF THE SAID ROBERT AND DOROTHYS
CONIVGI FILIISQ' CHARISS : PATER : CONIVNXO.'. M/ESTISS.
POSVIT.
(To the dearest wife and sons, the saddest father and
husband has placed this monument.)
J. R. BOYLE, F.S.A.
October 1
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
473
€i*0£te at
JlBOUT five miles north of Ravenglass in
Cumberland lies the village of Gosforth. An
old stone pillar which stands in the church-
yard of the village, and of which we give a sketch, has
long been a puzzle to antiquaries. According to Parsons
and White, "it was
formerly surmounted
by a cross till it in-
curred the displeasure
of a poor idiot who
knocked it down with
a stone." The Gentle-
man's Magazine for
October, 1799, printed
the following descrip-
tion of it: — "In Gos-
forth churchyard is a
cross, whether Danish
or British no one
knows. It is four-
teen feet high ; the
lower part is placed
on a pedestal of three
steps ; the top is per-
forated with four
holes ; the sides are
enriched with various
guilloches and other
ornaments, and men
with animals in bas-
relief— one of a man
on horseback upside
down. Another
column was there once,
but it has been taken away, as also a horizontal statue
between them, with a sword sculptured on it."
arttr
OLD STREET CRIES IN NEWCASTLE.
Students of musical form will agrea with Mr. Green-
well (whose note appears on page 379) that it would be a
pity to entirely lose the street cries of Tyneside.
Mr. Greenwell's "Fine Borgundy peors" and "Fine
boiled crabs " are admirably true — though the latter, as I
knew it, ran "Fine boiled crabs, new boiled crabs." His
rendering, too, of "Will ye buy ony fish?" I remember
distinctly, though a much more picturesque one occurs to
me,
In its simplest form the " fish cry " in Shields was : —
Buy fish.
and at its best, from the clear and strong larynx of a
young CuJlercoats fisher lass, it was a beautiful and
characteristic one. The pitch I give is that unconsciously
adopted by the young girls, matrons being content to take
it, say, a third lower, while the quavering and half
querulous tones cf the old women struggling along under
the heavily loaded creel would be a fifth lower— and a
saddening cry, too.
An extraordinary and startling, though intensely in-
teresting, form is : —
-faf
=
r-^.
m
_ —
-F-
~^~£~i
1
Will ye buy on • y fish?
As a boy, I never ceased to marvel at the unerring pre-
cision with which the most difficult interval was struck
by some of the strident- voiced Cullercoats women.
Another fine cry was : —
Shares o' cal-ler ling Shares o' cal-ler ling.
But the gem of the Cullercoats cries is the following :
Heor's the fresh Harr'n fow'ra pen-ny fow'r a pen-ny Hyor.
What Shields schoolboy does not remember the ring of
this call — on hot summer mornings — with its suggestions
of burning sands and sparkling ripples, urging him to
"play the neck"? In its defiance of rhythm and the
weird freedom from total relationship of the final note.
it strikes me as being highly characteristic of the best
of these street phrases.
On dark winter nights, however, the lonely cry of the
oysterman tended rather to make superstitious youth
cover his head with the bedclothes, or, if yet astir, crouch
by the parent hearth.
Col • ler Oy - - - sters.
A shuddering, eerie call, truly— receding or approaching,
but rarely at hand.
Less mysterious, and perhaps with a touch of comfort
and fellowship in it, was : —
^
Coc-klea a - live, all a - live, Cookies a - live.
A very melodious cry, but murdered in execution by a
474
MON1HLY CHRONICLE.
/October
\ 1890
very stout and hoarse "wife," who, destitute of vocal
endowments, gave it most unmusical rendering, was :—
3
Buy straw - bar - ries, buy straw - bar • ries.
Sometimes it was "corn barries," sometimes "rasp-
barries "—that depending upon the season and the good
woman's wares — but never "goosebarries," for these in
my early days were ever " grozors." Musicians will note,
by the way, that this cry furnishes the multitudinous
writers of the modern waltz with a better motif than they
usually manage to secure.
For utter and irredeemable untunefulness, I remember
nothing to equal a cry which, I am afraid, no possible
notation could enable me to give even an approximately
good notion of ; yet it must be familiar to those who have
paid any attention to street calls. Here it is, as near as
I can get to it, that is to say : —
Co - als
penny or o penny or o penny or
As written, it is nothing amiss— but as "sung," it is
hideous, the intervals being treated in the freest possible
manner. Many a time have I followed the sooty-faced
itinerant coal-vendor, hoping to wring from the howl
projected by him down narrow alley or court or chare
the hidden meaning of the "penny-or, " but it never
came. Perhaps it meant "Coals the pennyworth,"
though I doubt very much that so small a transaction
was being promoted.
GEO. H. HASWELL, Ashleigh, Birmingham.
OYSTERSHELL HALL.
More than fifty
years age Oyster-
shell Hall was one
of the sights of New-
castle. The house
was an ordinary
building standing at
the edge of a garden
at the top of Bath
OYSTERSHELL HALL. Lane, Newcastle. It
was pulled down
some thirty or forty years ago, and the site is now occupied
by the cabinet-making establishment of Messrs. Kilgour
and Liddell. Oy«tershell Hall derived its name from the
circumstance that the whole of the building, except the
roof, but including the chimneys, was covered with
oystershells, the concave side, or inside, outwards. When
the sun shone upon them, the effect was brilliant. Half-
a century ago the house was occupied by a person named
Moat, a gardener. Surrounded with orchards and
gardens, it was then on the outskirts of the town. The
drawing that I give is from memory ; it may not be
correct in every particular ; but it is, I think, sufficiently
accurate to convey an idea of this old-time curiosity.
JOHN MoKAT, Newcastle.
TOAD MUGS.
Specimens of these curious articles are by no means
rare. They are still made at or near Sunderland, and
may be bought for a few pence each in Sunderland
Market. J. R. BOYLB, Low Fell, Gateshead,
YORKSHIRE PLANT LORE.
The following are some of the queer sayings common in
Yorkshire with reference to plants, &c. : —
If bud's-eye be open, nar rain 'ill fall.
Courtin' 'ill cease when t'garse is out o' flower.
Fox-glovea kill all other plants.
If an apple tree has flowers and fruit on at the same
time, 'tis a sign of misfortune to the owner.
The juice of the sun spurge will cure warts.
On finding a plant of shepherd's puraej open a sred
vessel ; if the seed is yellow, you will be rich ; if green,
you will be poor.
Poppies will give you a headache if you gather them.
A bunch of rosemary thrown into a grave will make the
spirit rest.
If a stranger plants parsley in a garden, great trouble
will befall the owner.
If rosemary flourishes in a garden, the wife will be
master ; if it dies, the master will.
Many berries make a hard winter.
If t'oak blaws afore t'esh,
Then we' raean we'll get a splash ;
If t'esb blawa afore t'oak,
Then depend we'll heve a soak.
ALEXANDER SCOTT. Blackburn.
TINSMITH OR MARINE ENGINEER.
A youth who was employed in a tinner's shop in
Gateshead with the intention eventually of becoming a
tinsmith, went up to one of the workmen one day and
asked: "What will aa be when aa's oot of ma time?
Will aa be a marine engineer 1"
NATURAL HISTORY.
Several pitmen were gazing into a taxidermist's window
at various specimens of his art. One of them, describing
the birds, concluded as follows : — " This is a varry
fine specimen of the tawny owl." " Begox, Jack,"
said one of his auditors, "if aa hadn't knaan that ye
ehvis tell'd the truth, aa wad ha' caalled hor a jenny
oolet ! "
KEC'EIVINO THE SACRAMENT.
A soldier from Tyneside was stationed in Gibraltar,
where the military chaplain was always advising the men
to receive the sacrament, for it would, he said, bring
them eternal life. One Saturday night Geordy got too
*erl
PO. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
475
much Spanish wine ; the next morning he was very sick,
but was sent to clean the garrison church for Sunday
parade. On entering the vestry he saw a white glass
bottle full of red ink. Thinking it was the wine used for
the sacrament, he took a good hearty swig. The next
moment the chaplain arrived. Seeing Geordy vomiting,
ho exclaimed : " Good eracious, my man, what is the
matter with you ?" " Wey, sor, aa'm blessed if aa knaa ;
but aa've just received the sacrament, and insteed of life
it's bringing me deetb ! "
THE ELECTRIC LIGHT.
Some of the men at a local steel factory, where the
electric light is used, were recently working overtime.
It happened that the light went out. Instantly one of
the men approached with an oil-lamp and applied it to
the jet. "Stop that gyem, " shouted a stoker, "or yell
blaa us aall up." " Aa waddent hae been te blame," said
the man with the lamp; '• they should hae put plenty of
oil intiv hor before they went away !"
A STRANGER IN THE DISTRICT.
Two men were walking in the neighbourhood of Lem-
ington when the sun was setting in the west. A discus-
sion arose between the two as to whether it was the sun
or the moon. They determined to settle it by reference
to an old woman that was coming towards them. Each
stated his opinion, the one saying it was the sun. the
other saying it was the moon. The old lady looked
at the two in astonishment, and then said: — "Aa's
sure aa dinnet knaa, hinnies ; aa's a stranger in these
pairts !"
THE WELSH LANGUAGE.
A well-known workman at Seaham Colliery, a true-
born Welshman, and a prominent Volunteer, was often
called upon for a song at convivial gatherings. One of
his favourite ballads was in the Welsh language, and,
though the listeners did not understand a word of it, they
enjoyed it immensely. On one occasion, being called
upon as usual for a song, he said, "What shall I sing?"
A voice from the other end of the room called out : "Let's
hev, ' Toss hor doon, kick hor weel, and clash hor agyen
thewaall'l"
A FISHWOMAN'S POLITENESS.
The wife of a fisherman was invited to see some pictures
which a Cullercoats artist had just painted. A clergyman
happened to be in the room at the time. One of the
pictures showed a well-known fisherman returning from
a shooting expedition, with a number of ducks and other
sea birds slung over big shoulder. As soon as she saw
the picture, the visitor exclaimed, "That's the biggest
leer i' Cnllercoats. Must have bowt them birds. Couldn't
hev shutten 'em if he'd tried." When the clergyman
retired, the good woman asked who he was. The artist
gave the name of a vicar or rector in the Church of Eng-
land. " Eh, hinny ! " cried the fishwife in distress,
"aa's dune it this time. Aa shuddent hev said leer ; aa
shud hev said lior /"
The Rev. John Lawson, vicar of Seaton Carew, near
West Hartlepool, died on the 10th of August, at the age
of 83. He was appointed to that position in December,
1835, and for fifty years he did the work of the parish
alone. The rev. gentleman was never known to be absent
from the pariah, never took any holiday, and was said to
have never, in the whole period of his charge, been absent
one Sunday.
On the 13th of August, Bridget McKinley, awell-known
vendor of ware, who had been brought before the magis-
trates an extraordinary number of times, died in Hall's
Court, Newcastle.
On the same day, William Macgregor, who claimed to
be champion quoit player of England, died suddenly at
South Shields.
Mr. Thomas Harker, a noted Wesleyan preacher, died
at Hishop Auckland on the Hth of August. Mr. Harker
was an excellent player on the violin.
The Rev. Francis Plevy Timaeus, chaplain of the
Durham County Asylum, died on the 15th of August,
at his residence, The Lizards, near Sedgefield. Prior to
entering upon his appointment at Sedgi-field in 1883,
Mr. Tirnams was curate at Moukwearmouth, Sunder-
land.
The death was announced, on the 16th of August, of
Mr. Andrew Ross, ironmonger, of Dear. Street, New-
castle. The deceased, who was 44 years of age, took
an active interest in the Tyneside Sunday Lecture
Society.
On the same day, at Wolsingham, died John Nicholson,
who for more than sixty years had been conceded with
the parish church at that place as sexton and bellringer.
These offices he resigned only a year or two ago on
account of infirmity, and because he had been elected as
an "out-brother" of Sherburn Hospital. The deceased
who had served under six rectors, was about 89 years of
age.
Mr. Robert Bradburn, secretary of one of the Stockton
branches of the Amalgamated Engineers, died suddeuly
on the 18th of August.
The Rev. George Pearson Wilkinson, of Harperley
Park, near Bishop Auckland, died at his residence on
the 21st of August. The deceased gentleman, son of a
former Recorder of Newcastle, was born at Harperley on
the 16th of May, 1823, and was, therefore, 67 years of age,
He received the earlier part of his education at Harrow,
and was afterwards sent to Durham University, where he
obtained his M.A. degree. He became a barrister,
travelling the Northern Circuit for seven years, but he
took Holy Orders in 1857. He married Miss Mills,
daughter of the late Mr. Mills, owner of the Helrne Park
estate. On the death of his father, deceased became heir
to the Harperley estate. He had been a member of the
Commission of the Peace for the county of Durham since
1854, and, being senior magistrate at the time of the death
of the late Colonel Stobart, he was appointed chairman of
the Auckland bench of magistrates, the duties in connec-
tion with which he continued to discharge consistently
and efficiently. In 1857 he was appointed Vicar of
Thornley, which at that time included Tow Law. He
was an alderman of the County Council (Durham),
Deputy-Chairman of the Quarter Sessions, and Chairman
476
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/October
1890.
of the Prisons Committee. He was elder brother of Dr.
Wilkinson, Roman Catholic Bishop of Hexham and
Newcastle. The rev. gentleman was also a prominent
Freemason.
On the 22nd of August, the death was announced of
Mr. James Lilley, of East Ord, who had been early
connected with the management of fisheries both on the
sea coast around Berwick and on the Tweed.
Mr. William Model, of Hetton Hall Gardens, Hetton-
le-Hole, died on the 23rd of August, at the age of 63
years.
Mr. Robert Dove, who was for 37 years in the employ-
ment of the North-Eastern Railway Co., and was until
recently goods superintendent at the Forth Station, died
on the 24th of August, aged 49.
On the 25th of August, Mr. William Davy, agent for
the North-Eastern Banking Company, and manager of
the Gas and Water Companies of Rothbury, died in that
village, in the 62nd year of his age.
On the same day Mr. George Childs, a well-known
resident at Sunderland, died there, at the advanced age
of 74. For twenty-five years he was a member of the
Board of Guardians, during two years of which he was
chairman of that body. He was treasurer of the Savings
Bank, Monkwearmouth, and was actively identified with
other social and philanthropic undertakings in the town.
The deceased carried on the business of timber merchant
during the time of wooden shipbuilding.
Mr. Adam Thompson, brewer, died at Chester-le-Street
on the 26th of August, at the advanced age of 89 years.
The deceased was a native of Whitburn, but was brought
up at Westoe, where he knew Willie Wouldhave, of life-
boat fame.
Mrs. Caleb Richardson, of West Lodge, Sunderland,
died on the 26th of August, having just completed her
90th year. Her late husband was well known as the pro-
prietor of one of the largest steam flour mills in the
town.
On the 26th, also, died the Rev. John Rathbone Ellis,
Rector of Westerdale. The deceased gentleman was about
75 years of age, and was one of the oldest beneficed clergy-
men in the diocese of Cleveland.
On the 28th of August, the Rev. Thomas Robinson, D.D.,
died at his house, Percy Court, Morpeth. The deceased
gentleman, who was 76 years of age, was a native of Roth-
bury, but was brought to Morpeth in his infancy. He
commenced, active life as a schoolmaster in the room now
occupied by the Young Men's Christian Association in
the latter town, and, afterwards proceeding to Edinburgh,
he studied for the ministry of the Presbyterian Church.
He held several charges, and he established the Presby-
terian Church at Newbiggin-by-tho-Sea, as well as the
mission at Bullers Green, Morpeth. He devoted much of
his time to literature, and was the author of some dozen or
more works bearing on Scripture. The book by which
his name is, perhaps, best known is his two-volumed Com-
mentary on the Romans. For this he received the degree
of Doctor of Divinity. The rev. gentleman had travelled
much in Egypt, Palestine, and India.
On the same day, at the advanced age of 97, Mr. Wylam
Walker died at bis residence, Orchard House, Hexham.
The deceased served his apprenticeship as a colliery viewer,
and was afterward! appointed agent and viewer to Mr.
Thomas Wade, then of Hylton Castle, in which capacity
he continued for twenty years. In October, 1831,
»t the commencement of the making of the Newcastle
and Carlisle Railway, he was engaged by the directors as
an engineer, with the late Mr. Blackmore, and he was so
employed till the completion of the undertaking. Mr.
Walker was one of the founders of the Hexham Gai
Company, of which he was a director to the day of bis
death.
Mr. John Robinson, one of the oldest inhabitants of
Blyth, died in that town on the 30th August. He was in
the 84th year of his age, and was a native of Monkseaton.
In his fifteenth year he was apprenticed to Robert Pollock,
•f North Shields, printer, in 1821, and he began buisness
on his own account at Blyth in 1828. The deceased left
two sons, Mr. John Robinson, jun., and Mr. Watson
Robinson. Mr. Robinson was for several years secretary
for the Blyth and Cowpen Association for Prosecuting
Felons, and he held a similar position for the Phcanix
Friendly Society, established for the benefit of seamen and
others.
Mr. George Weatherill, a noted Yorkshire artist, died
at Whitby on the 30th of August, in his 50th year.
On the 1st of September, Mr. Christopher Jordison,
an old and highly respected Stockton standard, died in
that town, at the age of 76,
Mr. Frederick Herman Weyergang, Scandinavian
Consul at Blyth, died on the 2nd of September.
On the 4th of September, the death WAS announced of
Mr. Jacob Marshall Cousins, pawnbroker, formerly a
member of the Town Council and Board of Guardians of
North Shields.
On the 2nd of September, Mr. W. H. Liddell, em-
ployed at the South Pontop and Burnhope Colliery Office,
Quayside, Newcastle, died very suddenly at Fritton, near
Lowestoft. He was about 29 years of age.
Mrs. Blackett-Ord, niece of the late Mr. William Ord,
who represented Morpeth in Parliament from 1802 till the
passing of the Reform Bill of 1832, and Newcastle from 1835
till 1852, died at Whitfield Hall on September 3rd. The
deceased lady was the widow of the Rev. J. A. Blackett, of
Wolsingham, who afterwards assumed the name of Ord.
She was 71 years of age.
Mr. Ralph Thompson, who for many years carried on the
buisness of watchmaker in the Arcade, Newcastle, and
was for some time a member of the Board of Guardians,
died on the 4th of September, at the age of 71.
On the 8th of September, Mr. Alexander Cbristison,
general passenger superintendent of the North-Eastern
Railway Company, died at Bridlington Quay. Before
his appointment to that office, thirty-two years ago, he
held positions of responsibility both at Gateshead and
Newcastle. Mr. Christison was a native of Berwick-on-
Tweed, and was about 67 years of age.
lUnrrlr at
©cnxmitttji.
AUGUST.
11.— An action against Mr. Thomas Bell, Mayor of
Newcastle, commenced the previous day, was concluded
at the Leeds Assizes. Donald Stuart, late valet to Mr.
H. M. Stanley, the African explorer, sought to recover
damages for slander, the Mayor having informed Mr.
Stanley, while his guest in Newcastle, that the plaintiff
had been suspected of the theft of a lady's gold watch and
October!
1890. f
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
477
chain at the Waterloo Hotel, in Edinburgh. The jury,
after a short deliberation, returned a verdict for the
plaintiff for £250 and costs.
—The steamer Halcyon, of Hartlepool, from Ergastena
for Newport, was sunk in collision, and thirteen of her
passengers and crew were drowned.
— A new and elegant Theatre of Varieties, capable of
holding fully 3,000 persons, and erected at a cost of
£8,000, was opened at West Hartlepool.
12. — At Leeds Assizes, Mr. J. W. Denton, wholesale
clothier, Leeds, was awarded £1,211 compensation for
injuries received in the Ryhope accident on the
Nortb-Eastern Railway. (See Monthly Chronicle, 1889,
p. 479.)
— It was announced that the late Dr. George Noble
Clark had, in accordance with the terms of his will,
bequeathed the sum of £500 to the funds of the Royal
Victoria Asylum for the Blind, Northumberland Street ;
and a further sum of £500 to the funds of the Northern
Counties Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, Moor Edge,
Newcastle.
— The second of a series of open-air concerts for the
poor, promoted by Mr. T. S. Alder, was given in Gibson
Street, Newcastle. Similar concerts were subsequently
given at other parts of the city.
— A scheme of tree-planting on the Town Moor was
adopted, subject to approval by the Freemen, by the
Town Moor Management Committee of the Newcastle
Corporation.
— An extraordinary rain storm commenced in Newcastle
and district at a late hour in the evening, and did not cease
till seven o'clock on the following morning. In many
places the flood caused considerable inconvenience and
damage to property. The Town Moor Recreation Ground
was converted into a lake, the roadway to Gosforth was at
places more than a foot under water, and pedestrians were
obliged to avail themselves of the use of the tram cars and
milk carts. The Model Dwelling House at the corner of
Park Terrace was completely surrounded by the flood.
In the neighbourhood of the Ouseburn and St. Peter's,
which lie at a low elevation, the water gave the inhabitants
much trouble ; and some of the residents of Heaton had
to make their way in and out of their houses by
the windows. The most melancholy occurrence, how-
ever, was the death, by drowning in a small brook at
Usworth, of a little girl named Jane Ann McMann. The
rainfall for the twenty-four hours ending at ten o'clock on
the moraine of the 13th, measured 2'65 inches. On the
15th there was a renewal of the storm, accompanied by a
high wind, in some districts, and a good deal of damage
was done at Hartlepool, Alnwick, Low Fell, and other
places.
13. — A drill-ball erected in Barrack Road, Newcastle,
for the 1st Northumberland Artillery Volunteers, was
opened by Colonel Scott, commanding the artillery of the
North-Eastern district.
— A statement was published, showing that the late
Miss Betsey Jackson, of 4, Holly Avenue, Newcastle, the
daughter of a deceased Wesleyan minister, had left be-
quests to several local and other charitable institutions to
the amount of £1,000.
— Probate was granted to the will of the late Mr.
Richard Sheraton, of Bishopwearmouth, the value of the
personalty being £4,180 13s. lid.
15.— A boy named John Ross, 13 years of age, was
drowned while bathing at West Hartlepool.
— At a meeting of the Roman Catholic Chapter of
Hexham and Newcastle, the Rev. Canon Watson, of
Tudhoe, was elected Provost, in place of the late Rev.
Canon Consitt.
16. — It was reported that, in course of the demolition
of some old premises in Market Street, Hexham, a num-
ber of Early English and other stones had been
found, and had been removed to the collection of
ancient stones stored in the north transept ef the Abbey
Church.
— In accordance with the will of the late Mr. Lewis
Thompson, who bequeathed £15,000 for the benefit of the
poor's rate ac Byker, a beautiful wreath was placed on
the deceased's grave and that of his father in Jesmond
Cemetery, Newcastle. (See Monthly Chronicle, 1889,
pp. 286, 322, 478.)
— At a special meeting of delegates of the Durham
Miners' Association, Me. W. H. Patterson, financial
secretary, was unanimously elected corresponding secre-
tary to the association, in the room of the late Mr. W.
Crawford, M.P. Mr. John Wilson, M.P., was elected
in Mr. Patterson's place, and Mr. J. Johnson was elected
treasurer and agent in the place of Mr. Wilson.
— For the week ending to-day, the death rate of New-
castle registered 33*9 per thousand, this being the highest
rate recorded since the commencement of the year. For
the week ending the 30th, the still higher death rate of
35'2 per thousand was reached, this being the highest
of the twenty -eight great towns of England and Wales.
— The foundation stones for a new Presbyterian Church
at Ashiugton were laid by Messrs. Alexander Taylor and
W. S. Wilkinson.
— At the first ordinary general meeting of the North of
England Temperance Festival Association, Limited — Mr.
Aid. W. D. Stephens presiding — it was stated that
thirty-five shareholders had subscribed a capital of £167
— as much as was required.
— A man named John Morris, 52 years of age, plasterer,
was burued to death, by accidentally setting the bed on
fire, while under the influence of drink, in the Old
Vagrant Yard, Queen's Lane, Newcastle.
— John Gibson, aged 37, expired in the Consett Infir-
mary from the effects of the burns sustained by the burst-
ing of a steel ingot at the Consett Iron Company's Works
on the 5th of August. (See ante, p. 431.)
18. — It was notified from the War Office that, in con-
nection with the recent re-arrangement of the home mili-
tary district, Newcastle had been chosen as the centre of
a Royal Engineer sub-district of the North-Eastern Dis-
trict.
— A youth named Arthur Angus Wilson, 12 years of
age, of Worsley, near Manchester, who was on a visit to
some friends at Newton Cap, Bishop Auckland, was
drowned while bathing in the river Wear.
— It was announced that, as part of the recommenda-
tions of the Commissioners for the Great Exhibition of
1851, the Durham College of Science, Newcastle, in com-
mon with seven other similar institutions in the English
provinces, would receive an annual scholarship of £150, to
enable the most promising students to complete their
education in those colleges, or in the larger institutions in
the Metropolis.
19. — The first shipment of sulphur produced by the
Chance process, from tank waste, took place from
the new works of the Newcastle Chemical Works Com-
pany.
478
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
r October
\ 1890.
-The foundation stones of a new Wesleyan Sunday
School were laid at South Hylton.
20— Mr Thomas Richardson, corn merchant, was
unanimously elected an alderman of the Nw?™«
City Council, in the room of Mr. J. G. Youll,
resided. On the same occasion, Sir Benjamin Browne,
of the firm of Hawthorn, Leslie, and Co., Limited,
was unanimously elected as representative of the Council
on the Tyne Commission, in place of Mr. YouJ. Sir
Benjamin, in returning thanks, stated that, a little more
than twenty-seven years ago, he was exceedingly proud to
be placed in the position of an ordinary draughtsman in
the service of the Commissioners, at a salary of £2 10s. a
—The memorial stones were laid of a new Methodist
Mission Chapel in Cairo Street, Hendon.
—Richard Preston Taylor, a young man employed as
clerk in the Co-operative Stores at Brandon, was drowned
by accidentally falling out of ft boat in which he was
sailing, on the river Wear at Durham.
—On this and the two following days, the annual show
of the Durham, Northumberland, and Newcastle-upon-
Tyne Botanical and Horticultural Society was held in
the Leazes Park, Newcastle. The weather on the first
day was fair, and the various attractions drew together a
large number of visitors. The proceeds amounted to
£255 on the first day, £240 on the second day, and £150
on the third day— total £645. This was £145 more than
at the corresponding show of 1889.
21.— A boatman named Robert Thompson was crushed
to death between a steamer and the side of the Central
Dock, West Hartlepool.
—The Mayor and Mayoress of Berwick, Mr. and Mrs.
William Young, entertained about 200 ladies and gentle-
men to a pic-nic at Yearle, near Wooler.
A number of Quay labourers out on strike marched
in procession through the principal streets of Newcastle,
headed by a brass band. On the following day, an amic-
able settlement of the dispute, was arrived at.
22.— It was announced that Mr. C. Lang, a native of
Newcastle, and Mr. Albert Watson, a retired City stock-
broker, had arrived in London, having accomplished the
remarkable feat of journeying round Europe on bicycles.
—The members of the Durham and Northumberland
Archaeological find Architectural Society held one of their
summer meetings at the loot of Ravensheugh, a peak of
the Simonside range, at Rothbury. Mr. D. D. Dixon
showed a very fine specimen of the bronze axe, found only
a few days previously by Lord Armstrong's workmen
while trenching the moor about a mile distant. The same
gentleman read a description of the ancient burial places
which, by the consent and liberality of Lord Armstrong,
he had opened DU that spot twelve months before.
23.— A demonstration of trades unionists, at which
resolutions were passed in favour of shorter hours of labour,
the federation of all trades, and the return of working
men to Parliament and local authorities, was held in the
West Park, Sunderland.
—The annual demonstration and gala of friendly
and trades societies in connection with North Shields and
district, in aid of the funds of the Victoria Jubilee
Infirmary, took place in the Cricket Field, Preston
Avenue, North Shields.
—The Princess of Wales passed through Newcastle,
by ordinary train, en route for Scotland.
25.— William Newman, who for many years had been
employed as stage carpenter at the Theatre Royal,
South Shields, was engaged in arranging ihe scenery for
the evening performance, when befell from the "grid-
iron" to the stage, a distance of 42 feet, and received
such injuries as resulted in his almost instantaneous
death.
—An interview took place at MiddlesbrouBh between
the Cleveland ironmasters and a deputation from the
Blastfurnacemen's Association on the subject of wages.
It was agreed to leave wages to the end of the year
exactly as they now are. Mr. William Snow, the
general secretary to the National Association of Blast-
furnacemen, intimated to the ironmasters that a ballot
had been taken throughout the National Association,
and there was a very large majority in favour of demand-
ing an eight hours' day, the numbers being :— For an
eight hours' day at once, 4,288 ; for postponing the ques-
tion for a time, 1,216; majority, 3,072.
—James Gibson, a young man 26 years of age, died
from the effects of a wound accidentally received while
shooting on the moors at Edmondbyers on the 15th inst.
27.— A public meeting was held at the Town Hall, North
Shields— Mr. J. M. Ridley in the chair— to afford an
opportunity to the sea salmon fishermen of laying before
Mr. Berrington, an inspector of fisheries appointed by
the Board of Trade, their views on altering the com-
mencement and termination of the annual close season in
the fishery district of the river Tyne. The evidence was
generally favourable to the season commencing a month
later. Similar meetings were held at other places on
subsequent days.
—The result of the triennial election of a School
Board for the parish of Heworth, consisting of seven
members, was declared, the poll being headed by Colonel
A. S. Palmer.
—A child, named Lillie Warren attempted to mount a
passing tramcar, at West Hartlepool, and fell between
the vehicle and the engine, with the result that her arms
and legs were dreadfully mutilated, causing her death.
—A beautiful specimen of the kingfisher was caught by
Mr. Robert Wilson, of London, and Mr. Thomson,
gardener, on the estate of Mr. Pawdon, at Whittingham
28. — A beautiful new organ, the gift of an anonymous
donor, was inaugurated in the Chapel of the Incarnation
in the Cathedral of Newcastle.
29._Two men, George White and Thomas Wren, were
killed by a fall of slag st the slag-crushing works at
Birtley ; the recent heavy rains having, it was supposed,
saturated the slag heap and undermined it.
—Her Majesty's ship Bellona, a twin-screw steel pro-
tected cruiser, was launched from the shipbuilding yard
of Messrs. R. and W. Hawthorn, Leslie, and Co.,
Hebburn.
30.— An exhibition of co-operative manufactures was
opened in the Tyneniouth Aquarium by Mr. Albert
Grey, the chair being occupied by Dr. R, S. Watson.
The exhibition remained open till the 3rd of September,
when an address was delivered by the Bishop of Durham.
—As the first ironclad built by the firm, the Infanta
Maria Theresa was launched from the Martinez Rivae-
Palmer Works at Bilbao, and named by the Queen
Regent of Spain. On the occasion Sir Charles and Lady
Palmer had a special private audience with her Majesty
and the Prime Minister of Spain, Senor Canovas.
—In the WeeUy Chronicle of to-day, it was announced
October!
NOR1H-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
479
OLD INN IN PUDDING CHARE.
that the Rose Inn, Pudding Chare, which waa one of the
few quaint structures
of a past age which
remained in Newcastle,
had been razed to the
ground. Some half
century ago a person
of the name of Smith
Brown was the land-
lord of the house.
George Barrat, who
was stage carpenter
at the Theatre Royal,
succeeded Smith
Brown, and died there.
Thirty-five years ago
the then proprietor,
Robert Wallace, a
smith and farrier, who
carried on business in the adjoining yard, occupied the
house himself for some years. Harry Wardle, a cele-
brated bowler, was the next tenant, and during his
tenure the house was a noted resort of the bowling
fraternity.
30.— A very perfect exhibition of the natural pheno-
menon known as the " Spectre of the Brocken " was
witnessed by Mr. C. J. Spence, Mr. Edmund Procter,
and other three gentlemen from Newcastle, on Scawfell,
in the English Lake District.
31,— The Rev. Joseph Parker, D.D., of the City
Temple, London, and a native of Hexham, preached in
the Royalty Church, Sunderland.
—A strike took place among the choir boys in Chester-
le-Street Parish Church, owing to the abandonment of
the annual excursion ; but at the evening service most
of the discontented lads turned into their proper places
in the choir.
— On the occasion of the last service in the Sunday
school-room in connection with St. George's Presby-
terian Church, Morpeth, the pastor, the Rev. A. H.
Drysdale, M.A., author of "The History of ihe Presby-
terian Church of England," drew attention to an old
Bible which bore date 1716, and which had been used
by the people worshipping in that very building through
many generations.
SEPTEMBER,
2. — Captain G. C. Coates, ship-surveyor, was elected a
member of the Newcastle City Council, for North St.
Andrew's Ward, in the room of Mr. Thomas Richardson,
elevated to the aldermanic bench.
— At a meeting of the Stockton Town Council, it was
resolved to purchase 28 acres of land in Durham Road, at
a cost of between £6,000 and £7,000, for the purpose of
a new cemetery.
3. — Mr. Francis Fearby, who had mysteriously dis-
appeared, was found drowned in the river Swale, at
Richmond, in Yorkshire.
— Mr. John Belk, of Middlesbrough, was appointed
Recorder of Hartlepool.
— A competition took place in the setting of music to a
eong written especially for the use of cyclists, there being
304 competitors. Mr. Frederic H. Cowen was appointed
adjudicator, and his award was made known to-day,
announcing that Mr. C. F. Lloyd, Mus. Bac., of South
Shields, w»e the winner of the prize of 20 guineas.
3. — A person named Taylor, known as "the man-fish,"
performed some remarkable aquatic feats in che river
Tees at Stockton.
+.— At a public meeting in Maple Street Hall, New-
castle, the appointment of Mr. George Sterling, as
assistant-overseer for Elswick, was revoked ; and it was
resolved to obtain the services of an accountant, solicitor,
and counsel, to assist in an investigation into the affairs
of the township.
— It was decided to advance the wages of the slaters of
Newcastle by a halfpenny per hour.
5. — At the Guildhall, Newcastle, a number of intakes,
or enclosures, on the Town Moor, Nuns' Moor, and Castle
Leazes, covering a total area of 100 acres, were let for a
period of fourteen years. The average rent realised was
about £8 per acre, and one of the plots was leased with a
view to its sub-division into garden allotments.
— Mr. John Thornhill Harrison, M. Inst. C.E., held an
inquiry at the Town Hall, Newcastle, as to an application
from the Corporation to borrow £10,000 for paving
purposes, and for the disposal of Corporation land in the
township of Walker and in Bath Lane, by way of lease
on sale and exchange.
Mr. Charles Fenwick, M.P. for the Wansbeck division
of Northumberland, was elected Parliamentary Secretary
of the Trades Union Congress, in succession to Mr.
Broadhurst, M.P., who had retired from the office.
6. — Mr. Edmund Tearle, the well-known Shakspearian
actor, was presented with an illuminated address by the
patrons of the drama in North Shields, where he and his
company had been performing.
— It was stated that a movement had been initiated by
the medical men of the city with a view of establishing a
Health Society of Newcastle.
7. — At the service on the occasion of the re-opening of
St. George's Presbyterian Church, Morpeth, two of the
hymn tunes were the composition of the Mayor, Mr.
Councillor E. E. Schofield.
8. — The Marquis of Londonderry laid the corner stone
of a mission room and institute, in connection with St.
Matthew's Church at Silksworth Colliery.
— A workman, named James Stuart, was killed by the
collapse of a scaffold on which he was standing painting
the funnel of a steamer at West Hartlepool.
— In the hall of the Jesmond Presbyterian Church,
Newcastle, Mr. William Rodger, Principal of the
Linguistic Institution, Hillhead, Glasgow, delivered a
lecture on the subject "How to Learn a Language," the
method which he advocated being that known as the
oral system. The Mayor of Newcastle (Mr. T. Bell)
presided, and there was a large attendance.
— Mr. J. T. Harrison, Local Government Inspector,
held an inquiry at South Shields as to an application
from the Town Council of that borough to borrow several
sums of money for the execution of a series of public
works.
— Mr. Philip James Bailey, the author of "Festus,"
visited Newcastle, as the guest of his nephew, Mr. W. H.
Warlow, solicitor.
9. — At St. Nicholas' Cathedral, Newcastle, Surgeon-
Major W. A. Lee, of the Indian Medical Service, was
married to Miss Annie Elizabeth Potter, second daughter
of Colonel Addison Potter, J.P., C.B., of Heaton Hall,
Newcastle.
10. — At a meeting in the Council Chamber, Town Hall
Buildings, Newcastle, Mr. Alderman T. P. Barkas, in
recognition of his long and successful administration of
480
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/October
I 1890.
the Central Exchange News Room and Art Gallery, as
well as of his many public services as a social reformer
and lecturer, was presented with a handsomely illuminated
address and a cheque for £545. The presentation was
made by the Mayor, Mr. Thomas Bell, by whom the
testimonial had been originated.
(general ©ccurrences.
AUGUST.
9.— Heligoland was formally transferred to Germany in
accordance with the Anglo-German Treaty.
—Cardinal Newman died at the Oratory, Edgbaston(
Birmingham. Born in 1801, he was trained in the Evan-
gelical School of the Church of England, but in 1845 he
joined the Church of Rome.
—At the Sussex Assizes, an action for breach of promise
of marriage was brought by Miss Gladys Knowles against
Mr. Leslie Frazer Duncau, the editor and proprietor of
the Matrimonial Hews. The plaintiff was awarded
£10,000 damages.
U.— The dispute with railway servants and other
labourers which had paralysed the trade of South Wales
was settled.
17. —The Queen'* Theatre, Manchester, was almost
totally destroyed by fire.
—Parliament was prorogued.
18.— Davis Dalton swam across the English Channel,
from Cape Grisnez to Folkestone.
19._As a coach was crossing the Kirkstono Pass, in the
English Lake District, it was upset through one of the
wheels breaking. Two ladies were killed and several
persons injured.
21.— Owing to a great strike at Melbourne, Australia,
business was reported to be at a standstill.
22. — Two men were killed and another injured owing to
an explosion at the Government gunpowder factory at
Waltham Abbey.
— A horrible case of cannibalism was reported from
County Quebec, Canada. The infant son of a farmer
named Cote was eaten alive by two insane boys whilst the
parents of the little child were absent berry-picking.
25.— The St. Clair River Tunnel, between Port Huron,
Michigan, U.S.A., and Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, the
greatest river tunnel in the world, was completed.
— McVickers's Theatre, Chicago, U.S.A., was destroyed
by fire, the damage amounting to two hundred thousand
dollars.
— The Mombasa-Victoria-Nyanza Railway was in-
augurated.
— A memorial to the soldiers who fell at Waterloo,
erected on the site of that celebrated battlefield, was
unveiled by the Duke of Cambridge. The municipality
of Brussels undertook the guardianship of the monument.
26. — Frederick Davis was hanged at Birmingham, and
James Harrison at Leeds, both for the same offence — the
murder of their wives.
27. — A fight took place in the American House of
Representatives at Washington between Mr. Beckwith
and Mr. Wilion, Republicans.
— A Blue Book stated that the total number of sea
casualties to British vessels between July 1, 1888, and
June 30, 1889, was 6,923. The number of total losses at
sea was 507.
28. — Thirty-one persons were injured during a railway
collision at Milngavie Junction, near Glasgow.
29.— Queen Christina of Spain launched the first war
vessel that has been built in Sir Charles Mark Palmer's
shipbuilding yard at Bilbao.
SEPTEMBER.
2.— The Royal National Eisteddfod of Wales was
opened at Bangor. The meeting was memorable from the
circumstance that the Queen of Roumania (known in the
literary world as " Carmen Sylva ") was present.
— Mr. Mizner, the United States Ambassador to
Guatemala, was attacked by Senorita Christina
Barrundia, daughter of General Barrundia, who had
been killed during a struggle with port officers who
were trying to arrest him on bourd the United States
steamer Acapulco, her object; being to revenge her
father's death. She fired a pistol at the Minister, but the
bullet struck a law book which he held in front of him.
The young lady and the members of her family were sub-
sequently banished from the country.
— The Trades Union Congress, attended by many
excitine incidents, commenced its sittings in Liverpool.
3. — The annual meeting of the British Association was
held at Leeds, Sir Frederick Augustus Abel being the
president for the year.
5. — Ten persons were killed and many injured at La
Pallice Dock, La Rochelle, France, owing to an explosion
in a dynamite factory.
6. — A man named Dixon successfully crossed the
Niagara River, below the Falls, on a wire rope.
— Sergeant White, stationed in Jamaica, revolted
against his officers, and took possession of a fort. The men
of his regiment refused to attack him ; but the fort was
eventually captured by sappers, White being killed during
the encounter.
— It was announced that a British protectorate had
been accepted by the Barotse nation in Africa, whose
territory is traversed by the Zambesi.
— About 18,000 people were rendered homeless by a
destructive fire at Salonica.
8. — An International Chess Tournament was concluded
at Manchester, the results being as follows : — First prize,
£80, Dr. Tarrasch, Nuremberg ; second, £60, Mr. J. H.
Blackburne, London ; third, £50, and fourth, £40, Mr.
H. E. Bird, London, and Captain Mackenzie, New York,
divide ; fifth, £30, and sixth, £20, Mr. Gunsberg, London,
and Mr. Mason, London, divide ; seventh prize, £10, Mr.
Alapin, St. Petersburg, Mr. Schere, Berlin, and Mr.
Tinsley, London, divide.
9. — A serious riot occurred at Southampton. A number
of strikers appeared at the docks and prevented a goods
engine and train from entering. The police were over-
powered, and the strikers regulated the traffic in and out
of the docks, and finally determined that nothing should
pass in or out. A body of troops from Portsmouth suc-
ceeded, after charging the crowds with fixed bayonets, in
restoring order. The Riot Act was twice read by the
Mayor.
— Death of Dr. Henry Parry Liddon, Canon of St
Paul's, aged 61.
Printed by WALTIB SCOTT, Felling-on-Tyne.
ITbe
Chronicle
OF
NORTH-COUNTRY*LORE*AND*LEGEND
VOL. IV.— No. 45.
NOVEMBER, 1890.
PRICK 6a
"ilcrrlf fttntttg," tftc
[OBERT TAYLOR, a plebeian youth who
assumed the name of "Lord Kenedy,"
was tried and convicted at the Summer
Quarter Sessions, Durham, in 184-0. The
offence for which he was indicted was polygamy. He
was only between nineteen and twenty years of age ;
yet, up to the date of the trial, six of his marriages had
come to the knowledge of the police of the North of
England, and it was believed that the number was
much larger. His plan seems to have been in all cases
to practise first on the cupidity of his own sex, by
holding out a pecuniary reward to any one who would
procure him a suitable alliance, and then, by representing
himself to be of aristocratic birth, and heir to extensive
possessions, to dazzle and win over the victims of his
frauds.
Taylor's course of wickedness was arrested in April,
1840, at Hetton-le-Hole, wffere he was taken into custody
by Superintendent Ingo, as he was passing through the
village with Mary Davison, of Aycliffe, near Darlington,
whom he had married at Acklam, in Yorkshire. This
poor girl bad fallen into his snares through the avarice
of her brother-in-law, a Primitive Methodist minister.
Taylor had offered a reward of ten pounds to any person
who would find him a religious wife ; for the fellow
professed to be "decidedly pious." The reward was
coveted by a person named Fryer, who gave him the
choice of his two sisters-in-law, one of whom was Mary
Davison, a girl of eighteen or nineteen. Fryer, however,
not only failed to obtain the reward, but was swindled
out of twelve pounds by the roguish adventurer,
who borrowed that sum of him under some fair
pretext.
The youthful rascal had represented himself to be a
son of Lord Kenedy, of Ashby Hall, Lincolnshire.
When he was apprehended, several of the documents,
by means of which he had supported his assumed
character, were found in his possession. The chief of
these was a will written on parchment by a clerkly
hand. We give a copy : —
This is the last will and testament of me, the Right
Honourable Lord John Kenedy, of Ashby Hall, in the
parish of Ashby-de-la-Xouch, in the county of Leicester.
In the first place, I give and bequeath unto Robert
Taylor, the son of Elizabeth Taylor, single woman, one
million and fifteen thousand pounds three per cent,
consols and no more ; four coal pits, one of which runs
under six acres of land, another runs under twenty-four
acres of land, and another runs under titty acres of land,
and another runs under one hundred and fifty acres of
land ; connected therewith, all my waggons, engines,
engine-houses, machinery, horses, houses, and the whole
of my property at West Brammage, in the county of
Stafford ; and the coal-pits, houses, and salts manu-
factories, SLC., and a park, with the land connected
therewith, containing two thousand acres of land, situated
at Preston Grange, near Edinburgh ; two blast furnaces,
one forge and iron, six ironstone pits, two quarries and
the machinery, &c., with coal-pits, which contain four
hundred acres of land, situated at Penny Carr, in South
Wales ; Salmon Hall, near Dublin ; and all and singular
my household furniture, plate, linen, china, jewellery,
books, and instruments, and buildings connected there-
with ; one cotton manufactory at Holywell, Flintshire ;
two woollen manufactories at Newport, Montgomery-
shire, North Wales; one brig named Maria, a ship
named Helen, and a schooner named John Welsh, &c.
And I do hereby nominate, constitute, and appoint
John Nicholson, Thomas Johnson, and Mrs. Robinson,
guardians of the said Robert Taylor, &c., &c.
Dated, 22nd September, 1829.
KENEDY (L.S.)
CUMrnrr T?rmiKanv /Clerk to James Lee
SAMUEL ROBINSON | and John Turner-
WILLIAM COWEY, barrister.
An indenture, written on paper, certified that the will
was perfectly correct ; that the name of the said Robert
Taylor was marked on his right arm, with the figure
31
482
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/November
\
1890.
of a soldier, and on his left arm, an anchor and mermaid ;
that his eyes were blue, his hair dark, his countenance
"rather expressive," and his height five feet four inches
and three quarters. A third document was an agreement
on the part of Lord Kenedy, the young man's alleged
father, to allow Mr. Robinson £100 a year, and £1
a week, for taking care of Robert Taylor till he came of
age ; and it was also provided that, if he should marry
whilst he was a minor, his guardian was to give him
£700, and allow him £150 a year till he was twenty-one.
A fourth paper was an account from Thomas Leng, for
engrossing copy of a will and certificate on parchment,
£1 5s. A fifth was a bill of £1 2s. 6d. due to Richard
Armstead, of Whitehaven, Cumberland, for copies of
documents. These papers may afford a clue to the
manner in which Taylor contrived to get up the "last
will and testament," &c. The next document was a
declaration of birth, parentage, and marriage, made at
Sunderland before a Master Extraordinary in Chancery,
April 16, 1840, to enable him to claim the aforesaid sum
and annuity from his trustees. There was also a form of
proposal from "Robert Taylor, Esq.," to the General
Reversionary and Investment Company, London, for a
loan of £500 till he came of age. The budget further
contained the following papers: — An indenture of appren-
ticeship, dated January 25, 1831, binding Taylor, "a
poor child of 13 years, from Fatfield, in the county of
Durham," to Samuel Dobbs, of Bilton, Staffordshire,
sweep and collier, till he should be 21 years of age. A
memorandum of agreement between Taylor and Mary
Ann Wilson, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, to marry in three
months from October 16, 1839; Taylor to forfeit £20,000
if he married any other woman, and Wilson to forfeit
"one-third of her yearly salary per annum," if she proved
faithless. A memorandum of a loan of £4 from George
Wilson, Mary Ann's father, with an engagement on the
part of Taylor to repay it with £1 interest. A letter
from Mr. Ralph Walters, dated November 7, 1839,
addressed to Mr. George Wilson, tobacconist, Gallow-
gate, Newcastle, threatening legal proceedings if Taylor's
wife, Mary Ann, was kept back from him, as he was
thereby prevented from going to London and obtaining
valuable property. The license used at Acklam, April 4,
1840, when he married Mary Davison. A letter from
Benjamin Fryer, Superintendent Minister of the Primi-
tive Methodist Connexion at Stockton, to the London
Mission of the Hull Circuit, introducing Taylor as a
member from Middlesbrough, and recommending him
to pastoral care. A memorandum of agreement between
Fryer and Taylor, the former consenting to lend the
latter "£22 3s. starling for his own use and benifet,"
to be repaid one month after date. A Wesleyan
Methodist's class-leader'a book, dated Stockton, 1831;
a Primitive Methodist class ticket, dated March, 1840 ;
two Wesleyan Association tickets; a Wesleyan Metho-
dUt ticket, dated March, 1840 ; a Birmingham teetotal
pledge ; a Sunderland teetotal ticket ; and an anti-
tobacco pledge.
But the most curious of the papers found upon this
remarkable impostor was the following, which we give
in full:—
A memorandum of an agreement made between Robert
Taylor, Esq., son of the late Lord Kenedy, of Ash by
Hall, in the parish of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, and those
he may engage as servants : —
It is agreed by and on the part of the said servants, and
they severally hereby engage to serve in the said several
capacities against their respective names expressed, which
is to be employed in the said hall.
The Rules and Regulations of the said House. — We, the
undersigned servants, do promise Robert Taylor and his
said house-steward that we will not use intoxicating
liquors, such as rum, ale, wine, porter, cyder, distilled
pepperment, and will not give or offer them to others,
except prescribed by a physician or in a religious
ordinance, BO long as we are in the employ of the said
Robert Taylor ; and any person found using intoxicating
liquors after this pledge being signed by them shall forfeit
their wages which are due, which shall be paid into the
Society of Total Abstinence for the good of the cause.
Dated, April 16, 1840.
Signed by ROBERT TAYLOR.
J. R. Whitfield, Sunderland, house-steward £70
Vacant, butler —
Vacant, under-butler 25
Sept Davis, New Durham, lord's footman 36
Vacant, lady's footman 30
Vacant, common footman 20
Matthew Craggs, Durham, head-coachman 60
George Thornton, Durham, under-coochman —
Francis Morrison, Newbottle, head-gamekeeper ... 50
William Johnson, Newbottle, under-gamekeeper... —
Richard Steward, Newbottle, postillion 20
Matthew Bowey, Hough ton, head-groom 60
Vacant, second-groom 40
Vacant, third-groom 20
James Gray, Philadelphia, fourth-groom 15
James Reed, Hetton-le-Hole, stable-boy 10
Edward Henston, Durham, four helpers, 16s. por
week each —
Thomas Ord, Newbottle, chapel-keeper 52
Vacant, man-cook —
William Milner, Hetton-le-Hole, butcher —
Vacant, housekeeper —
Elizabeth Modson, Newbottle Lane, lady's maid... 20
Vacant, second lady's maid —
Margret Whitfield, Sunderland, head lodge at-
tendant —
Ann Milburn Orwin, Sunderland, second lodge
attendant —
Vacant, third lodge attendant —
Vacant, fourth lodge attendant —
W. T. Collins, Spring Garden Lane (duty not
stated) 20
T. Orwin, 4, Sussex Street, Sunderland, head-
gardener and preacher 60
The following situations in the impostor's establish-
ment were declared vacant: — "Cook, store-room maid,
housemaid, second housemaid, laundry-maid, kitchen-
maid, scullery-maid, park-cleaner, dairy-maid, chaplain,
and joiner." As his colliery viewers, George Charlton,
of Houghton, was to go into Staffordshire, at a salary of
£200 ; Robinson Charlton, of Philadelphia, into Leicester-
shire, at £100 ; William Bailey, of Hetton-le-Hole. into
Leicestershire, at £500. Besides these, there was a list
of all kinds of other appointments to offices connected
w!Wi collieries in Staffordshire, Leicestershire, Scotland,
and Wales.
November \
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
483
The trial of the prisoner commenced at Durham on
Monday, the 29th of June, 1840. But instead of a
handsome, seductive gallant, there stood before the
court a shabby-looking individual, with a face not merely
ordinary, but ugly. He was evidently much amused at
the sensation which his appearance produced, and joined
in the smiles of the bystanders. He was perfectly
unabashed, and conducted himself throughout the trial
with the utmost ease and unconcern. Yet there was
nothing that could be called determinedly bold and
impudent in his manner.
Mr. Scruton, the Deputy-Clerk of the Peace, read the
indictment, which charged that the prisoner, Robert
Taylor, late of Houghton-le-Spring, in the county of
Durham, was married at Birmingham, on the 22nd of
July, 1838, to Sarah Ann Skidmore ; that on the 19th
of October, 1839, the prisoner feloniously intermarried
with Mary Ann Wilson, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, his
first wife being alive ; and that, on the 4th of April,
1840, he feloniously intermarried with Mary Baviaon,
at Acklam, in Yorkshire, his first wife being then also
alive. Mr. Granger conducted the prosecution ; the
prisoner was undefended by counsel.
John Wood, a waggoner, of Birmingham, was called
to prove the first marriage of which the authorities had
any knowledge. It appeared that this witness met the
prisoner in Birmingham in 1838. The prisoner told
Wood he was heir to £60.000 a-year, under the will of
his father, Lord Kenedy. In proof of this assertion he
produced papers. He said he had a great wish to be
married to a respectable young lady, and that he would,
if the witness could introduce him to such a one, make
him a handsome present. Wood introduced him to Miss
Sarah Ann Skidmore, and to her father, who was a
shopkeeper. The documents were shown to the young
lady and her parents ; the license and the wedding-ring
were procured ; and the couple were married the next
morning, Shortly after, the prisoner went to London to
settle his affairs. He subsequently returned and lived
with bis wife ; but he had not been married more than
six or seven weeks when he deserted her altogether.
As the prisoner was undefended, the court asked him if
he had any questions to put to the witness. Prisoner :
" 111 ax him one or two. I axed you if you knew a decent
girl as wanted a husband, and you said you did ; you
knew as how one Sarab Ann Skidmore wished to be
married, and I told you I'd advertised, and offered a
reward of £10. Yon took me to Benjamin Skidmore.
Now, are you sure as how he saw the dockyments?"
Witness: "Yes, quite sure; you showed him a docu-
ment stating that you would have £60,000 a year when
you came of age." Prisoner's mother (from the middle
of the court): "Robert, tell them thou's under age, and
thy marriage can't stand good." The prisoner gave a
lordly wave of his hand, accompanied by a significant
gesture, intimating to his maternal parent to leave the
management of the case to his superior skill. Then,
turning to the witness, he said, "Are you sure that you
yourself saw the will?" Witness: "Yes." Prisoner:
"No, it was not the will; it was only the certiket of
my guardians to show who I was, and what property was
coming to me."
Here Mr. Granger produced a tin case, which was
a pitman's candle-box, bearing the following inscription :
"Robert Taylor, otherwise Lord Kenedy." From this
case the learned counsel drew the "dockyments." The
"will" was rich alike in its bequests and its odours.
It was a foul and filthy affair to look upon and to
approach.
Mary Davison, a neat, modest-looking girl, then
detailed the circumstances which led to her marriage
with the prisoner. The latter, she said, was introduced
to her at the house of her father, on the 4th of April,
by Benjamin Fryer, her brother-in-law, who was *
preacher among the Primitive Methodists. The latter
said he had known the prisoner some time, and he
recommended him as a pious young man whom he bad
brought to the house on purpose to marry her. The
prisoner said he was the son of Lord Kenedy, and the
moment he arrived in London with a wife he would have
£700, and £20 a year till he was of age, when he would
have £60,000 per annum. He showed her several docu-
ments, one of which was a certificate that he was Lord
Kenedy 's son, and would have £60,000 a year when he
came of age. He had previously seen her unmarried
sister, whom he rejected in favour of her. They were
married by license the very next morning. They lived
together three weeks, during which time the prisoner
made several attempts to get away; and many times,
in the night, he had endeavoured to take the ring off
her finger. While they were together, he lived upon
the money which he borrowed from her brother-in-law,
to whom he owed £22.
The prisoner addressed the Court at considerable length
in his defence, giving a rambling account of bis various
migrations, with some amusine particulars of his
marriages and courtships, whereby he wished to make it
appear that all the young ladies he came near wanted
to marry him, and that he had been in every instance
inveigled into wedlock for the sake of his possession*.
His main defence was, that he was under age, and that
all his marriages were illegal. As for Sarah Ann
Skidmore, he asserted that she allured him, and that
one time, when he refused to give her five pounds, she
expressed her opinion that "every teetotaler ought to
be blowed up with a barrel of gunpowder." In conse-
quence of one of their matrimonial squabbles, he
appeared before the magistrates at Birmingham; and
there "George Edmunds, his lawyer," and Mr. Spooner,
the magistrate, told him the marriage was illegal, and
there was no need for a "divorcement." Therefore, as
it was no marriage at all, he afterwards married Mary
484
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{Noiember
1890.
Ann Wilson, at St. John's, In Newcastle, by license.
The minister of St. John's saw by his "retchester,"
after the marriage ceremony had been performed, that
be was under age, and wished him to be married over
again by banns. This, he contended, showed that the
second marriage was as bad as the first. Besides, Mr.
Alderman Losh, the counsellor, told him the same thing.
Well, he left Newcastle, and went to Stockton, where
he courted Jane Dawson. They were about to be
married by banns, but as she was not "joined" in
society with the Primitive Methodists, Benjamin Fryer
said it was not right for him to marry her, and he quoted
Scripture for it. Fryer also told him that he had a
sister-in-law, who would make him a good wife ; and he
(Taylor) consented to have the banns "pulled up."
They went to Aycliffe together, Fryer paying the
expenses. There he was introduced to Mary Davison,
and her father, after some conversation, took her upstairs
to talk to her. After a while they came down. Mary
said she kept company with a young man; but by the
persuasion of her father and brother she would consent
to give him up. Prisoner sat up with her the greater
part of the night, and got her to burn her old sweetheart's
letters. In the morning they went to Acklam to get a
license and be married. Fryer paid all expenses. He
had raised the money by borrowing, and by taking some
of the chapel funds. The license was granted by the
Rev. Mr. Benson, who married them. It was granted
at Middlesbrough, in Yorkshire, and he was at that
time living on the other side of the Tees, at "Santry
Batts," in the county of Durham. He was under age,
too, and the marriage could not be legal. Moreover,
after his marriage to Mary Davison, Jane Dawson wished
to have him, and consulted a lawyer, who told her the
marriage with Davison would not stand in her way,
because he (Taylor) was under age. She, therefore, had
the "banners put up" at Stockton. The conclusions to
which the prisoner came were these : — 1. That he was not
guilty of bigamy, the preceding marriages being illegal ;
and 2. That if the marriage with Skidmore was legal,
the bigamy which he had committed did not lie at his
door, but at that of the lawyers, who had told him that
that marriage was illegal.
The prisoner's mother having expressed a wish to give
evidence, and the prisoner having consented, she took
her place in the witness-box, and deposed that she wan
now the wife of Michael Rickaby. The prisoner was
not born in wedlock ; but she would not say who his
father was. He was under age, she said, and not very
clever; and it was a great shame of the girls to marry
him. They saw him one day, and took him next
morning.
The chairman of the Court (Mr. John Fawcett), when
Mr. Granger had summed up for the prosecution, briefly
addressed the jury ; and the foreman, in a few minutes,
gave in a verdict of " guilty."
Taylor was next indicted for having, in October, 1839,
married Mary Ann Wilson, daughter of George Wilson,
tobacconist, Newcastle. The prisoner, it appeared, had
advertised for a wife in the Newcastle papers. Miss
Wilson said she first saw the prisoner in October at a
Methodist chapel in Newcastle. On the same day she
met him at a class meeting. On the 16th of October
she was introduced to him by a friend, when he promised
to call upon her at three o'clock that afternoon. He did
so, and as soon as he sat down he pulled out a tin case,
which was marked "Robert Taylor, otherwise Lord
Kenedy." He said he was entitled to £60,000 a year,
and other hereditaments. The following day he made
her an offer of marriage, and she accepted him. He said
if he could get the loan of some money, they would be
married the next morning. Her father lent him £4;
a license was bought ; and they were married the day but
one after she had accepted him, and three days after her
introduction to him. Eighteen days after this he deserted
her, and she heard no more of him till he was in custody.
Witness, in answer to the prisoner, said she did not say
"she would rather be married off-hand." Prisoner:
" Oh, yes, Mary, you did. I consented to take you
immediately if the money was raised, and you raised it."
The defence in this case was the same as in the first — the
illegality of the whole of the marriages, into which,
prisoner added, he had been inveigled by other persons.
Mr. Granger had said the new Marriage Act made
minors' marriages legal ; but did the new Marriage
Act, the prisoner asked, say anything about wards in
Chancery, and the son of Lord Kenedy? This appeal
prevoked great laughter; but the jury again returned a
verdict of "guilty."
Mr. Granger then stated that Superintendent Ingo had
received letters showing that the prisoner had contracted
several other marriages besides those which had been
the subject of inquiry.
The court having spent some time in deliberation, the
chairman, addressing the prisoner, said : — "You have for
some time been going about the country in a most
unprincipled way, marrying weak and unsuspecting
girls, and- bringing misery upon them and their friends.
You must be punished with great severity for your
wicked conduct. For the first offence of which you
have been convicted, you are sentenced to be imprisoned
one year to hard labour ; and for the second, to be
imprisoned eighteen months to hard labour, making
altogether two years and a half."
The mother of the prisoner, on quitting the court,
finding herself an object of some attraction, and being
complimented by the women who flocked round her on
the clever defence of her son whose "cleverness" she
had denied, became somewhat communicative on her
family history. Among other things, she stated
that her son was one of Sir De Lacy Evans's Spanish
Legion, and that she had sent a letter into Spain,
November!
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
485
which had had the effect of procuring his return to
England. She had come from Workington, in Cumber-
and, to attend the trial; for "her eon was her eon."
One thing she would not allow the curiosity of the ladies
to penetrate— and that was, the mystery which hung
over the prisoner's birth. She had "kept the secret"
nineteen years, and was not going to reveal it in the
twentieth. All that she would say was that the
impostor's father was "a real gentleman."
(Cite mater f)ff*t in tlu Ucrrtfc.
JOHN TAYLOR, usually known by his self-
conferred designation of "The Water Poet,"
was born in Gloucester in 1580. His educa-
tion was very limited. He went to London
and was apprenticed to a waterman, an occupation
from which he took his title of Water Poet, and by
which he maintained himself during a great part of his
life. For fifteen or sixteen years, however, he held some
office in the Tower of London, and he afterwards kept a
tavern in Phoenix Alley, Long Acre. He was a devoted
Royalist, and, when Charles I. was beheaded, he hung
out, over his door, the sign of the Mourning Crown.
This, however, he was soon compelled to take down, and
he then supplied its place by a portrait of himself, with
the following lines beneath it : —
There's many a king's head hanged up for a sign,
And many a saint's head too : then why not mine?
But Taylor was neither king nor saint, but a man of
innumerable whims and oddities. On one occasion he
undertook to sail from London to Rochester in a boat
made of paper, but the water found its way into his craft
long before he reached his destination, and he had some
difficulty in getting safely ashore. He seems to have
been fond of travelling, and many of his journeys were
performed in his own wherry. Of his various pere-
grinations he has left what are often exceedingly amusing
records in his works. One of his stories is entitled, " A
Very Merrie Wherrie-Ferry Voyage; or, York for my
Money." Another pamphlet bears the following singular
title: "John Taylor's Last Voyage and Adventure,
performed from the 20th of July last, 1641, to the 10th of
September following, in which time he passed, with a
Sculler's Boat, from the City of London, to the Cities and
Towns of Oxford, Gloucester, Shrewsbury, Bristol, Bath,
Monmouth, and Hereford." The title would lead us
to imagine that Taylor went the whole way by water ;
but the course of the rivers and the absence of canals
made such a feat impossible. The fact was that, when
a river ceased to be navigable, or ran in a wrong direc-
tion, he shipped his boat and himself in any available
cart or waggon, and voyaged overland till he reached
another river that suited his purpose.
Taylor died in 1654, at the age of 74, and was buried in
Covent Garden Churchyard, London. His publications,
which are very numerous, have little literary merit.
Some are in prose, some in verse, or rather doggrel, and
some are a mixture of prose and verse. Many of them,
however, contain curious descriptions and interesting
glimpses of the opinions and manners and general state
of society in the times in which he lived. There is much
that is amusing and quaint in his accounts of his
personal adventures, and we are indebted t* him for
many local facts, otherwise unrecorded.
One of Taylor's journeys he relates in "The Penniless
Pilgrimage, or, the Money-less Perambulation of John
Taylor, alias The King's Majesty's Water Poet ; How
he travelled on foot from London to Edinburgh in Scot-
land, not carrying any Money to or fro, neither Begging,
Borrowing, or Asking Meat, Drink, or Lodging." He
left London on the evening of July 14th, 1618. His com-
panions were his man and a horse. The latter carried
his "provant," which consisted of "good bacon, biscuit,
neat's tongue, cheese," and various other things, amongst
which " good aj?<a vitas " was not forgotten. He had
thus taken some precaution against starvation, should the
hospitality of the country through which he proposed to
travel fail him.
This foresaid Tuesday night, 'twixt eipht and nine.
Well-rigged and balanced both with beer and wine,
I stumble forward ; thus my jaunt begun,
And went that night as far as Islington.
Taylor's subsequent journey lay through St. Alban's,
Stony Stratford, Daventry, and Coventry, where he was
generously entertained by Dr. Philemon Holland, men-
tioned in a previous article as the translator of Camden.
He went forward by Lichfield, Newcastle in Staffordshire
— which he takes care to tell us is "not the Newcastle
standing upon Tyne,"— and Manchester. At the last-
named place he was in clover.
I must tell
How men of Manchester did use me well :
Their loves they on the tenter-hooks did rack.
Roast, boiled, baked, too, too much white, claret, sack :
Nothing they thought too heavy or too hot,
Can followed can, and pot succeeded pot,
From Manchester our poet pursued his way through
Preston, Lancaster, and Carlisle, and so forward to Edin-
burgh. In Scotland the traveller met with some remark-
able adventures, and one part of his story is of the most
romantic character, but the limits to which I am confined
forbid me to quote it. At Burnt Island he had a singular
rencontre, in meeting with an old acquaintance in the
person of a Northumbrian knight — Sir Henry Widdring-
ton, of Widdrington Castle. Taylor called him Wither-
ington. He shall tell the story himself. He is being
entertained at dinner amongst many distinguished guests,
of whom Widdrington is one.
"I know not," begins our Water Poet, "upon what
occasion they began to talk of being at sea in former
times, and I (amongst the rest) said I was at the taking
of Cadiz : whereunto an English gentleman replied, that
he was the next good voyage after at the Islands. I
486
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f November
( 1890.
answered him that I was there also. He demanded in
what ship I was. I told him in the Rainbow of the
Queen's. Why, quoth he, do you not know me ! I wag
in the same ship, and my name is Witherington. Sir,
said I, I do remember the name well, but by reason that
it is near two-and-twenty years since I saw you, I may
well forget the knowledge of you. Well, said he, if
you were in the ship, I pray you tell me some
remarkable token that happened in the voyage ;
whereupon I told him two or three tokens, which he
did know to be true. Nay then, said I, I will tell
you another, which, perhaps, you have not forgotten.
As our ship and the rest of the fleet did ride at anchor at
the Isle of Flores, one of the isles of the Azores, there
were some fourteen men and boys of our ship that, for
noveltv, would go ashore and see what fruit the island did
bear, and what entertainment it would yield us. So,
being landed, we went up and down, and could find
nothing but stones, heath, and moss, and we expected
oranges, lemons, figs, musk-melons, and potatoes. In the
mean space the wind did blow so stiff, and the sea was so
extreme rough, that our ship's boat did not come to the
land to fetch us, for fear she should be beaten in pieces
against the rocks. This continued five days, so that we
were almost famished for want of food. But at last (I
wandering up and down) by the providence of God I
happened [to goj into a cave or poor habitation, where I
found fifteen loaves of bread, each of the quantity of a
penny loaf in England. I, having a valiant stomach
of the age of almost a hundred and twenty hours
breeding, fell too, and ate two loaves, and never
said grace. And, as I was about to make a horse-
loaf of the third loaf, I did put twelve of them into my
breeches and my sleeves, and so went mumbling out of the
cave, leaning my back against a tree ; when, upon a sud-
den, a gentleman came to me and said, friend, what are
you eating? Bread, quoth I. For God's sake, said he,
give me some. With that I put my hand into my breech
(being my best pantry) and I gave him a loaf, which he
received with many thanks, and said if ever he could re-
quite it he would. I had no sooner told this tale, but Sir
Henry Withrington did acknowledge himself to be the
man that I had given the loaf unto two and twenty years
before ; where I found the proverb true, that men have
more privilege than mountains in meeting."
On his return from Scotland, Taylor passed through
Northumberland. On reaching Berwick "the worthy
old soldier aud ancient knight, Sir William Bowyer," wel-
comed the traveller; "but," says he, "contrary to his
will, we lodged at an inn, where Mr. James Acmooty
paid all charges."
The Tweed, in Taylor's day, as in ours, was noted for
its salmon. In that river, he tells us, " are taken by
fishermen that dwell there, infinite numbers of fresh
salmons, so that many households and families are re-
lieved by the profit of that fishing." An order had been
made, "how long since I know not," says the poet,
"that no man or boy whatsoever should fish upon a
Sunday." For a time the order was strictly observed,
but, "some eight or nine weeks before Michaelmas last,
on the Sunday, the salmons played in such great abun-
dance in the river, that some of the fishermen took boats,
and nets, and fished, and caught three hundred salmons !"
All this is credible enough, but what follows must surely
be an exaggerated tale, which, as related to the poet,
possibly received undue colouring from some earnest
and unveracious Sabbatarian. "From that time," the
traveller proceeds, "until Michaelmas Day that I was
there, which was nine weeks, and heard the report of it,
and saw the poor people's lamentations, they had not
seen one salmon in the river ; and some of them were in
despair that they should never see any more there ;
affirming it to be God's judgment upon them for the
profanation of the Sabbath."
From Berwick Taylor came by Belford and Alnwick to
Newcastle, where, he says, " I found th« noble knight,
Sir Henry Witherinzton ; who, because I would have no
gold or silver, gave me a bay mare, in requital of a loaf of
bread that I had given him two and twenty years before,
at the island of Flores." At Newcastle, too, he overtook
some of his Scottish friends who were on their way to
London. He tells us, also, that he "was welcomed at
Master Nicholas Tempest's house." Tempest's house was
Stella Hall, now the residence of Mr. Joseph Cowen.
Unfortunately, the traveller tells us nothing of his
experiences there.
From Newcastle Taylor had the company of his
Scottish friends as far as Topcliffe, in Yorkshire, where
he left them that he might visit and explore the city of
York. At length he reaches London. He sneaks into
the city to a house within Moorgate, where he borrows
money. "And so," he says, "I stole back again to
Islington, to the sign of the Maidenhead, staying [there]
till Wednesday, that my friends came to meet me, who
knew no other but that Wednesday was my first coming ;
where with all love I was entertained with much good
cheer ; and after supper we had a play of the Life and
Death of Guy of Warwick, played by the Right Honour-
able the Earl of Derby and his men."
Thus ends Taylor's Pennyless Pilgrimage.
J. R. BOYLE, F.S.A.
j|HE accompanying sketch represents the late
Mr. Robert Paton, the contractor for the
conveyance of the mails between Morpeth and
Rothbury, as he rode into the former town during the
great snowstorm of March, 1886, "sheeted in ice from
head to foot, and en.
crusted in frozen snow."
The people of the
North of England are
not likely to forget the
weather at that time,
for it was the worst
that had been experi-
enced for many years
previously. But Mr
Paton was doomed to be
caught in another storm
whilst performing his
postal duties. Four
years later, on the 18th
of January, 1890, he
was proceeding to Rothbury, when the horse and gig were
November 1
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
487
upset by a terrific hurricane. The unfortunate man was
afterwards found by one of his sons and a party of
searchers on the road near Longhorsley Moor, with his
head under the vehicle, life being quite extinct. At the
time of the disaster, Mr. Faton was 56 years of age.
miller at tft* CUrrft
Mill.
CENTURY or so ago there stood on the
left side of the main road from Newcastle to
Jedburgh, about two miles north of Belsay
Gate, in a secluded spot beside a stream,
what was called "The Clock Mill." The miller was a
man of middle age, and occupied a suitable steading
attached to the mill, together with an adjoining piece of
land. He was, like Niinrod of old, a famous hunter,
being so fortunate as to possess a mare, noted for her pith
and speed, which enabled him to be generally among the
foremost in the chase, where he was wont to accompany
his landlord. This was the way in which the rich and
poor mingled in "the good old days" in "merry Eng-
land."
The miller of the Clock Mill was, as we have seen, a
famous hunter : so much so that he very often contrived,
through his intimate knowledge of the country and the
real excellence of his steed, to be first in at the death.
The lord of the manor, though always glad to see hia
tenants enjoy this healthful sport, could hardly brook
being beaten by one of them again and again, in the face
of the whole assembled field. He accordingly resolved to
mend matters. The miller had hitherto paid the sum of
twenty pounds a year for his mill and land — no inadequate
rent as things then stood ; but now the steward, by the
instruction of the landlord, raised it to thirty. Still the
miller continued to pay regularly, and still kept a good
mare, and was at the death before the squire quite as
often as ever. Another hint was given to the steward, and
another ten pounds added to the rent, thus doubling the
original sum ; both landlord and steward now felt sure
that their victim would have to bestride a sorrier steed, or
else drop out of the hunting circle altogether. But,
heavily handicapped as the miller was, he was as punctual
as ever when the rent-day came round, still rode the same
good mare, and still carried off, on the average, two
brushes out of every three that were won in the season.
This astonished the landlord so much that he paid him
an unexpected visit. The following is the account Mr.
Robart White gives of the interview :—
He found him, arrayed in his dusty garb, with a kind
of nightcap drawn nearly over his eyes, at work in the
mill; he was filling a poke fiom the trough ; the machinery
was in motion, and the place had an air of neatness and
order about it, betokening: the occupier to be in easy cir-
cumstances. After some preliminary observations respect-
ing the weather and markets, the landlord remarked he
was very glad to see his tenant so cheerful, and hoped he
was doing well.
" Thanks t'ye, sir — mony thanks to y'r honour, " said the
miller. " We have aye meat for the takin' — meal an'
bacon, an' melk tey, except it be efter the new year,
when we hae nae farra cow. We get clase to sair us ; and
for mysel', when aw gan frev bame, or tiv the hunt, aw
have aye Bonny the meer to lay leg ower."
"And a finer animal of the kind, "observed the land-
lord, " is not to be found in the North of England ! "
''Thanks t'ye again, sir, for the compliment," said the
other. " Mony yen says she's ower gud for me ; but she
taks ne mair to keep her than a bad un ; and sin ever aw
was yard-hie, aw always lik't a nice beast. Indeed, aw
may say, please y'r honour, that rather than want her,
aw wad gan to bed supperless the hale year round."
"I perceive," continued his honour, "she is a great
favourite. To be plain with you, though, I sometimes
think it not over good-manuered in you to put her forward
in the way you do, and beat the whole of us at our own
sport. You should bridle in her speed, and give your
superiors the precedence."
"True, true," replied the miller; "but please ye, sir, how
if aw cannit? When the bunds are yellen' alans, she's
never right unless she has her nose amang them ; an" then,
when you and other thurty gentlemen are acomin' splat-
teriu' up, aw might as suin try to stop the wind as haud
her. Aw's nit fond iv iutrudin' mysel' where I shudna
be : but aw knaw y'r honour's aye glad to see yen ; an'
aw just mak free to come amang the company."
"You are welcome at all times," said the lord of the
manor, with great kindness. " I should be sorry to deter
any tenant of mine from the enjoyment of such sport.
Come as you have always done ; I wish you to do so."
"Weel, aw's under grete obligations t'ye, sir, for your
gudeness."said the other, perceiving at once the kind tone
of feeling and gentlemanly manner which peculiarly dis-
tinguished his landlord.
" It is iny especial desire, my good sir," continued the
latter, to have all my tenants comfortable, as far as a
proper regard to my own rights will allow of such a
disideratum. You pay me now a heavy rent — heavy in
proportion to what it was formerly ; but if your mill and
land do not clear it easily, the steward must consider the
matter, and let you have them so that you can live upon
them."
"Kind, kind, vera, vera ! " gratefully replied the
miller, raising his cap higher on his forehead, and regard-
ing hiti visitor with much respect. " Aw's gretely obleeged
to y'r honour, an' mony a rogue wad tak advantage iv y'r
gud intentions, but aw hae nae reason to complain. An
honest man can aylways work his way ; an' though aw see
by y'r smile that ye're pleased to doubt iv a miller's
honesty, still aw can say that aw aye strave to dae the
fair thing. Throughout the hale time when aw had the
mill at the twenty pound, aw niver tuik an unjust liandfu'
iv eyther meal, grouts, or com. Only we're a', please ye,
sir, like the pillars iv a beelding — when grete weights are
laid on us, we just hae to press the rnair upon where we
stand. Y'r honour knaws what aw mean ? "
" Not exactly, " said the landlord, "but this I know,
that if you act uprightly, and can pay your rent now,
your profits formerly must have been very great ! "
"If y'r honour wad please to step up," replied the
miller, adhering to his own method of illustration, "aw's
willin' tiv explain ty'e the hale affair. We hae nae flour-
pokes i' the road, an' yell come down again as clean as a
pin."
He then led the way up a kind of irregular stair, and
was followed by the other till they reached a platform, or
floor, where several sacks filled with corn were set to-
gether. Beside the hopper stood a half-bushel measure,
containing a quantity of wheat, with a round concave
wooden dish, about seven inches in diameter, partly
buried amongst the grain. Taking up the small utensil
in his hand, the miller continued : — " Now, sir, this is what
we ca' the moutar dish, an' that's a kenning there [half a
bushel], ye see ; we measure a' the corn wiv that. Weel,
when ina rent was twenty pound, out iv every kenning iv
corn that came here, aw tuik this dish yence full. When
aw was put up tiv thirty pound, aw tuik't twice full ; an'
488
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f November
DOW, when aw's at forty pound, aw tak't thrice full, for
moQtar, put iv every kenning aw grind. Now, please ye,
sir, this is just the plan that aw's forc't to follow, to male
the rent up. ' Honesty's the best policy,' as the lay tins ;
an'y'r honour, aw knaw, winnut dae me an ill turn for
tellm' the truth."
They descended the stair, and the landlord regarded his
tenant with no small degree of surprise. He scarcely
knew whether the unwarrantable freedom taken with the
grist which came to the mill, in order to meet the in-
creased rent, was more deserving of reprehension, than
the candour with which it had been exhibited even to
himself was worthy of praise.
Shortly afterwards the miller's dame appeared, sup-
porting in her hand a vessel about the size of a quart,
nearly full of home-brewed ale, and he himself observed :
— " When a beggar comes to the door, be't man or woman,
they mun eyther hae bite or sup ; an' when y'r honour
visits us, sartenly ye 're entitled an' hartily welcome tiv
the best iv the hoose."
The female produced the liquor, and poured out a
mantling horn to the landlord, who drank it off, and com-
plimented her on its quality ; then, wishing the couple
"good day," he respectfully took his leave.
The landlord and his steward being, after all, both
honourable and impartial men, did not deal harshly with
the miller for his borrowings, but treated him as an
honest man, continued to favour him, and lowered his
rent to £20 once more. So the Miller of the Clock Mill
still bestrode his gallant mare, and was allowed to carry
off the brush as often as he could win it.
at
SUralr,
JBOUT twenty miles from Newcastle, on the
Great North Road, there is a picturesque
bridge which takes its name, Causey Park
Bridge, from the estate which lies off the road to the west.
Otherwise the structure is known as the Twenty Mile
Bridge, from its distance beyond the Tyne. The stream
which it spans is a tributary of the Lyne, one of the lesser
Northumbrian rivers, which enters the sea at Lynmoulh,
a little to the north of Newbiggin. Causey Park is a part
of the barony of Bothal, and the tower of the old mansion
house was built by a member of the Ogle family in 1582.
Some distance to the right of the main road, and con-
siderably south of Twenty-Mile Bridge, lies Cockle Park
November \
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
489
Tower, the scene of a tragedy described in the Monthly
Chronicle for 1888, page 11. The traveller meets with no
place of historic interest on the line of the North Road
itself between Morpeth and Felton, Perhaps the best
known landmark is the North Gate Toll Bar, otherwise
called Warrener's House, which is situated at the
junction of the North Road with the road to Rothbury.
Both places — Causey Park Bridge and the old toll-house
— are depicted in the accompanying engravings.
at ^Harfe
STtotctr
2Tojte aittr
SMelforb.
Jlidjarb (Sfmel&on,
EIGHTEEN TIMES MATCH, AND SEVEN TIMES M.P. FOB
NEWCASTLE.
!FTEN as re-election to municipal honours
occurred in Newcastle in former days, only
one person gained the distinction of being
appointed upwards of a dozen times Mayor
of the town. George Carr filled the office upon eleven
occasions ; the mayoralties of Henry Carliol numbered
ten; more than one popular burgess counted six or seven
elections to that exalted position. But Richard Emeldon,
who flourished during the reigns of the three Plantagenet
Edwards, overtopped them all. This honoured burgess
became Mayor of Newcastle eighteen times. For nearly
thirty years he must have been a central figure in the
public life of Tyneside.
Perpetual wars with Scotland brought the Plantagenet
sovereigns frequently to Newcastle. It was during one of
the later visits of Edward I. to the town that Richard
Emeldon made his first appearance in local history. His
Majesty had been informed that the English Merchant
Adventurers were willing to be placed upon the same
footing as merchant strangers, i.e., to pay a general
charge called petty customs, in lieu of prisage, murage,
pontage, &c. To ascertain the truth of this statement,
he issued writs summoning a certain number of citizens
and burgesses from all parts of the realm to assemble at
York on the 25th of June, 1303. Richard Emeldon was
one of the burgesses chosen by the commonalty of New-
castle to represent them at the conference.
The year following, Emeldon was appointed one of the
four bailiffs of Newcastle, and at Michaelmas, 1306, and
again in 1307, he was ekcted mayor of the town. A
break of three years occurred, during which Nicholas
Carliol held the post of honour, and then, at the mayor-
choosing in 1311, the burgesses, who had sent Emeldon to
Parliament in August, elected him mayor for the third
time. For seven successive years afterwards he occupied
that important position — seven years which witnessed
notable events in local history. His fellow-burgesses
elected him member of the Parliament which met at
York in September, 1314, and he would probably have
been sent to the Parliament of January, 1314-15, if the
threatening attitude of the Scots had not forced the
Northumbrian sheriff to return the writs blank, with a
490
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{Novembe
1890.
notification that not a man could be spared from either
the county, or the boroughs within the county.
Being a substantial citizen, in good repute with the
king, Emeldon was able to obtain for the town, before he
went out of office, some little acknowledgment of the
services which the burgesses had performed, the priva-
tions they had suffered, and the losses they had sus-
tained during his mayoralties. His Majesty granted to
Newcastle a renewal of King John's charter, with some
additional favours, confirmed the foundation charter of
the Merchant Adventurers with new privileges, and sent
to the inhabitants of the county forty casks of wine. Of
this wine Emeldon was to be one of three distributors.
He was appointed keeper of the castles, lands, and
tenements of the Earl of Lancaster and other condemned
nobles in Northumberland and Durham in 1322 ; the
document conferring upon him this trust styling him
"chief custos of the town of Newcastle." At Michael-
mas in that year, he became Mayor of Newcastle again.
On this occasion, his re-elections numbered four — ex-
tending his occupancy of the chair to the autumn of 1327.
Meanwhile he was appointed (June, 1323) collector of
customs on wines in the port of Newcastle and along the
coast to Berwick. At the beginning of 1324 he was sent
a third time to Parliament ; near the middle of it, the
king, "in part allowance for his loog services, and great
losses in the wars with Scotland," granted him the manor
of Silksworth. In 1325 Emeldon went again to Parlia-
ment, and in 1328, having laid down once more his robes
of office as mayor, he was twice elected M.P. The
following autumn, that of 1329, saw him in the mayor's
chair for the sixteenth time. Then followed another
break of a year. At Michaelmas, 1331, he entered upon
his final term of municipal honour. In January, 1333,
the king, yielding to a petition of the burgesses, gave the
town a charter by which Emeldon and all future mayors
were created Royal escheators, the function of an
escheator being to render account for land and profits
falling to the Crown by forfeiture, or by the death of
a tenant of the Crown without heirs.
In the early part of the same year that saw him made
escheator, Emeldon received the appointment of collector
of subsidies for the county of Northumberland ; shortly
after the escheatorship was conferred upon him, in the
middle of his eighteenth mayoralty, he died. Contem-
plating his approaching end, he had made provision for
the repose of his soul by endowing the chantry of St.
John the Baptist and St. John the Apostle, in his parish
church of St. Nicholas'. He obtained letters patent
from the king to erect a building upon a piece of vacant
ground over against the chapel of St. Thomas upon
Tyne Bridge, that he might present it to three chaplains
to pray for him, and for the souls of his wives, his
father and mother, &c., "every day at the altar of the
Baptist and the Apostle in St. Nicholas' Church " On
the anniversary of his death, these chaplains were to
honour his memory by a solemn tolling of the bells and
devoutly singing by note, and, after the anniversary
mass, one of them was to distribute among a hundred
and sixty poor people the sum of six shillings and
eightpence for ever.
At the inquisition after his decease, it was found that
Eraeldon possessed the manors of Jesemuth (Jesmond),
South Goseford, Elswick, Heaton-Jesemuth, Whitley,
and Shotton, divers lands and tenements in Throcklawe,
Myndrum, Wark-on-Tweed, Wooler, Alnwick, Ale-
mouth, Dunstan, Emeldon, Newton-on-the-Moor, and
seven or eight other places in Northumberland, besides
property in Newcastle. His second wife, Christiana,
survived him. She had her thirds in Newton-on-the
Moor, Dunstanborough, &c., and, after marrying Sir
William de Plumpton, knight, died in 1363. His
daughters, being well-dowered, were all united to men
of position. Agnes became the wife of Peter Graper
the younger, who was several times bailiff and mayor of
Newcastle, and, at least, once member of Parliament.
Maud, or Matilda, married Richard Acton, who filled
the office of mayor during the interval between
Emeldon's death and the end of the municipal year,
and after his decease she entered into a matrimonial
alliance with Alexander, Lord of Hilton. Jane became
the second wife of Sir John Strivelyn, a wealthy knight ;
Alice, the youngest, married Nicholas Sabraham. Long
after his death Newcastle preserved the memory of his
long municipal reign in a messuage called "Emeldon
Place," or as Bourne calls it, "Emeldon Barn," situate
at the head of what is now Percy Street, "near the
hospital of the Blessed Mary Magdalene, without the
New Gate."
S|)e Jlerj. |ameg <£ucrctt,
METHODIST REFORMER.
Forty years ago, when the Wesleyan Methodist body
was in the throes of a great disruption, no man was better
known in what may be called the religious life of Great
Britain than the Rev. James Everett. A genuine North-
umbrian, hard-headed and clear-headed, sturdy and in-
dependent, he practically led the movement which cleft
the Wesleyan denomination asunder, and established
the organisation which is now known as United Free
Methodism.
Mr. Everett was born at Alnwick on the 16th of May,
1784. He came of a good Methodist stock, his maternal
grandfather, James Bon-maker, being the builder of the
first Wesleyan chapel erected in his native town. In
early boyhood he was sent to the new school opened in
Alnwick by the brothers Bruce (see Monthly Chronicle,
vol. iii., p. 126), and the knowledge which he acquired
there was supplemented at the Sunday School held in the
Methodist Chapel. In due time he was Dound apprentice
to James Elder, to learn the trade of "flax-dresser and
grocer." Before his apprenticeship ended he was brought
November 1
1890. }
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
491
under religious influences, and, joining the Methodists,
determined to become a local preacher. In further-
ance of this design, he left Alnwick, and obtaining
employment at Sunderland, began evangelistic work
among the Wesleyan communities upon the river Wear,
His labours met with great acceptance, and before long
he was induced to qualify for the regular ministry. On
the 27th of May, 1807, he preached a trial sermon at the
Orphan House, Newcastle, and being admitted a proba-
tioner, was appointed to the newly -formed circuit of
North Shields, under the superintendence of the venerable
Duncan McAllum.
Having chosen his vocation, Mr. Everett endeavoured
to repair the defects of early education by self-culture.
In that desirable pursuit he was assisted by two well-
known Newcastle men — William A. Hails and Nicholas
Wawn. Under their guidance he studied theology, took
up Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and made excursions into
science and general literature, the while he preached,
conducted classes, visited families, and discoursed in the
open air. Labours so abundant soon attracted attention.
Tyneside pitmen gave him the sobriquet of " The Hell-
fire Lad," and flocked to hear him.
From North Shields, Mr. Everett went successively to
Belper, New Mills, and Barnsley, and his probation
being over, he was married (1st August, 1810) at the
parish church of Sunderland, to Elizabeth Hutchinson.
Received into full connexion at the conference of 1811, he
travelled in various circuits till, in 1821, when on duty at
Sheffield, his health gave way, and he was compelled to
seek repose as a supernumerary. For a time he took
charge of the Wesleyan Book Room in London, but at the
beginning of 1823 he resigned it, and commenced business
in Sheffield as a bookseller and stationer. Here it was
that he entered into temporary partnership with John
Blackwell (afterwards a Newcastle alderman) as described
in the Monthly Chronicle, vol. ii., p. 501. From Sheffield
he removed his business to Manchester, and there re-
mained till 1834, when Conference ordered him to resume
pulpit work, and appointed him to the Newcastle circuit.
Amongst Newcastle Methodists he laboured for -five
years, and then was removed to York, in which city his
health again broke down, and he was once more placed on
the list of supernumeraries.
Being a man of independent thought, Mr. Everett,
from an early stage of his ministerial career, had dis-
tinguished himself in controversy. He was continually
writing pamphlets, dashing off satirical leaflets, or com-
posing sarcastic rhymes, against those whose views
did not agree with his own. When in 1831 the ruling
powers of Methodism desired to establish a theological
institute, he saw, or fancied he saw, in the proposal a
"centralising job," and, in an anonymous publication
entitled "The Disputants," he attacked the scheme in a
style that gave great offence to the leading lights of the
denomination. Suspected of the authorship, he avowed
it, and thenceforward he was regarded by the dominant
party as a dangerous man. The feeling thus engendered
was intensified by the publication, in 1840, on the eve of
the first Conference held in Newcastle, of a book entitled
"Wesleyan Takings." This book contained written por-
traits or sketches of a hundred prominent Wesleyan
ministers. It was issued anonymously; yet everybody
knew the writer. Conference condemned the book, the
upper circles of Methodism condemned the author, and
nothing serious came of either condemnation. But when
"Wesleyan Takings" was followed by a series of printed
circulars, called "Fly Sheets," in which the whole ad-
ministration of Methodism was attacked, and sweeping
reforms were demanded, a furious storm of indignation
burst forth. Suspicion fell upon Kverett at once, and
after many attempts to find out the writer by other
means, Conference called upon him in 1849 to answer
the pointed question "Are you the author of the 'Fly
Sheets' ? " He declined to give a direct answer, where-
upon the conference, after a long and animated debate,
expelled him from the ministry.
After his expulsion Mr. Everett occupied himself in
building up and consolidating the movement to which the
" Fly Sheets " had given vitality. Many of its warmest
friends and adherents were to be found upon the banks of
the Tyne, and in the pit villages of Northumberland and
Durham. It was advisable that he should dwell among
his own people, and he removed from York to No. 4, St.
Thomas's Crescent, Newcastle, on Friday, the 22nd July,
1853. All hope of reforming the constitution of Method-
ism, and of returning to the old fold, had been by this
time abandoned. Everett saw no chance of reconciliation,
492
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f November
I 1890.
and turned his thoughts to the question of forming the
outlying branches of Methodism into one united body.
Although approaching his seventieth year, he worked
assiduously in that direction, though it was not until 1857
that his hopes were realised. In July of that year an
amalgamation was effected. The new body took the
name of "The United Methodist Free Churches "; and,
with a proper sense of the fitness of things, they elected
Mr. Everett to be their first president.
In April, 1859, Mr. Everett removed to Sunderland,
where his wife had some property, and that town, which
had seen the beginning of his career, saw the end of it.
First to depart (July 17, 1865,) was she who for fifty -five
years had shared the fortunes and misfortunes of his life.
After her death the veteran retired from pulpit work, and
on the 10th of May, 1872, within four days of his 88th
birthday, he finished his course and entered into rest.
Mr. Everett was a many-sided man, with respectable
attainments in various departments of culture and re-
search. As a preacher he was always populrvr. On the
platform he was still more effective. At one period of his
life he ranked amongst what was commonly known as the
" Sheffield Poets "—a local coterie at whose head stood
his friend James Montgomery— and throughout his career
he was a painstaking antiquary, a discriminating pur-
chaser of old books, and an insatiable collector of coins,
medals, and autographs. To the end of his days he was
imbued with a fine artistic feeling. It was at his sugges-
tion that H. Perlee Parker painted, in 1839, his Metho-
dist Centenary picture — the "Escape of John Wesley
from the fire at Epworth Parsonage." Mr. Everett was
the model from which the artist drew the attitudes of the
leading personages upon the canvas, and his portrait is
introduced as that of one of the rescuers who, standing
between the dog and the group below the window, is
ready with outstretched arms to receive the child from its
first deliverer.
As a man of letters and a writer of books, Mr. Everett
enjoyed a high degree of popularity. Some of his works,
running through edition after edition, are still read by
delighted Sunday school children and by admirers of
religious biography, while others not BO favoured are
prized by local collectors and compilers of local history.
It is not possible to enumerate all his published writings ;
many ot them were polemical tracts and controversial
pamphlets, satirical verses, squibs, and lampoons devoted
to subjects of limited interest. The more important of
bis contributions to denominational and general literature
are these •—
A Reply to Douglas's Pamphlets against Methodism.
1815.
A Poetical Tribute to the Memory of George the Third.
1820.
Winter Scenes, or the Unwin Family : a Tale. 1822.
Historical Sketches of Wesleyau Methodism in Sheffield
and its Vicinity. 1823.
The Head Piece, or Phrenology opposed to Divine
Revelation. By James the Less. 1828.
The Village Blacksmith, or Piety and Usefulness Ex-
emplified in a Memoir of the Life of Samuel Hick, &c.
1830.
Edwin, or Northumbria's Royal Fugitive Restored.
1831.
The Wallsend Miner, or a Brief Memoir of the Life of
William Crister. 1835.
Adam Clarke Pourtrayed. 3 yols. 184349.
The Polemic Divine, or Memoirs of the Life, Writings,
and Opinions of the Rev. Daniel Isaac. 1839.
Memoirs of the Life. Character, and Ministry of
William Dawson, late of Barnbow, near Leeds. 1841.
Letters Selected from the Correspondence of William
Dawson. 1842.
Memoirs of the Life and Writings of James Mont-
f ornery. By John Holland and James Everett. 7 vols.
854.
The Camp and the Sanctuary, or the Power of Religion
as Exemplified in the Army and the Church. [Life of
Thomas Hasker, of Newcastle.] 1859.
Gatherings from the Pit Heaps, or the Aliens of Shiney
Row. 1861.
The Midshipman and the Minister. [Life of the Rev.
A. A. Rees, of Sunderland. ") 1862.
Methodism as It Is. 1863-66. [With an appendix in
1868.1
Cfyrigtopfyer /arocett,
TWICE RECORDER OF NEWCASTLE.
The Recordership of Newcastle, a post of honour rather
than of emolument, has been held at various times by
notable men. In these columns have already been out-
lined the careers of two of them — Sir George Baker, one
of the negotiators at the siege of Newcastle, and Edward
Collingwood, the scholarly representative of an ancient
and honourable Northumberland family. And, now in
alphabetical order, comes Christopher Fawcett, a Re-
corder who brought upon himself considerable notoriety
in the noisy controversies that raged between Hanover-
ians and Jacobites in the reign of George the Second.
Christopher Fawcett, eldest son of John Fawcett, Re-
corder of Durham, belonged to a race of yeomen and
landed proprietors that, established for many generations
at Boldon, Chester-le-Street, Lambton, and Sunderland
(in which latter place the fine thoroughfare of Fawcett
Street preserves their memory), possessed affluence, and
exercised influence throughout the northern division of
the county palatine. He was baptized in the cathedral
city on the 2nd of July, 1713— the year which produced
the treaty of Utrecht, settled the Protestant succession,
and brought to within a few mouths of its close the reign
of Queen Anne. Having received preliminary training at
home, under the eye of his father, he was sent to Exeter
College, Oxford, where he matriculated on the 2nd of
May, 1729. Thence, destined for his father's profession,
he proceeded to London, and becoming a student of
Gray's Inn, was in due course, on the 8th of February,
1734-35, called to the bar. Soon afterwards, returning to
the North, where his family influence lay, he settled as a
practising barrister in Newcastle. Among other aids to
promotion he cultivated the goodwill of the municipal
authorities— cultivated it with such success that, upon a
vacancy occurring in the Recordership of the town by the
Novemberl
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
493
death of William Cuthbert (August 29, 1746), he was
unanimously appointed to that honourable office.
At the time of Mr. Fawcett's appointment, that des-
perate enterprise in which the adherents of the Stuarts
made a final effort to overthrow the Hanoverian dynasty
had but recently received a crushing defeat. Situated in
the very centre of the rebellion, Newcastle remained
faithful to the reigning family. The governing body and
the great majority of the townspeople were Hanoverian
to the backbone. They pitied, but sternly refused to
follow, the Earl of Derwentwater, General Forster, and
other local leaders of the insurrection, who had hoped to
seduce them from their allegiance. And when the insur-
rection had been put down, they kept a watch upon
Jacobites and Papists, reported their doings to the Privy
Council, and helped to bring them within the range of
penalty and punishment. In this patriotic endeavour
Mr. Fawcett, who in the meantime had been made a
Bencher of his Inn, rendered assistance. Not content,
however, with pointing at local suspects, he aimed at
high game, and his weapon recoiled upon himself with
most disastrous consequences.
Upon the decease, in 1751, of Frederick, Prince of
Wales, eldest son of George II., palace squabbles and
intrigues of a serious character broke out respecting the
governance and tuition of the heir to the Throne — Prince
George, afterwards George III. While the public mind
was in a state of tension upon this subject, the episode
occurred which gave to Mr. Fawcett an unenviable
notoriety. Various versions of the story have been pub-
lished, but the following will serve : —
Lord Ravensworth posted up to town the first week in
February, 1753, and acquainted Mr. Pelham, the Prime
Minister, that he had strong evidence of Jacobitism to
produce against Stone, the Prince's sub-governor ; Dr.
Johnson, Bishop of Gloucester, who had been recom-
mended as preceptor; and the Right Honourable William
Murray, Solicitor-General, afterwards the famous Lord
Mansfield. Mr. Pelham would gladly have overlooked
the matter, but it could not be stifled, for Lord Ravens-
worth had told his story to the Duke of Devonshire and
many others. The Cabinet were compelled, therefore, to
hear his important revelation, which amounted to this
and no more — that Mr. Fawcett, Recorder of Newcastle,
dining at the house of Dr. Cowper, Dean of Durham, had,
in bis lordship's hearing, expressed satisfaction that his
old acquaintance, Dr. Johnson, had prospered so well
under the reigning dynasty, for that he recollected the
time when they both attended evening parties and drank
the health of the Pretender with Mr. Murray and Mr.
Stone. The Cabinet devoted three whole days to hearing
Lord Ravensworth and the Dean of Durham tell their
curious story, and then, on the 16th February, Mr. Faw-
cett himself was brought into the Council Chamber and
examined. He was in extreme terror and confusion, but
with reluctance and uncertainty he confessed that the
words he had uttered at Durham were true to this extent,
namely, that about twenty years before, Murray, then a
young lawyer, Stone, then in indigence, and himself used
to sup frequently at one Vernon's, a rich mercer, a noted
Jacobite, and a lover of ingenious young men ; that the
conversation was won* to be partly literature, partly
treason, and that a customary health, taken on bended
knees, was "The Chevalier and Lord Dunbar." He
hesitated and trembled greatly about signing his deposi-
tion, said he was fitter to die than make an affidavit, and
altogether cut a very sorry figure in the business. When
the business had occupied the Cabinet nine or ten days,
they unanimously reported to the King that Fawcett's
account was altogether -false and scandalous.
In the face of such a report, and under the ban of the
exposure which followed, Mr. Fawcett's retention of
the Recordership of Newcastle was impossible. Declared
to have borne false witness himself, he could not sit in
the seat of judgment and inflict punishment upon other
offenders. Resigning the office, therefore, to Edward
Collingwood, who had given it over to William Cuthbert
years before, he devoted his time and talents to his
chamber practice, seeking in hard work relief from the
pressure of defeat, and deriving from the sympathies of
his friends consolation in the darkness of disaster. For
he was not without active frieuds and sympathisers
throughout the unpleasant episode which had thrown a
shadow upon his life. Long afterwards, when Mr.
Murray had been raised to the bench as Baron Mans-
field, and Lord Chief Justice of England, Junius
reminded him of the suspicions which Mr. Fawcett had
incautiously revealed — implying thereby that in his
opinion the allegations of the indiscreet Recorder were
not so inaccurate as the Cabinet of 1753 had declared
them to be.
Four years after his resignation Mr. Fawcett married.
His wife was Winifred, daughter of Cuthbert Lambert,
M.D., and sister of the youth whose remarkable escape
at Sundyford Bridge, a couple of years later, gave to the
locality the name of "Lambert's Leap." In comparative
retirement he outlived the consequences of his impru-
dence, and when, in 1769, Edward Collingwood retired
for the second time, he was reappointed to the Recorder-
ship, the Corporation conferring upon him, shortly
afterwards, the honorary freedom of the town. Restored
to his judicial functions, he filled the office with dignity
and credit till he had passed the age of fourscore. He
resigned it finally at Michaelmas, 1794, and on the 10th
May following, aged 82, he died, and was buried at St.
John's.
DR. FAWCETT, VICAR OP NEWCASTLE.
Shortly before Mr. Fawcett's re-relection, on the 3rd
January, 1767, his next brother, Richard Fawcett, D.D.,
was appointed Vicar of Newcastle. Vicar Fawcett was
of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he matriculated
in August, 1730, and proceeded B.A. in 1734, M.A. 1738,
B.D. 1745, and D.D. 1748. He held the rectory of
Ingelstree and Church Eyton in Staffordshire, was one
of the king's chaplains in ordinary, and chaplain to Dr.
Egerton, Bishop of Durham, by whom he was collated,
in 1772, to the rectory of Gateshead, a living which he
was allowed to hold, by dispensation, with the vicarage
of Newcastle. He was also a prebendary of Durham,
where he died on the 30th April, 1782. Baillie, in the
"Impartial History of Newcastle," describes him as
possessing "no animation in his manner of preaching,"
but "highly distinguished for a clear, nervous strain of
494
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f Novpmber
I 1890.
solid reasoning." He preached and published the con-
secration sermon at the completion of the present St.
Ann's Church in 1768; and leased a portion of the
vicarage garden for the erection of the Assembly Kooms.
These are the only items that local history has preserved
concerning him.
(Sarlantt
SUCCESS TO THE COAL TRADE.
[HYMESTERS of Tyneside have oft in num-
bers, smooth or rugged, glorified the
beauties and extolled the industries of the
district ; and naturally the coal trade in all
its varied phases has received a large share of the atten-
tion of the poetp.
The title of this song was formerly a standing toast at
all public dinners ; and at other festive gatherings the
proposal of the toast was in olden days the signal for the
hostess to retire with her lady guests to the drawing-
room, and leave the gentlemen to politics and wine. Mr.
William Davidson, of Alnwick, published, about the
year 1840, a book called "The Tyneside Songster," in
which were collected many of the most popular songs of
the day by Shield, Mitford, Gilchrist, and others, and
the present song appears in that collection. The author's
name is not given, and we believe is now unknown.
The collier ships at Shields are already things of the
past, and the long rows of keels, which in former days
might be seen plying between the spouts at Benwell,
Felling, and Wallsend, to the ships lying at Shields, are
all but extinct. Mammoth ships, with mighty engines
and powerful screws, have usurped the place of the handy
colliers, and carry the Tyneside black diamonds to every
port in the world. Doubtless the present state of things
is better than the former ; but the scenes of one's youth
have a sunnier aspect than those of our age.
The tune of the song is a slightly different set of the
well-known reel tune "Stumpie,"and is of a too rugged
character to be suitable for singing.
;=?=
peo - pie, lis • ten while I sing The
source from whence your corn-forts spring, And
•
m
may each wind that blowi still bring. Suo-
un • to the Coal Trade. Who
*=?.
^
but un • us - ual plea • sure feels To
=P=S=
see our fleets of ships and keels? New-
castle. Sun - der - land, and Shields May
N— — \
E^^E£EE£EE3=^
ev - er blesa the Coal Trade.
Good people, listen while I sing
The source from whence your comforts spring,
And may each wind that blows still bring
Success unto the Coal Trade.
Who but unusual pleasure feels,
To see our fleets of ships and keels ?
Newcastle, Sunderland, and Shields
May ever bless the Coal Trade.
May vultures on the caitiff fly,
And gnaw his liver till he die,
Who looks with evil, jealous eye
Down upon the Coal Trade !
If that should fail, what would ensue?
Sure ruin, and disaster too !
Alas ! alas ! what could we do
If 'twere not for the Coal Trade ?
What is it gives us cakes of meal?.
What is it crams our wames sae weel
With lumps of beef and draughts of ale ?
What is't— but just the Coal Trade?
Not Davis Straits or Greenland oil,
Not all the wealth springs from the soil,
Could ever make our pot» to boil,
Like unto our Coal Trade.
Ye sailors' wives, that love a drop
Of stingo from the brandy shop,
How could you get a single drop
If 'twere not for the Coal Trade ?
Ye pitmen lads, so blithe and gay,
Who meet to tipple each pay-day,
Down on your marrow-bones and pray
Success unto the Coal Trade.
May Wear and Tyne still draw and pour
Their jet black treasures to the shore,
And we with all our strength will roar
Success unto the Coal Trade !
Ye owners, masters, sailors a',
Come shout till ye be like to fa'.
Your voices raise — huzza ! huzza !
We all live by the Coal Trade,
This nation is in duty bound
To prize those who work underground ;
For 'tis well known this country round
Is kept up by the Coal Trade.
May Wear and Tyne and Thames ne'er freeze !
Our ships and keels will pass with ease,
Then Newcastle, Sunderland. and Shields
Will still uphold the Coal Trade.
I t«ll the truth, jou may depend,
In Durham or Northumberland
No trade in them could erer stand
If 'twere not for the Coal Trade.
November!
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
495
The owners know full well, 'tis true,
Without pitmen, keelmen, sailors too,
To Britain they might bid adieu
If 'twere not for the Coal Trade.
So to conclude and make an end
Of these few lines which I have penned,
We drink a health to all those men
Who carry on the Coal Trade.
To owners, pitmen, keelmen too.
And sailors who the seas do plough,
Without these men we could not do,
Nor carry on the Coal Trade.
CftttrcTi.
HE church of Kirkharle is situated in a
gently undulating country, and is sur-
rounded by cheerful open glades. The
village, one of the tiniest, cosiest, and most
secluded in Northumberland, is some distance away. Both
church and village lie a little way off the old North Road,
an arrangement which was doubtless an advantageous one
in the troublous times of old.
The first thing which strikes our attention on enter-
ing Kirkharle Church is the excellent character of its
masonry. In this respect it presents a marked con-
trast to most of our Northern churches, which are
usually built in a very rough and ready fashion,
and the walls of which are faced, often both
inside and out, and still more often on the inside,
with rubble. Here, however, every stone is carefully
squared, and the joints are of the finest character. There
has been no attempt, on the part of the architect, to
introduce any considerable amount of decoration. In-
deed, taken as a whole, the church may be pronounced
decidedly plain and simple, but this fact in no way de-
tracts from the impression produced by its very superior
masonry.
The church consists of nave and chancel, but has
neither tower nor aisles. With the exception of the west
wall, the porch, and the bell cot, the whole building is of
one date, a date which is well indicated by several archi-
tectural features, but especially by the two windows in
the north wall of the chancel. I mention these windows
because they are the only ones which retain their ancient
tracery. The rest had been supplied with wooden
frames and sashes, I presume during the incumbency of
the Rev. Jeffrey Clarkson, who held the living from 1771
to 1778. Recently, however, the church has passed
through the fashionable process of "restoration," fortun-
ately, so far as I can see, without suffering any material
injury, and the sash windows have been replaced
by copies or adaptaions of the two ancient ones.
There must have been a church at Kirkharle before the
present one, for Walter de Bolbeck, in 1165, appropriated
part of the possessions of this benefice, which he styles
"the church of Herla,"the Abbey of Blanchland. Of
this earlier church no trace, so far as I am aware, now
remains. The present building was erected about 1320 to
1340. Indeed, we may with great probability fix upon a
precise date, for in 1336 a chantry was founded in this
church. In the building as it now exists there are struc-
tural arrangements for two chantries, and as these ar-
rangements are contemporary with the whole building,
and are not insertions, it is almost certain that the
foundation of the chantry and the erection of the church
took place at the same time, and arose from the benefac-
tion of the same individual. It is, perhaps, scarcely
going too far to hazard the conjecture that that individual
was Sir William de Herle, whom Hodgson calls '• one of
the great lights and worthies of Northumberland," a man
distinguished for the important part he took in the affairs
of State in the reigns of the second and third Edwards.
The whole of the windows in the chancel are filled with
what is known as reticulated tracery. This is the term
used to describe tracery when all the principal openings
in the window-head are of the same size and shape.
Their shape usually, as in the present case, is an ogee
quatrefoil. The design is one of great simplicity, and at
the same time of equally great beauty. It is scarcely
necessary to repeat that the tracery of the east window
and of the two south windows of the chancel is altogether
modern. The east window is of five lights, and the
windows in the north and south walls are
of three lights each. There are three sedilia
of very excellent design in the south wall of the
chancel, and a piscina with projecting basin close beside
them. There is also in the same wall a priest's door. The
chancel, however, possesses one remarkable and unusual
feature. In this series of papers I have had occasion
several times to mention a low side window as one of the
features of a chancel. Here, however, there are two of
these windows, one in the south wall and one in the north.
The purpose of these windows is still a matter of contro-
versy amongst antiquaries, but such instances as this at
Kirkharle may possibly throw some light on the question.
I must not omit to mention that all these features of the
chancel — sedilia, piscina, priest's door, and low side
windows — are contemporary in date with the building
itself.
The nave has also an uncommon feature. Whilst the
fact that it has no aisles is in itself in no way remarkable,
it becomes exceedingly so when we find from the presence
of piscinas and aumbries that it has formerly held two
chantries, and that, as I have already said, these are as
old as the building itself. The place of a chantry altar
was usually the aisle or the transept. When a chantry
was founded in a church which had no aisle, such an aisle
was generally built to receive it. Here, however, were
two chantries, one almost certainly founded when the
church was built and the other haying possibly then
existed for a considerable time, and yet no structural pro-
vision fer their reception was made beyond their respective
496
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{November
1800.
piscina and aumbry. The nave is lighted by four
windows, two in the north wall and two in the south.
The windows towards the east are of three lights each,
ana those towards the west of two lights. The tracery,
which is quite modern, differs in pattern from that in the
chancel, and, though very well executed, is of inferior
design.
The nave was formerly longer than it is now. The
first Sir William Loraine, of Kirkharle, who died in 1743,
is said, on what appears to be reliable authority, to have
built "the west gable, porch, and bell cope, all ruinous."
It was no doubt at the time of Sir William's repairs that
the length of the nave was curtailed. The bell-cot and
porch were re-built during the incumbency of Mr. Clark-
son, whom I have already mentioned, and, at the same
time, the leaden roof was taken off the whole church and
replaced by one of blue slate.
In the chancel there are several monuments to members
of the family of Loraine. One of these, fixed
to the north wall, tells us in two lines of
Latin that Sir William Loraine, who died in
1743, was the man who retrieved the almost
ruined fortunes of his family. His second
wife, "darne Anne, " is described aa "a comely
person of a good aspect and stature, a neut
and prudent housekeeper, [and] as to herself,
moderate in all things.'' Oneof Sir William's
sons is commemorated by an inscription on
the chancel noor, which I must transcribe
in its entirety.
HERE LYES THE BODY OF
RICHARD LOUAINE, ESy., WHO WAS
A PROPER HANDSOME MAN, OF GOOD
SENSE AND BEHAVIOUR ; HE DY'D A
BACHELOR: Of AN APl'OPLEXY
WALKING IN A GREEN-FIELD, NEAR
LONDON, OCTOBER 26TH, 1738,
IN THE 33 YEAR OF HIS AGE.
The church of Kirkharle contains one relic of con-
siderable interest to Newcastle people. This is the
ancient font of All
Saints' Church. Wlien
the old church of All
Saints' was destroyed
in 1786, this font was
abandoned. At that
time there was an
alderman of Newcastle,
Mr. Hugh Hornby.who
was an antiquary. Mr.
Hornby lived in Pil.
grim Street. He, in
some way, got posses-
sion of the old font and
removed it to his gar-
den. There it remained
for many years. At a
later period it was
transferred to the vicar's garden at Kirkharle, but some
years ago was taken into the church, and is now used
whenever the rite of baptism is performed on the infants
of Kirkharle parish. It bears, as the reader will see,
a shield of arms on each of its eight sides.
These shields are adorned with the heraldic bearings
of some of the old families of Newcastle and Northum-
berland. One coat, on which the arms of Lumley
impale those of Thornton, remind us that George,
Lord Lumley, married the granddaughter of the great
Roger Thornton, and that Lumley and his wife in the
days when this old font was new had their house in the
Broad Chare, and were parishioners of All Saints', as
Roger himself had been before them. Other shields bear
the arms of the Andersons, the Rotherfords, the Dents,
and the Roddams. The font may be ascribed to the
end of the fifteenth or the early part of the sixteenth
century. J. R. BOYLE, F.S.A.
-, Slittoufc.
ONDGATE TOWER, or Hotspur's Tower,
as it is also called, is the only one left
standing of the four gateways that once
gave access to the town of Alnwick through
the high and wide stone wall that formerly surrounded
it. Two of the others, like the wall itself, have been
removed altogether ; and a third was quite rebuilt in an
ornamental manner in the last century ; but this remains
integrate so far as its mass is concerned, though, doubt-
less, there were parapets and other minor features upon
it that no longer exist. It is possible, too, it may have
been crowned with a steep roof, leaving room behind the
embattled parapets for a convenient foot walk, though we
shall probably never know whether this was the case or
not. An old survey mentions the decay of the lead
covering, and also of the "roof of woode." It is tolerably
certain it must have had a draw-bridge, as there is still,
carried in a culvert below ground, a runlet of water from
November!
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
497
the higher lands southwards that would have offered too
great a facility for the formation of a moat to have been
neglected.
This fine mass of mediaeval masonry stands striding
the chief road into the town from the south, which is
called Bondgate Within, on the inner side of it, and
Bondgate Without, on the outer. Hartshorne states that
it was built by the son of Hotspur, who obtained a license
for embattling the town in 1434 ; partly on account of
that circumstance, and also on account of its exact corre-
spondence in its general character and details with other
work undertaken by that nobleman at Warkworth. But
Tate brings forward documentary evidence that the
license to wall, embattle, and machicolate the said wall
was granted to the same lord and the burgesses of the
town, and that so little was done at the time, and so slow
the progress, that fifty years elapsed before it was com-
pleted. He quotes three documents preserved in the
Corporation archives that throw light on the subject. One
is a petition to the king, unnamed, from the burgesses
and commonalty, saying the walling was begun, but could
not be finished, and praying that he would grant a license
without exacting a fee; the second is entitled "Letters
patent from Henry VI.," who grants the burgesses cer-
tain customs and subsidies towards making the port of
Alnmouth, walling the town of Alnwick, and repairing
the parish church; and the third is entitled "Letters
patent to gather a collection for building the town wall
against the Scots," addressed to all the sons of the Holy
Mother Church, setting forth that Edward the Fourth
had granted a license to embattle the town, on account of
there being no walled town between Newcastle-on-Tyne
and Scotland, which work was begun, but could not be
carried on without help ; and that the burgesses and
commonalty had appointed John Faterson and Thomas
Cirsewell to collect alms, subsidies, and gifts for that
purpose throughout the realm.
The tower has three stages, the uppermost being wea-
thered in ; and the south front has two semi-octagonal
towers slightly projecting beyond the archway, which are
lighted by three small plain wndow-opemngs on the
middle stage, and by arrow slits below. Over the arch-
way is a recessed panel on which was carved the Bra-
bant lion, a Percy device, now obliterated. Above this
ia a row of corbels intended for the support of extra
defences, probably of wood, when needed. Many of the
noble ashlars must measure two feet in length, and most
of them are nearly a foot in depth. The archway is
ribbed ; and the deep groove of a portcullis at the outer
end is in good repair.
On the side facing the town the window-openings are
more numerous and of larger dimensions ; most of them,
however, are blocked up ; one is divided by amullion into
two lights, and another of more considerable size has both
a mullion and transom ; nevertheless, those on the ground
floor are mere arrow slits.
A small door in the archway on the south side opens
upon a narrow stone stair leading up to the chamber over
the gateway. This is now used by the militia band for
their practices and instruction. It was once used for the
BONDGATE TOWER, ALNWICK.
32
498
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{Korember
1890.
safe-keeping of prisoners ; and the Corporation accounts
have items for straw and looks provided for them. Some
dragoons were con6ned there in 1752, and six deserters
in 1755> SARAH WILSON.
Arctic <£v£rtritiffn antf a
tl)t late
jjARLY in 1773, the Hon. Daines Harrington
(whose younger brother was for a long num-
ber of years Bishop of Durham) moved the
Royal Society to address the King on hehalf
of a voyage to try how far navigation was possible in
the direction of the North Pole. George the Third, who
took a lively and laudable interest in geographical dis-
covery, listened to the proposal, and gave instructions
for carrying it into execution. Two of his Majesty's
ships, the Racehorse and Carcass, were selected for the
service ; and Captains Phippa and Lutwidge were ap-
pointed to the command of them. One of the midship-
men was Horatio Nelson. Th» highest latitude attained
in 1773 was 80 de?. 48 min., where the ice at the pack
edge was 2* feet thick ; and there being no passage to
be found north of Spitzbergen, the expedition returned.
In the following year, and while he had in hand the
quarto on his "Voyage towards the North Pole," the
Hon. Constantine John Phipps stood a contest for the
representation of the borough of Newcastle in Parlia-
ment.
The expedition of Captain Phipps sailed in the month
of June, 1773, and about a month afterwards (July 3)
was " running along by the coast of Spitzbergen all day :
several Greenlandmen in sight." On the morning of the
7th, the loose ice was apparently "close all round "; but
the commander "was in hopes that some opening might
be found to get through to a clear sea to the northward."
In the afternoon, " the ice settling very close," the Race-
horse "was between two pieces," and, "having little
wind," was stopped. " The Carcass being very near, and
not answering her helm well (says Captain Phipps), was
almott on board of us. After getting clear of her we ran
to the eastward. Finding the pieces increase in number
and size, and having got to a part less crowded with the
drift ice, I brought to, at six in the evening, to see
whether we could discover the least appearance of an
opening ; but it being my own opinion, as well aa that
of the pilots and officers, that we could go no further,
nor even remain there without danger of being upset, I
rant on board the Carcass for her pilots, to hear their
opinion. They both declared thai it appeared to them
impracticable to proceed that way, and that it was pro-
bable we should soon be beset where we were, and de-
tained ther«. The ice set so fast down, that before they
got on board the Carcass we were fast. Captain Lutwidge
hoisted our boat up, to prevent her being stove. We
were obliged to heave the ship through for two hours,
with ice anchors from each quarter; nor were we quite
out of the ice 'till midnight. This is about the place
where most of the old discoverers were stopped."
After two or three days of further exploration, Captain
Phipps "began to conceive (on the 10th) that the ice was
one compact, impenetrable body, having run along it from
east to west above ten degrees," but purposed "to stand
over to the eastward, in order to ascertain whether vhe
body of ice joined to Spitzbergen." On the 29th,
'• having little wind, and the weather very clear, two of
the officers went with a boat in pursuit of some sea-
horses, and afterwards to the low island " opposite the
Waygat Straits. " At six in the morning they returned.
In their way back, they had fired at, and wounded, a
sea-horse, which dived immediately, and brought up with
it a number of others. They all joined in an attack
upon the boat, wrested an oar from one of the men, and
were with difficulty prevented from stoving or oversetting
her ; but a boat from the Carcass joining ours, they dis-
persed. One of that ship's boats had before been at-
tacked in the same manner. " On the 30th, the latitude
at noon was by observation 80 deg. 31 min. Between 11
and 12 at night, there having been no appearance in the
afternoon of an opening, the master, Mr. Crane, was
sent in the four-oared boat amongst the ice, to try
whether he could get through, and find any way by which
the ship might have a prospect of sailing farther ; with
directions, if he could reach the shore, to go up one of
the mountains, in order to discover the state of the
ice to the eastward and northward. "At five in the
morning, the ice being all around us, we got out our ice
anchors, and moored alongside a field. The master
returned between seven and eight; and with him
Captain Lutwidge, who had joined him on shore. They
had ascended a high mountain, from whence they com-
manded a prospect to the east and north-east ten or
twelve leagues, over one continued plain of smooth, un-
broken ice, bounded only by the horizon. They also
saw land stretching to the S.E., laid down in the Dutch
charts as islands. The main body of ice, which was
traced from west to east, they now perceived to join
these islands, and from them to what is called the North-
East Land." Next day, " the weather very fine, the ice
closed fast, and was all round the ships. No opening to
be seen anywhere, except a hole of about a mile and a
half, where the ships lay fast to the ice with ice anchors."
All day long the mariners were at play on the ice ; but
the pilots were greatly concerned. They were "much
further than they had ever been ; and the season advanc-
ing, they seemed alarmed at being beset."
August came ; t"ie ice pressed in fast ; there was not
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
499
now the smallest opening. The ships, less than two
lengths apart, were separated by ice, and had not room to
turn, the frozen expanse, all flat the day before, and
almost level with the water's edge, was so no longer.
The ice was now in many places forced higher than the
main-yard, by the pieces squeezing together. "We
had but one alternative, either patiently to wait the
event of the weather upon the ships, in hopes of getting
them out, or to betake ourselves to the boats. The ships
had driven into shoal water, having but fourteen fathom.
Should they, or the ice to which they were fast, take the
ground, they must be inevitably lost, and probably over-
set. The hope of getting the ships out was not hastily to
be relinquished, nor obstinately adhered to, till all other
means of retreat were cut off. " Wintering under the cir-
cumstances was impracticable ; nor could the companies
remain much longer. The boats were prepared for depar-
ture ; but endeavours were made to move the ships, and
they were eventually forced through the ice, and to the
harbour of Smeerenberg.
The ships sailed from Smeerenberg on the 19th, the
commander making a note in his journal (August 22)
that the season was so very far advanced, and fogs, as
well as gales of wind, so much to be expected, that
nothing more could have been done, had anything been
left untried. " The summer appears to have been
uncommonly favourable for our purpose, and afforded us
the fullest opportunity of ascertaining repeatedly the
situation of that wall of ice, extending for more than
twenty degrees between the latitude of 80 and 81,
without the smallest appearance of any opening."
The scene shifts. The navigators are once more at
home. Captain Phipps is now among the printers with
his book, now among the electors for their votes. No
longer hemmed in by ice, he is beset by burgesses, and
sees not how he shall get out — whether at the top or
bottom of the poll. What a contrast between the 6th
of July, 1773, and 6th of July, 1774 ! On the former
day, he was in the silence of the Arctic Circle with a
handful of men. On the latter, he was dragged along
Tyne Bridge by Gatesiders and Novocastrians in the
presence of vociferous thousands, guns firing, and the
church bells ringing. From the head of Gateshead he
and Mr. Thomas Delaval, the "Burgesses' Candidates,"
were drawn to Mr. Nelson's, the Black Bull, in the
Bigg Market. Then, in due time, they came before
the freemen in Barber Surgeons' Hall, and were
unanimously approved by the assembly ; after which,
the incorporated companies were visited in their re-
spective halls, "and they were received in the genteclest
manner. "
Some of the companies had been presented, in the
month of May, with copies of a book intended to
influence public opinion on the eye of the general
election. "Yesterday," said the Newcastle Chronicle on
the 28th, "the Company of Bricklayers, the Company
of Goldsmiths, and the Lumber Troop, in this town,
received each, by the fly, two large quarto volumes,
from an unknown person in London, entitled 'The
Chains of Slavery,' with a Prefatory Address to the
Electors of Great Britain, in order to draw their timely
attention to the choice of proper representatives in the
next Parliament. The work is spirited, and appears
through the whole a masterly execution." The "unknown
person" was probably the author, the afterwards too
well-known Jean Paul Marat, once a brief resident in
Newcastle. (See Monthly Chronicle, 1887, p. 49.)
The rival candidates for the representation of New-
castle in 1774- were the " Burgesses' Candidates," Captain
Phipps and Mr. Delaval, and the "Magistrates' Candi-
dates," Sir Walter Blackett and Sir Matthew White
Ridley. Sir Matthew had succeeded in 1763 to the
baronetcy of his uncle ; and now, his father having re-
tired after representing the borough in four Parliaments,
he offered himself to the electors as his successor. But
he and Sir Walter were stoutly opposed by a party who
had raised the question "Whether the Magistrates or the
Burgesses should elect the Members." The governing
body, however, had great power, and the independent
purty fought against fearful odds. It is difficult for the
present generation to conceive how strong were the old
Corporations — the ruling powers of the close boroughs,
where none but free burgesses had a vote in the elections,
and all who were thus qualified, wherever they might
happen to reside, could flock from far and near to the
poll. The canvass might extend to any corner of the
kingdom ; and in 1774 it went on from the beginning of
July to the middle of October. From week to week
there were paragraphs in the newspapers. Shots were
flying on all sides. There is a story in the Chronicle of
"a great lady here,"who "smartly told Captain Phipps,"
on his round of the electors, "that he had better keep
his canvas to mend his sails." In another column the
electors are reminded of the remark of " a celebrated
writer," made when the gallant captain was preparing to
set out on his expedition to explore the polar regions,
"that it was to be lamented so able a senator, so worthy a
man, so good a speaker, and so firm a patriot as Captain
Phipps should hazard his life upon so precarious a
voyage as that to the North Pole, when his virtues
rendered him so dear to the public."
In the night of the 9th August, on his return to New-
castle after a temporary absence, Captain Phipps was
drawn out of Gateshead by a number of his admirers,
preceded by flambeaux. The Bricklayers elected him,
and also Delaval, members of their company, and pre-
sented each of them with a silver trowel and mahogany
hod. It is an incident from which we may gather how
great was the excitement roused by the contest.
Wednesday, the 10th of August, was the anniversary of
" the day on which (in 1773) the burgesses were confirmed
in their right to the Town Moor." There was a popular
500
MOM7I1LY CHRONICLE.
I NoTember
\ 1890.
commemoration of the event. Great were the rejoicings
on the occasion. " For the pastime of the multitude, a
bull was baited on the Moor, decorated about the head
with satirical emblems consonant to the present contest,
and which made much diversion to the spectators."
Six hundred and fifteen persons are said to have been
admitted to their freedom at the guild preceding the poll,
which commenced on the llth of October, at a "well-
contrived erection of wood-work," placed "in the open
under-part of the Guildhall." The electors recorded their
votes in tallies, so that the candidates stood pretty equal
so long as they all had supporters to bring up. On Mon-
day, the sixth day, Phipps slightly headed the poll. But
the forces of the Burgesses' Candidates were now well-
nigh spent, and on Tuesday they retired from the contest.
The poll, however, still went on, and was kept open over
Wednesday; when, after it had been prolonged for eight
days, it came to a close, thirty-two companies having
taken part in the election, The number of freemen that
polled was 2,164, the votes being thus given : —
Sir Walter Blackett.... ... 1,432
Sir Matthew White Ridley 1,411
Hon. Constantine John Phipps 795
Thomas Delaval, Esq 677
The Butchers gave the largest number of votes (viz.,
238). Then came the Masters and Mariners (210), the
Smiths (186), the Merchants (184), the Shipwrights (141),
the Barber Surgeons (137), and the Uordwainers (115),
none of the remainder polling so many as a hundred.
Phipps and Blackett had a majority of the votes ot the
Butchers' Company ; Ridley and Phipps, of the House
Car]jenters' ; Phipps and Delaval, of the Joiners' and the
Bricklayers'. In all the other companies Blackett and
Ridley were in a majority.
Sir Walter was the acknowledged "King of New-
castle." Large and powerful was his following. On his
canvasses "he was generally attended by about five
hundred gentlemen, tradesmen, and others, some of
whom had weight with almost every freeman." "He
was acknowledged, by all who knew him, to stand
unrivalled" as a canvasser. "His open countenance
and courtly deportment, his affability of manner, and,
what with many is the greatest consideration, his strict
integrity in keeping his electioneering promises — this
powerful combination of circumstances, as was observed
by Captain Phipps, set all competition with Sir Walter
for the representation of Newcastle at defiance." Six
times he had been elected aforetime, winning hia seat at
the poll in 1734, and maintaining his place in "the
great contest" of 1741, when four Aldermen of Newcastle
fought for supremacy ; and now, by a third poll, forty
years after the first, he was sent to his seventh and last
Parliament. Death alone being able to dethrone this
local monarch.
These were "the good old days." The month of
October, which witnessed the issue of the contest of
1774, did not pass away without "a cold collation and
ball " at the old Assembly Rooms in the Groat Market.
There the successful candidates entertained their friends.
"Sir Walter Blackett and Miss Ridley, Sir Matthew
White Ridley and Miss Trevalian, opened the ball."
Recording spectators were present in the throng. "The
ladies in particular," says one of them, "made a most
splendid appearance in their dress, and were not less
attracting in their personal charms and gaiety of
humour." "They seemed to vie with each other," says
another, "in the taste and magnificence of their habits,
which were richly ornamented with jewels."
The times are changed ; the freemen have ceased to
be the exclusive electors ; candidates give no collations
or balls; and bulls are not baited on the Moor. The
town is changed : the Tyne is changed. Captain Phipps,
as a naval officer, lamented the condition of the river
navigation in 1774. Nature, he remarked, had given
the district a noble river, and neglect had turned it
into "a cursed horse- pond." There is now neither close
Corporation nor close Conservatorship. The manage-
ment of the river has been thrown open to the towns
that border the navigable channel ; and the reproach
of the Arctic navigator would now have been exchanged
for approval and commendation.
IV.
THE GALLANT GRAEMES.
j]HE laxity of Border morals with respect to
property is seen in the very animated ballads
of " Jamie Telfer o' the Fair Dodhead," the
"Lochmaben Harper,'' "Dick o' the Cow,"
&c. On the other hand, courage, fidelity, enterprise,
and all the martial virtues are exemplified in "Kinmont
Willie,"" Jock o' the Side," " Archie o'Ca'field,"&c. In
Huchie the Graeme, the hero of another beautiful ballad,
we have a good type of the mosstroopers who inhabited
the Debateable Land, and who were to the full as fickle
in their allegiance, and as impartial in their depredations,
as either the Liddesdale or the Tynedale thieves. The
" gallant Graemes " were said to be of Scottish extrac-
tion, but in military service they were more attached to
England than to their mother country. They were,
however, as the gentlemen of Cumberland alleged to Lord
Scroope, in the year 1600, " with their children, tenants,
and servants, the chiefest actors in the spoil and decay "
of that part of the kingdom. The following members of
the clan appear in a list of about four hundred Borderers,
against whom bills of complaint were exhibited to the
Bishop of Carlisle, about 1553, for divers incursions,
burnings, murders, mutilations, and spoils by them com-
mitted : — Ritchie Graeme of Bailie, Will's Jock Graeme,
Muckle Willie Graeme, Will Graeme of Rosetrees, Richie
November I
1390. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
501
Graeme, younger, of Netherby ; Wat Graeme, called
Flaughttail ; Will Graeme, called Nimble Willie ; and
Will Graeme, called Mickle Willie. The Debateable Land
and parts adjoining gave shelter in all emergencies to such
lawless men as found it necessary to cut and run from
their own side of the Border. Fugitive Graemes found a
safe refuge in Liddesdale, and fugitive Elliots and
Armstrongs in Cumberland. Carey, Earl of Mon-
mouth, tells, in his "Memoirs," a long story of one of
the Graemes harbouring two Scottishmen who had killed
a churchman in Scotland, and refusing to give them up to
him as deputy-warden of the West March, when he went
to his strong tower, about five miles from Carlisle, to
demand them in the king's name. Graeme, when he
saw Carey coming, sent off a "bonny boy," to ride as
fast as his horse could carry him, to bring assistance
from Liddesdale. Carey, on his side, arranged to
assemble between seven and eight hundred men, horse
and foot, and set about besieging the tower. The
garrison offered to parley, and yielded themselves to
his mercy, seeing that timely help did not come. But
they had no sooner opened the iron gate than four
hundred horsemen appeared within a quarter of a mile,
where, seeing the attacking party so numerous, they
halted, and "stood at gaze." "Then," says Carey,
"had I more to do than ever; for all our Borderers
came crying, with full mouths, *Sir, give us leave to set
upon them, for these are they that have killed our fathers,
our brothers and uncles, and our cousins, and they are
coming, thinking to surprise you, upon weak grass nags,
such as they could get on a sudden, and God hath put
them into our hands that we may take revenge of them
for much blood that they have spilt of ours. ' " The
deputy-warden gave them a fair answer, but resolved
not to give them their desire, fearing the personal con-
sequences to himself, it being a time of peace. He sent
with speed to the Scots, and bade them pack away
with all the haste they could, for if they stayed the
messenger's return there would few of them get back
to their own homes. Prudently they made no stay, but
hurried away homewards before the messenger had made
an end of his message ; but the Cumberland men were
very ill satisfied, though they durst not disobey. The
Graemes, being deemed incorrigible, were some time
afterwards transported to Ireland, but most of them
found their way back before long to the banks of the
Esk, and were permitted to take root again there.
Fuller, in his quaint style, says they came to church as
seldom as the 29th of February came into the calendar.
Their sons were "free of the (stouthrift) trade of their
father's copy." They were like unto Job, "not in piety
and patience, but in sudden plenty and poverty ; some-
times having flocks and herds in the morning, none at
night, and perchance many again next day."
THK MDDESDALE THIEVES.
The next neighbours of the Graemes, the Liddesdale
thieves, were quite as great a pest. Maitland says of
them—
Of Liddesdale the common thieves
Sae Partly steals now and reives,
That nanedare keep
Horse, colt, nor sheep.
Nor yet dare sleep
For their mischieves.
They plainly through the country rides ;
I trow the muckle devil them guides ;
Where they on-set,
Aye i' the gait,
There is nae yett
Nor door them bides.
THE INGLEWOOD FOREST THIEVES.
A link between the outlaws on the Scottish Border and
those in Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire, is supplied
by Adam Bell, Clym of the Clough, and William of Clou-
desly, the heroes of a ballad as old as Henry VIII. 's days.
This trio is supposed to h»ve been contemporary with the
father of Robin Hood, who is represented as having
beaten them at shooting at a mark. They lived a wild
life in the North Countree, at some undetermined period.
That they flourished before the reign of Henry is
clear from the fact that Engle or Ingle Wood, which
they frequented, was disforested by Henry, and had
become in Camden's time "a dreary moor, with high
distant hills on both sides, and a few stone farm-houses
and cottages along the road." Ingleborougb, a hill which
obtained its name, as the Eildons in Roxburghshire did,
from the beacon-fires anciently lighted on its summit,
stood on the confines of this forest, which extended from
Carlisle to Penrith. Frequent allusions to the three
outlaws above-named occur in the plays of the Eliza-
bethan age.
THE EEDESDALE THIEVES.
A survey made in 1542 describes the Redesdale men as
living in shiels during the summer months, and pasturing
their cattle in the graynes and hafes of the country on the
south side of the Coquet, about Redlees and Milkwood,
or on the waste grounds which sweep along the eastern
marches of North Tynedale, about the Dogburn Head,
Hawcup Edge, or Hollinhead. At this time they not
only joined with their neighbours of Tynedale in acts of
rapine and spoil, but often went as guides to the Scottish
thieves in expeditions to harry and burn the towns and
villages in Tynedale Ward, separated from their own
country by the broad tracks of waste land stretching to
the south of Elsdon, from the Simonside Hills to about
Thockrington. Ponteland, Birtley, Gunnerston, and
that neighbourhood suffered repeatedly from this sore
grievance. The district to the north of the Coquet was
equally harassed by inroads made through the Windy
Gate, at the head of Beaumont Water, or by the old
Watling Street, from Jed Forest ; and the inhabitants
could get little or no redress for the losses they sustained,
it being next to impossible to identify the thieves, who
were, indeed, almost as often English as Scotch. Those
among the young dalesmen were most praised and
502
MON2HLY CHRONICLE.
f November
cherished by their elders who showed themselves the most
expert thieves, and in this respect they would not have
yielded the palm to the best Spartan that ever lived. In
moonlight expeditions, whether into Scotland or England,
they delighted. From generation to generation they
went on from bad to worse, and it actually seemed as if it
would be necessary to exterminate them, in order to
pacify the country. It was to little purpose that a watch
was set, from sunset to sunrise, at several places, passages
and fords, "endalong" the Middle Marches; for the
Scottish thieves generally had abettors and accomplices
amongst the inhabitants of the districts visited, who led
them by circuitous paths — as Ephialtes the Melian led the
Persians over the mountains to Thermopylae — down into
the low country, where a richer spoil was to be had, that
would afford the guides as well as the guided something
for their trouble. Ten years after the date of the above
survey, John Dudley, Earl of Northumberland, and his
deputy, Lord Dacre, established a day watch also, upon a
more enlarged plan than had hitherto been devised. Its
carrying out, however, was necessarily entrusted to the
principal inhabitants or head men, and so it was of very
little use ; for seven years later, in 1559, we find Sir
Ralph Sadler, who was for a short time warden of the
East and Middle Marches, and was well experienced in
Border matters, describing the people as still "naughty,
evil, unruly, and misdemeanant." The Redesdale thieves,
he says, were no better than " very rebels and outlaws,"
and lie could see no way of bringing them into order but
by having a garrison of soldiers amongst them.
THE LAW OF GAVELKI.ND.
Over-population was set down, by superficial thinkers,
as one cause of the turbulence of the dalesmen. Five
or six families would ostensibly subsist, for instance, on
a poor farm of a noble rent (six and eightpence sterling),
their principal means of living really being systematic
theft. Tynedale and Redesdale had never been subdued
by William the Conqueror or his successors, and conse-
quently they retained, till the middle of the seventeenth
century, as Kent still does, the ancient Saxon law and
custom of Gavelkind, whereby the lands of the father
were equally divided at his death among all the sons.
Neither did they forfeit their lands when convicted of a
capital crime, the old maxim holding good in these parts,
to which the feudal tenure was still foreign : —
The father to the bough,
And the son to the plough, —
meaning, that when the father was hanged, the son
took his estate, instead of it reverting to the Crown.
Gray, in his "Chorographia," says there was every year
a number of these thieves brought in to Newcastle Gaol,
and sometimes twenty or thirty of them were condemned
and banged at the assizes. This would soon have
reduced the number of lairds but for gavelkind. As it
was, the more of them that were hanged, the more were
left, at least if the individuals "justified," whether at
Newcastle, Hexham, Morpeth, or Carlisle, were family
men. Hundreds, nay, thousands of them, read or had
read for them their "neck-verse" at Hairibee, or on
some other noted gallow-hill— places where the hangman
always did his work by daylight, and bad something
like "constant 'ploy," and where, occasionally, hanging
came first and judgment afterwards, for the very good
reason that, if a malefactor was not immediately strung
up whenever he was caught, there was some probability
that his friends would come to the rescue, and the
"woodie" would be cheated. If we turn to "» Rental
of the Ancient Principality of Redesdale in 1618," printed
in the "Archeeologia j9Lliana," we shall find that, in spite
of all these hangings, this tract of country was still
"overcharged with an excessive number of inhabitants, "
and an old French historian, quoted by Pinkerton, tells
us "the country was more abundant in savages than
cattle."
HKXHAMSHIKE.
The district called Hexhamshire, so long ai it was
reckoned a county palatine, and possessed what Hutchin-
son calls "the ignominious privilege of sanctuary," was an
asylum of thieves and robbers, the greatest offenders to
the crown and their country daily removing thither, upon
hope and trust of refuge thereby, to the great comfort and
encouragement of many of the vilest and worst subjects
and offenders in all the north parts, and to the great
offence of the Almighty, and most manifest hindrance of
good execution of law and justice. On this account the
privilege was taken away by statute in the reign of
Elizabeth, and Hexhamshire incorporated into Northum-
berland. The old proverbial taunt, however, is still some-
times heard — "Go to Hexham !"
THE HALLS.
The Halls appear to have been in bad repute, even
amongst their neighbours, in consequence of Hall, of
Girsonsfield, near Otterburn, having betrayed Percival or
Parcy Reed, of Troughend, a keeper of Redesdale, to a
Scottish clan of the name of Crozier, who slew him at
Batinghope, near the source of the Reed. From this
act they were called "the fause hearted Ha's,'' and when
they entered a house to obtain refreshment, the cheese
used to be set before them with the bottom uppermost, an
expression of the host's dislike to their company. (See
Monthly Chronicle, 1888, p. 370.) In the thirteenth year
of Queen Elizabeth (A.D. 1572), at midsummer, two men
named Hall, from Oxnain, Jed, or Rule Water (for there
were clans named Hall on both sides, and both of moss-
trooper breed), made a foray across the Border, and
carried off from Roger Fenwick, of Rothley, and his
tenants, a hundred and forty kine, of which outrage
Roger complained to the Council of the North, moreover
alleging that the Laird of Bedrule, the Laird of Edger-
ston, Aynsley of Faulby, and others, had given shelter to
the Halls, though they knew them to be common thieves.
In the twenty-eighth of Elizabeth, the Halls, of Elishaw.
November 1
1890. }
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
503
between Otterburn and Rochester, were suddenly visited
by the chiefs of the Elliots, Croziers, and Nixons, of
Liddesdale, with eighty or more of their clansmen, who
killed the head of the house and carried off forty oxen,
two horses, and thirty pounds worth of household stuff.
In tbe pursuit two brothers Wanless were slain. A few
years previous the Halls of Overacres, or Haveraeres,
near Elsdon, and ten other householders of the immediate
locality, were alarmed by the appearance of a hundred
and sixty Elliots, Croziers, and Nobles, who swept away
a hundred and forty head of cattle, twenty horses, and
ten pounds worth of household stuff, killed John Hall,
and lamed eight of his followers^who had made a vigorous
but ineffectual defence. WILLIAM BBOOKIK.
(Cite
at $0tttelatttr.
I10NTELAND is a picturesque and pleasantly
located village, on the river Pont, from
which it derives its name. The old North
Road passes through it, and this fact gave it
an importance in bygone times which it does not now
possess. It may be called a remote place, at least in these
days, when we expect the railway to carry us to any spot
which it is worth our while to visit. Newcastle is seven
miles from Ponteland, along a road which is as good as
could be wished, but which, nevertheless, is lonely and in
many places bleak. Yet Newcastle is practically the
nearest point to Ponteland to which we can got by rail ;
for though Stannington, on the Morpeth Line, is perhaps
a mile nearer, yet what is gained in distance is lost in the
character of the road. Thrice every week Ponteland
communicates with Newcastle, and Newcastle with
Ponteland, by means of sundry antiquated and incom-
modious omnibuses, described in directories and else-
where by the dignified term "coaches," which afford,
inside and out, amidst their crowded freight of "goods,
chattels, and effects," such an experience of discomfort to
passengers travelling with them as could not with ease be
equalled.
Yet Ponteland merits being visited, not merely for its
quiet rural aspect, nor solely that its ancient church,
dating back to early Norman times, may be seen, nor
even that the " Blackbird ''' — not to mention the "Seven
Stars" and the "Diamond" — with its ancient apart-
ments, may be examined, but quite as much for the sake
of the historical associations which cluster round the
place. There is no evidence to connect Ponteland itself
with Roman occupation, although, from the fancied
resemblance of the name, William Camden identified it
with the Pons JElii of the Romans. The earliest history
of Ponteland is embedded in the walls of the church — an
edifice of great interest, to which, by-and-by, an entire
article ought to be devoted. In the early part of the
thirteenth century the Manor of Ponteland seems to have
been in tbe hands of a family which took its name from
the place, and in the "Testa de Neville," Gilbert de
Eland is mentioned as the tenant in capite.
The first event connected with Ponteland mentioned in
the page of our national history occurs in the reign of
Henry III. That was an age of frequent feuds between
the Kings of England and Scotland. One of the Scottish
chronicles tells us that " the accursed traitor Walter
Bisset " and his associates employed themselves in poison-
ing the ear of Henry against Alexander, the King of
Scotland, until at last the English King gathered his
army together and marched to Newcastle. From New-
castle he went forward to Ponteland, and there he was
met by Alexander, who was accompanied by a large
army. Instead of fighting, however, "a treaty of peace
was concluded between them, on the vigil of the Assump-
tion [i.e., on the 24th August, 1244], chiefly at the in-
stance of the Archbishop of York and of other nobles."
Shortly after this event, we find Ponteland in the
hands of a noble, almost a royal family. The battle of
Northampton was fought on the 3rd April, 1264. In the
desperate struggle against the arbitrary proceedings of
Henry III., of which that battle was the climax, Roger
Bertram, Lord of Mitford, took part with the Earl of
Leicester against the King. He was taken prisoner, and
all his estates in Northumberland were forfeited to the
Crown. Ponteland was amongst the number. Henry
granted these estates to William de Valence, his half-
brother. This William was the son and heir of Hugh le
Brun and Isabella Angouleme, the fascinating and lovely
widow of King John. He was succeeded by his son, Sir
Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, who is chiefly
memorable for his singular death. Aymer was thnce
married. His third wife was Mary, daughter of Guy de
Chastillon, Earl of St. Paul. On his wedding-day he
engaged in a tournament, and— was killed, leaving to his
bride the unusual fate of being maid, wife, and widow in
a single day. From him the barony of Mitford, with its
dependent manors, of which Ponteland was one, seems to
have passed to a niece, Joan Cumin, whose father, John
Cumin, was stabbed in the heart by Robert Bruce of
Scotland before the high altar of the convent of Friars
Minors at Dumfries. Joan Cumin married David de
Strathbolgie, the eleventh Earl of Athol, whose father,
David, the tenth Earl, was hanged on a gibbet 40 feet
high, on account of his adherence to the cause of Robert
Bruce. His head was fixed on London Bridge, and his
body was burut to ashes. From the eleventh earl Ponte-
land descended to the twelfth earl, another David de
Strathbolgie, who was as ill-fated as some of his ancestors,
for he was slain in Scotland, at the age of 28, whilst
fighting in the cause of Edward III.
The next lord of Ponteland cannot be dismissed so
rapidly as some of the preceding owners. He was no
other than the famed Sir Aymer de Athol, brother of the
504
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I November
1 1890.
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November I.
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
505
506
MONIHLY CHRONICLE.
f Noverrber
lait named Earl of Athol, and Lord of Jesmond and
Ponteland. To him a venerable tradition assigns the gift
to th« burgesses of Newcastle of their Town Moor ; and
although part at least of this great freehold was in their
possession long before Sir Aymer's time, there can be
little doubt that some portion of it is a benefaction of his.
Sir Aymer lived in his castle at Ponteland. Opposite
the west end of the church is a long range of old build-
ings, of Elizabethan or Jacobean date, and partly
occupied by a genuine hostelry of the olden time, well
known as the "Blackbird." But behind these are
portions of a much earlier residence, which we may feel
quite safe in identifying with the tortalice of Sir Aymer
de Athol. There is a barrel vaulted apartment, now used
as a combined stable and byre. Then there is a mar-
vellously wide fireplace, though the walls by which it
was enclosed have, within the memory of persons still
living, been removed. A stone staircase which winds
round and round a square central block of masonry is
worthy of careful examination. But most interesting is
the lintel of the doorway of an outhouse, on which are
incribed the sombre words, " HOMO BVLLA " (Man is a
bubble).
Here, then, lived Sir Aymer de Athol. It is curious to
read that he and Sir Ralph Eure, in 1381, were knights of
the shire of Northumberland, and had each 4s. a day
allowed during their attendance in Parliament. Sir Aymer
was at Ponteland on the eve of the battle of Otterburn.
For three days James, Earl of Douglas, had laid siege to
Newcastle, and on the last day of the siege he had un-
horsed Sir Henry Percy, the celebrated Hotspur, in single
combat. But very early the following morning he with-
drew his forces and took the road north. "They came,"
an old chronicler tells us, "to a town and castle called
Ponclau [i.e., Ponteland], of which Sir Haynion d'Aphel,
a very valiant knight of Northumberland, was lord. They
halted there about four o'clock in the morning, as they
learnt the knight to be within it, and made preparations for
the assault. This was done with such courage that the
place was won, and the knight made prisoner. After
they had burnt the town and castle, they marched away
for Otterburn, which was eight English leagues from
Newcastle, and there encamped themselves."
Sir Aymer founded a chantry, dedicated to the Holy
Trinity, in the church of St. Andrew, Newcastle. In his
chantry he was buried in 1402. A memorial brass which
recorded his name and that of his second wife, and
bore their effigies, remained till recent years ; but piece
after piece was gradually torn off, and given away, lost,
or sold for old metal. One last precious fragment is
amongst the treasures possessed by the Newcastle Society
of Antiquaries, and is preserved in the museum at the
Black Gate.
After the lapse of a few generations we find Ponteland
in the hands of a branch of the great Northumbrian
family of Mitford. One Anthony Mitford, who held
Ponteland in the early days of Queen Elizabeth, was a
man of considerable importance amongst his peers. His
granddaughter, Margaret, married Mark Errington, of
Wolsington. By this marriage Ponteland passed to the
Erringtons, by whom it was held from 1597 to 1774.
Mark Errinfrton partly rebuilt the manor bouse, and his
initials occur twice upon its front, and again upon a
mantel-piece in a room, which he seems to have partly
rebuilt, over the barrel vaulted apartment that I have
already mentioned. From the Erringtons, the manor
house and its extensive estates passed to the Silvertops,
but before they entered upon it the more romantic history
of Ponteland was completed.
Two views accompany this article— one representing
the bridge over the Pont, with the church beyond ; the
other showing the road to Whalton, also with the church.
Of the remains of the two old towers at Ponteland, a few
particulars, with a sketch of one of them, will be found in
the Mcmthly Chronicle for 1889, p. 367. JACOB BBS.
Captain %arftarg $?jortoartr, the
Cabalier
JlOHNSON'S "Lives and Adventures of the
most Famous Highwaymen, Pyrates," &c.,
published in 1753, contains a long account
of a Captain Zachary Howard, who seems
to have been one of the most arrant rogues that England
ever bred. As the scene of one of his exploits was
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, some notice of him may be given
here to show the sort of literature that pleased our
ancestors. One or two of the anecdotes related by
Johnson are too gross, indeed, for publication ; but with
the exception of these, we shall give the details much as
our authority sets them down, premising, however, that
they are probably altogether false.
Captain Howard, it seems, was a gentleman born and
bred. His father died in 1641, just about the breaking
ont of the Civil War, and left him an estate in
Gloucestershire, worth fourteen hundred pounds a year.
A sincere feeling of loyalty inspired him with the
ambition of fighting for his king and country; and he
accordingly mortgaged his estate for twenty thousand
pounds, and raised a troop of horse with the money for
the service of King Charles, who gave him the command
of it. He remained in the army, fighting with gallantry,
till the Republican party became sole masters of the
field; and then, with many other cavaliers, he retired
into exile.
But he did not continue long abroad. In the course
of a few months, he seems to have returned to England,
though there is some confusion in the record as to dates.
Johnson says he was in attendance on King Charles II.
at the battle of Worcester, where "he performed wonders
November).
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
507
to the honour of the royal army, and more especially
to his own honour and praise ; for he was even taken
notice of and applauded by his Maiesty himself." But
this statement is plainly false, being altogether incon-
sistent with what follows, and with the date of the
captain's untimely forced departure from this sublunary
world. For Worcester was fought on the 3rd of Sep-
tember, 1651, and Howard paid the last penalty of the
law only a few months subsequently, after the spring
assizes in the following year. However this may have
been, "having lost his estate, and being out of all
employment, he could find no other way of supporting
himself than by robbing upon the highway — a very
indifferent method, indeed, but what a great many
gentlemen in those days were either obliged to take to,
or to want bread."
Johnson goes on to tell us —
'Tis said of Howard that when he resolved on this
course of life, he did like Hind and some others of his
contemporaries, in swearing he would be revenged, as far
as lay in his power, ot all persons who were against the
interest of his royal master. Accordingly, we are told,
that he attacked all whom he met, and knew to be of that
party. It appears, too, by the following accounts, that he
succeeded in hunting out those regicides. The first whom
he assaulted on the road was the Karl of Essex, who had
been general-in-chief of all the Parliament's forces. His
lordship was riding over Bagshot Heath, with five or six
in retinue; nevertheless, Zachary rode boldly up to thd
coach door, commanded the driver to stand and my lore
to deliver, adding that if he did not comply with his
demand without words, neither he nor any of his servants
should have any quarter. It was unaccountable how a
general, who had been always used to success, with so
many attendants, should be terrified at the menaces of a
single highwayman. But it was so, that his honour gave
him £1,200, which he had in the coach, and which had
been squeezed out of forfeited estates, Church lands, and
sequestrations, not being willing to venture his life for
such a trifle at a time when the party had such a plentiful
harvest to reap. Zachary was so well contented with his
booty that he let the rebellious nobleman pass without
punishing him any further for his disloyalty, only desiring
him to get such another sum against he met him again in
some other convenient place.
Another time, on Newmarket Heath, Howard over-
took the Earl of Pembroke, Sir Philip Sidney's nephew,
who had made himself conspicuous in Parliament by
his speeches against kingly tyranny.
Only one footman attended his honour, and Zachary,
going in company with them, held his lordship in dis-
course for about half a mile, when, coming to a place
proper for his design, he pulled out a pistol, and spoke
the terrifying precept, with the addition of a whole volley
of oaths, what he would do to him if he did not surrender
that minute. *' You seem," says the earl, "by your
swearing, to be a ranting cavalier. Have you taken a
lease of your life, sir, that yon dare venture it thus
against two men?" Howard answered, "I would
venture it against two more, with your idol Cromwell at
the head of you, notwithstanding the great noise he has
made." "O," says P , "hes a precious man, and
has fought the lord's battles with success." Zachary re-
plied with calling Oliver and all his crew a company of
dastardly cowards, and putting his lordship in mind that
talking bred delays, and delays are dangerous : "There-
fore," says he, "out with your purse this moment, or
I shall out with your soul, if you have any." The earl
still delaying, Howard dismounted him by shooting his
horse, and then took from him a purse full of broad pieces
of gold and a rich diamond ring ; then, making him
mount behind his man, he tied them back to back, and
in that condition left them. My lord rode, swearing,
cursing, and damning, to the next town, with his face
towards the horse's tail, when a great multitude of people
gathered about him, some laughing, others wondering at
his riding in that preposterous manner, till he declared
the occasion, and the people very civilly released him.
General Fairfax, who got the chief command of the
Parliamentary forces after the Earl of Essex, having
taken up bis quarters for some time in Newcastle-upon_
Tyne, Howard, who chanced to be on a visit to the same
town, sought an opportunity of robbing him.
It came to the captain's ear that Fairfax was about
sending a man to his lady with some plate which had been
presented to him by the Mayor and Aldermen of that
Corporation ; so that when the day came that the fellow
set out with the prize, our highwayman also took his
leave of Newcastle, and rode aft«r the Roundhead ser-
vant. He overtook him on the road and fell into deep
discourse with him about the present times, which How-
ard seemed as well pleased with as the other, who took
him really for an honest fellow as he seemed, and offered
still to bear him company. They baited, dined, supped,
and lay together, and so continued in this friendly
manner till the messenger came within a day's journey
of the seat where his lady resided. Next morning being
the last day they were to be together, Howard thought
it was now high time to execute his design, which he did
with a great deal of difficulty. Being come to a place
proper to act his part in, Zachary pulled out his com-
mission and commanded the fellow to deliver the port-
manteau, in which was the plate, to the value of two
hundred and fifty pounds. The other, being as resolute
to preserve as Howard was to take it from him, refused
to comply ; whereupon a sharp combat ensued between
them, in which the captain had his horse shot under
him, after a discharge of two or three pistols on either
side. The encounter still lasted ; for our highwayman
continued to tire on foot till he shot his adversary through
the head, which occasioned him to fall and breathe his
last in a moment. When Howard saw the man dead, he
thought it his best way to get off the ground as fast as
he could ; so, nimbly mounting the remaining horse who
carried the treasure, he rode about five miles from the
place where the act was committed, and then deposited
the portmanteau in a hollow tree, and went to dinner
at the next town. From thence he made the best of his
way to Faringdon in Berkshire, where Madam Fairfax
was, and whither the fellow he had killed was bound.
He reached thither that evening, and delivered the
following letter to the lady, which he had found in the
pockets of the deceased : —
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, AugTist 12, 1550.
My Dear, — Hoping that you and my daughter Elizabeth are in
good health, this comes to acquaint you that my presence is so
agreeable to the inhabitants of this place, that their mayor and
aldermen have presented me with a large quantity of plate, which
I have sent to you by my man Thomas, a new servant, whom I
would have you treat very kindly, he being recommended to me
hy several gentlemen as a very honest, worthy man. The Lord be
praised, I am very well, and earnestly long for the happiness of
enjoying your companj', which I hope to do within this month or
five weeks at farthest In the meantime, I subscribe myself, your
loving husband till death, FAIRFAX.
The lady, learning by the contents that a parcel of plate
was sent by the bearer, inquired of him where it was.
Her supposed man readily told her that he was in danger
of being robbed of it on such a heath by some suspicious
persons ; and that therefore, lest he should meet with the
same men again, or others like them, he had lodged his
charge in the hands of a substantial innkeeper at such a
town, from whence he could fetch it in two days. This
pretence of his carefulness pleased his new mistress very
much, and confirmed the character which her husband
had sent ; so that she made very much of him, and
desired him to go to bed betimes, that he might rest from
the fatigues of his journey. The whole family at this
time consisted only of the lady, her daughter, two maids,
and two men servants. No sooner were all these gone to
508
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/ Novpmber
I 1890.
their repose than Howard arose, dressed himself, and
with sword and pistol in hand, went into the servants
apartments, whom he threatened with present death if
they made the least noise. All four of these he tied with
l»d cords and gagged them. Having secured those whom
he most feared, he went into Mrs. Fairfax s chamber and
served her and her daughter as he had done the servants ;
then he proceeded to make a strict scrutiny into the
trunks, boxes, and chests of drawers, finding m all two
thousand broad pieces of gold and some silver, with which
he departed to his portmanteau in the tree, which he also
carried off.
After he had committed this robbery and murder, a
proclamation was issued by the Commonwealth, promising
five hundred pounds to anyone who should apprehend the
rascal ; whereupon, to avoid being taken, he fled into
Ireland, where he continued his former courses, till,
being grown as notorious there as in England, he thought
it advisable to return. He landed at Hoyle Lake, High-
lake, or Hoylake, at the mouth of the Dee, and pro-
ceeded thence to the city of Chester, at the same time
that Oliver Cromwell lay there with a party of horse.
Passing for a gentleman who was going to travel into
foreign countries for the improvement of his mind, he put
up at the same inn where the hero of the Commonwealth
had taken up his quarters. He, moreover, counterfeited
himself to be a Koundhead, and frequently spoke against
the royal family, applauding the murder of King Charles
I. up to the skies. By this means he got familiar with
Cromwell, who was so taken with his conversation that he
would seldom dine or sup without him, or hardly suffer
him to be ever out of his company, when he was not
actually engaged with business. Here follows an episode
for which we are undoubtedly beholden to the narrator.
or to some of the wicked wits who found congenial em-
ployment in inventing scurrilous tales about the re-
doubted Protector after his death.
Our captain enjoyed his liberty but a v»ry little time
after this visit to Chester ; for, venturing one day to attack
half-a-dozen Republican officers together, as they were
riding over Blackheath, he was overpowered by their
number ; and, though ha vigorously defended himself, so
as to kill one and wound two more of them, he was at
last taken by the remaining three. These carried the
beld robber before a magistrate, who forthwith committed
him to Maidstone gaol. Thither, says Johnson, Oliver
went to see him, and insulted him with a great many
reproaches, "to all which Howard replied with his usual
bravery and wit, to the utter confusion of poor Noll."
When he camo to his trial at the ensuing assizes, many
strange witnesses appeared against him. Not only the
officers who took him, but even Cromwell himself, and
General Fairfax's wife and daughter, gave in their
depositions, besides a vast number of others whom he
had robbed at several times. So that he was sentenced
for two rapes, two murders, and as many robberies, to
be hanged by the neck till he was dead. At the place
of execution, where he appeared clothed in white, he
confessed himself guilty of everything he stood charged
with, but declared he was sorry for nothing but the
murders he had committed. Yet even these, he said,
appeared to be the less criminal when he considered
the persons who had been the victims. He professed,
further, that if he were pardoned, and at liberty again,
he would never leave off robbing the Roundheads, so
long as there was any of them left in England. The
wretched man is said to have ended his life in 1651-2,
being thirty-two years of age.
Such is the story as we read it in a daring romance
that was held in great favour by our forefathers.
Hint at Jpun=
ttn-latttr, 1825.
URING the summer of 1825, a refractory
spirit prevailed among the seamen of the
North-Eastern ports, the great majority
of whom had formed themselves into a
union, denominated the Loyal Standard Association, for
the purpose of bettering their condition, and forcing their
employers to agree to such terms as they deemed them-
selves fairly entitled to claim. The shipowners, on the
other hand, refused either to raise wages, to increase the
quota of hands per ton, to pay for heaving ballast, or do
anything whatever to redress the alleged grievances of
the men. The result was a general strike on the part
of the seamen of the Tyne, Wear, and Blyth, which
lasted for several weeks, and was years after remembered
as "The Long Stick." The owners, while the seamen
continued to object to the terms offered to them, hired
men belonging to other ports. They likewise got
together lads from the Orkney and Shetland Islands
and the East Coast of Scotland, and had them bound to
themselves as apprentices.
As in all such cases, both parties claimed to be in the
right ; and instead of conciliatory measures being taken
to put an end to the differences that existed, masters
and men vied with each other in putting the worst
possible construction on each other's conduct, and
imputing all sorts of unworthy motives to each other,
so that the mutual bad feeling increased from day to day,
till it rose to a dangerous height. One of the leading
Sunderland shipowners, indeed, Mr. Robert Scurtield,
attempted to mediate between the parties at that port,
and made a proposition to the men which they ultimately
accepted ; but whsn it was laid before the shipowners
at a special meeting, they declined to entertain it. This
greatly agitated and worked upon the minds of the
seamen, who immediately resolved to man a number of
cobles or river boats, ostensibly to " invite " the men out
of the light ships coming into port, and induce them to
do no more work until such time as they could get paid
for heaving ballast, which, as we have said, was one of
November \
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
509
the things they had struck for. This they considered
would cause an accommodation to take place ; for it was
pretty evident that when the owners found that the
men quitted their employment the moment the ships
came to their moorings, and left them to get out the
ballast as they might, they would be constrained to
yield the point, and make the men a reasonable allow-
ance as ballast heavers.
This being the situation of affairs, it happened thai,
on Wednesday, the 3rd of August, two or more of the
cobles thus manned to meet the homeward bound
shipping— by some vagary, one might suppose, of their
coxswain's, unaccountable on their own subsequent
statement to the Home Secretary, Mr. (afterwards Sir
Robert) Peel, but natural enough under the circumstances
—instead of rowing for the harbour's mouth, ran up the
river, where none but ships with full cargoes, and
outward-bound, were to be met with. The fact was,
the men had learned that several vessels, then lying at
the fietton Spouts and elsewhere, loading with coals,
were about to proceed that day to sea with the morning
or afternoon's tide, manned with seamen not belonging
to the port, with non-union men or "blacklegs," and
with apprentice lads ; and a resolutiou had in conse-
quence been hastily taken that these vessels should all
be stopped.
In the course of the forenoon, several ships were
boarded and their crews violently dragged on shore.
It was understood, however, that the great struggle was
to be made in the evening, and a number of special
constables were sworn in, consisting chiefly of ship-
owners. It was soon found that these precautions were
not unnecessary. About six o'clock a vessel named the
Busy, belonging to Mr. Rowland Metcalfe, got under
weigh, and her crew were reinforced by as many of the
police and special constables as her deck could con-
veniently hold. She had not proceeded many yards when
she was stopped by the union men, who, after giving
vent to their feelings in three vigorous cheers, began to
"remonstrate" with such of the crew as appeared on
deck "concerning their clandestine manner of going to
sea." These " remonstrances," as a matter of course, met
with no favourable response. On the contrary, the men
in the boats were threatened with condign punishment if
they did not let the vessel get away peaceably ; and these
threats were accompanied by the free exhibition of pistols,
staves, handspikes, capstan bars, &c., by the shipowners
and their friends, who presented a really formidable array.
On the other hand, the unionists, who were in no pacific
humour to begin with, and who soon found themselves,
through reinforcements, much superior to their adver-
saries in number, proceeded forthwith to board the ship.
This they did under great disadvantages, and the party
on board, which included Mr. Metcalfe, the owner, and
Mr. Ralph Laws, attorney, freely used their staves and
handspikes. But they finaUy carried the ship, drove its
defenders aft, disarmed the constables of their staves,
struck and bruised several of the shipowners, lowered down
the sails, stopped the vessel entirely for a time, forced all
the crew they could find overboard except the captain and
mate, got up in the rigeing, where they waved their hats
in token of victory, and then, having satisfied themselves
that there were no more seamen on board who intended
to go the voyage, left the ship and got into their cobles.
The Busy afterwards proceeded to sea, however, with the
help of some seamen who had been concealed below while
the rioters were on board.
A second vessel, the Mary, belonging to Mr. John
Hutchiuson, shipbuilder, came down from the Helton
Spouts with the afternoon tide, and on reaching the lower
part of the harbour, was surrounded as the Busy had been
by a number of boats manned by sailors. Anticipating
something of this kind, Mr. Hutchinson bud armed
himself with a brace of pistols, but had not thought it
necessary to load them, supposing the sight of them would
have the desired effect. A sharp look-out was kept, under
the apprehension that the vessel would be boarded. On
a boat approaching, Mr. Hutchinson threatened lo fire if
they came up the side, as did likewise his friend Mr.
George Palmer, when a second boat approached. The
men were evidently deterred, and sheered off a few yards.
Thera were three constables on board, and Mr. Hutchin-
son asked them to arm themselves with handspikes, which
they did. The rioters were evidently intimidated by
this show of resistance, and the whole of the boats moved
away to the north side of the river.
A troop of the 3rd Light Dragoons from the barracks at
Newcastle had been sent a day or two before to assist in
preserving the peace ; and John Davison, Esq., J.P., com-
monly known as Justice Davison, hastened down to the
Exchange, where he found some twenty-four soldiers, and
several gentlemen, merchants, and shipowners anxiously
waiting his arrival. Having taken the precaution to have
the information duly sworn, Mr. Davison told the officer
commanding the dragoons, Lieut. Philps, that he was
ready, as a magistrate, to discharge his duty. The party
then proceeded along the High Street, down Bodlewell
Lane, into the Low Street, and thence near the Old Fish
Market. The proclamation directed by the Riot Act was
then read, and the people round about were asked to dis-
perse, which, however, they were not inclined to do. The
soldiers were then ordered to draw their sabres, which so
terrified the mob that those on the south side of the river
dispersed. It was on the other side, however, that the
riot was most serious, and the soldiers, accompanied by
Mr. Davison, accordingly proceeded thither in boats.
The sequel may be told in the magistrate's own words : —
As we passed the ships in the harbour we observed that
the rigging and yards of the vessels were thronged with
people, who assailed us with stones as we passed. When
we got more into the river, on the north side, which is the
channel for ships when they go to sea, I perceived several
boats filled with seamen attempting to board the loaded
510
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f November
( 1890.
vessels as they came down. We then proceeded to a
vessel, the name of which I don't recollect, to assist in
getting her to sea. I should here state that other two
boats followed me with the dragoons, same as in the
first, in which I was. The boats that the refractory sea-
men were in passed me, and fairly surrounded the other
two boats and prevented them for some time from dis-
charging the duty upon which they were sent At that
period several stones were thrown at the boat I was in.
We got on board of tbe vessel, and assisted in taking her
down the river. We then were prevented by a light
\esselcomingupthe river, which, having got across the
river, detained us a considerable time; and during that
time an immense quantity of stones were thrown at the
ship I was in, and I believe that several persons on board
were hit. A person on board the light vessel, who was
stated to me to be the pilot, I saw take up a large coal,
which I suspected was intended to be thrown at me. I
kept a look-out in consequence, and saw it thrown in the
direction where I was. I stooped and the coal wen?
directly over my head. An immense quantity of stones
were tiien thrown from the shore ; and in that situation
we thought it advisable, for our personal safety, to engage
a steam packet to expedite the vessel to sea. By that
means we got clear of the light vessel, and proceeded
down the harbour. On our way down, from the depth of
water being more on the north side than in any other
part of the river, we were obliged to approach nearly
upon the north shore, which we perceived was crowded
with persons to a great extent. At that time, to the best
of my belief, the whole of the persons who were in the
vessel were struck with stones. One of the dragoons was
wounded in two places in the head when near to me ; and
I have since learnt that all the rest received wounds. I
received one on the back part of my head. The riot then
became so alarming, by the shouting and hurrahing and
the stones flying in all directions, that to prevent any
further injury I thought it advisable to give directions to
the commanding officer to have his men prepared, in case
there was extreme necessity to fire. We then proceeded
further down, and as we got opposite the Coble Slip,
which is on the south side, we found the shower of stones
came so large and so frequent from the people on the
north shore that I resolved, not only for my own personal
safety, but for the rest of the crew's, to consult with the
commanding officer upon the expediency of firing. The
commanding officer thought it advisable that the 6re
should be made high, so as not to hurt any of the people
about. I believe the first fire which was given in a high
direction had no effect ; I mean it did no injury ; but it
irritated the people more, and the stones came in greater
quantities, if it were possible, than before. The com-
manding officer said that he thought by firing high as
much injury might be caused as by firing low, from the
elevation of the ground from the shore, and the manner in
which the higher places were crowded with people who
had come for the purpose of only looking to see what was
going forward ; and the subsequent tiring was low. I
cannot say what number of guns were fired ; but after a
few more were tired the people began to disperse, so that
we proceeded to sea with the vessel, without any further
obstruction. During the time of the firing, we found that
the disorderly seamen began to separate, and on our
return to the harbour we found all in a state of quiet and
tranquillity, compared to what it had been. We heard a
few coarse expressions, but no stones were thrown.
The result of the firing was that three men were killed
outright, and another was mortally wounded and died the
next morning. The names of the four were William
Wallace, Thomas Aird, John Dovor. and Ralph Hunter
Creighton. The coroner's verdict upon the three former
was "justifiable homicide," but upon the latter, who had
taken no part whatever in the riot, and was killed when
standing as a spectator on a carpenter's stage, where he
had been accustomed to work, the verdict was "acci-
dental death." The exact number of wounded was never
ascertained ; report stated them to be about twelve, some
of them very dangerously. A day or two after the riot
a fifth man, a labourer, died, in consequence of having
received a shot when going from his work.
A large body of seamen came round from Shields and
Blyth next morning, it was supposed to assist their fellow
tars ; but, finding how affairs stood, and that a reinforce-
ment of Light Dragoons had arrived from Newcastle
during the night, no further opposition was attempted,
and all the ships in the harbour ready to sail were allowed
to proceed to sea without the least molestation. A few
days afterwards, the seamen withdrew the pretensions on
account of which they had struck, and yielded to the
owners' terms. The owners, in consideration of the
number of men thrown out of work by the influx of new
hands during the "stick," agreed in return to take into
each of their ships an extra man in addition to its ordi-
nary crew. But, notwithstanding this, many were com-
pelled to withdraw to other ports, and some to other
countries, for employment, owing to the accumulation of
apprentices while the disagreement lasted. Many honest
families were reduced to a state of the greatest distress,
nearly the whole of their furniture, in some cases, having
been sold to procure support ; and it was a long time in-
deed before the town recovered from the sad effects of the
disturbance.
Several of the rioters were tried at the ensuing
quarter sessions at Durham, found guilty, and sentenced
to various terms of imprisonment with hard labour.
Illicit
it
Surftant.
JJURING the time when there was so heavy a
duty in England on whisky, large quantities
of that intoxicating liquor were smuggled over
the Border from Scotland, where the duty was low. The
means adopted by the smugglers in getting it safely across,
and so evading the excisemen and supervisors, and there-
by the law, were varied and singular. When once across,
the contraband article was hawked about the country.
Not only Northumberland and Cumberland, but Durham,
Yorkshire, and other Northern Counties received a share of
the booty. Various modes were adopted in carrying it
about. Sometimes it was put in bottles and placed in
sacks containing a quantity of bran, meal, or sawdust to
hinder them from breaking ; sometimes it was placed in
small kegs, and at others in large skins and bladders.
It was known to those who purchased it under different
names, such as "knives and forks," "new milk," and
many other equally peculiar appellations.
In addition to the enormous supplies that were smuggled
over from Scotland, large quantities were illicitly manu-
factured in the quieter and more secluded localities of the
November 1
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
511
Northern Counties. The north-west part of the county
of Durham was a favourite one for those persons who
followed no legitimate occupation, except that of smug-
gling, or rather that of the illegitimate manufacturing
of whisky. The whereabouts of the law-breakers were
seldom known to many ; hence they would carry on their
calling in some particular spot for many months
ere the law officers ousted them out. Their favourite
haunts were deep, dark secluded glens, young plantations,
the tangled brushwood of older woods, deep gutters, well
shaded by thick bushy hedges, and similar localities,
wh«re a streamlet or runner of clear, pure, limpid water
trickled slowly down. The headwaters of the river
Browney and its numerous affluents were favoured
localities, for during the period mentioned most of its
now full-grown woodlands were young plantations, where
the wide-spreading branches of the growing n'rs and
larches gave abundance of shade, shelter, and seclusion.
Stanley and Rogpeth Wood on the Deerness, Rowley
Gillet on Rowley Burn, Esh Wood on the Sleetburn,
other smaller woods in the same locality, Cornsay and
Kedley Common or Fell, Butsfield Abbey Wood?, Butes's
Plantations, and Lambton, or Lord Durham's, Wood, the
three latter near the headwaters of the Browney, were all
places were the "stiller" plied his trade. The manu-
factories in some of these places were carried on for
months. Sometimes their whereabouts was betrayed by
the curling wreaths of smoke that wended skywardduring
the day, whilst the glare of the fires at night often
showed the "stillers' home " to the eyes of the police and
excise officers as they scanned the country from some
higher point, and pierced into the darkness of niglii in
search of "prey." In the boiling of the fluids timber
was generally used, and, as much of it came out of the
fences of the adjoining farms, it was at times the cause of
petty fights between the farmer and the stiller. To
make good these breaches of friendship the latter had not
unfrequently to quit his location, or supply the former as
compensation for damage done with what whisky he
required. Those who had their haunts near to where the
present town of Tow Law stands sometimes used coal,
which they obtained in small quantities from the gin-pits
then in existence on that part of Cornsay and Hedley
Fell ; but still there was the smoke to act as a betrayer of
their whereabouts. The "«moke nuisance " was eventu-
ally remedied when the coke ovens were erected at the
above mining village, for coke took the place of coal and
wood, but it was not for long.
When the illicit whisky was made and bottled, it was
sold at cheap rates — from eighteenpence a bottle. Some-
times the liquor was better than at others, but, at best, it
was only little less than poisonous. At times it took deadly
effect on those who consumed it, for during an inclement
night in the winter of 1821, a respectable inhabitant of
Corbridge, returning home from a journey, partook some-
what copiously of this kind of liquor at a (then) low house
between Satley and Wolsingham, and on reaching the
road he lost the use of his limbs, and laid himself down
among some rushes, where he was found the next morning
a lifeless corpse. The poisonous drink which the unfor-
tunate man had partaken of was some which had been
illicitly distilled in Lambton 's plantation (now cut down),
near Salter's Gate, from stuff composed of aquafortis or
vitriol and spirit.; of wine. Within the previous eight
weeks three persons had died from drinking the illicit
whisky to excess, whilst another had been driven blind
and mad. J. W. FAWCETT.
C0m0t0it aittr Jinmttormtr.
jjONISTON is the name of a village in the
English Lake District. A tract around
Coniston Water, extending from Yewdale
Beck to Torver, forms a chapelry, under the
name of Church Coniston, within the parish of Ulverston.
Another tract north of Yewdale Beck, round the head of
the lake, and more than a couple of miles down the east
side, forms another chapelry, under the name of Monk
Coniston. The village itself has no regular formation ;
indeed, it appears to consist of a few groups of cottages
and houses ; but from whatever point it be viewed, it is
always picturesque. Here is a description of the place as
it appeared a hundred years ago, written by a local
antiquary named West : —
The village of Coniston consists of scattered houses.
Many of them have a most romantic appearance, owing
to the ground they stand on being extremely steep. Some
are snow white ; others grey. Some stand forth on bold
eminences at the head of green enclosures, backed with
steep woods ; some are pitched on sweet declivities, and
seem hanging in the air ; others, again, are on a level
with the lake. They are all neatly covered with blue
slate, the produce of the mountains, and beautified with
ornamental yews, hollies, and tall pines and firs. This is
a charming scene when the morning sun tinges all with a
variety of tints. The hanging woods, waving enclosures,
and airy sites are elegant, beautiful, and picturesque.
The village does not now differ to any appreciable extent
from West's description. It it still in harmony with the
scenery of the lake. The inhabitants are mainly employed
at the adjacent copper mines, which are supposed to have
been originally worked by the ancient Britons, and sub-
sequently by the Romans. The excavations and levels
penetrate the great mountain which bears the name of
Coniston Old Man. A not inconsiderable trade is also
done in the exportation of slates, flags, birches, brooms,
and timber. A railway which joins the Whicehaven line
at a point a few miles south of the lake has given an
impetus to trade, and brings crowds of tourists to the
village during the summer season.
The buildings in the neighbourhood of Coniston are of
no importance in themselves, though they derive much
interest from their associations. The church, a plain
edifice with a square tower, does not call for detailed
512
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{Norember
1890.
comment ; but an old house in a farmyard, which was the
home of Oldfield, the naval hero who piloted Nelson's
fleet into action at the battle of the Baltic, attracts the
attention of the curious, as also does the inn called the
Black Bull, where De Quincey established himself when
he visited Coniston.
Coniston Hall, the ancient residence of the Le Fleming
family, who came to England from Flanders at the time
of the Norman Conquest, occupies a 6ne position about a
mile south of the village and near to the lake. The
lands around it passed, by the marriage of Elizabeth,
daughter and heiress of Adam de Urawick, in the reign
of Henry III., to Richard Le Fleming; and Coniston
Hall was the seat of his descendants until the middle of
the seventeenth century, when it was deserted, and
allowed to fall into ruins. Farts of the old place were
removed some time ago, and the rest was converted into
a farmhouse, the banqueting hall being transformed into
a barn.
Situate nenr the head of the lake is Monk Coniston
CONISTON WATER: FROM THE HEAD OF THE LAKE.
'o»emberl
1890. j
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
513
Hall, the seat of Mr. Victor Marshall, which commands
fine views of the lovely scenery around.
About a mile from the head of the lake, on the opposite
side to Coniston village, is Tent Lodge, built on the site
of a tent in which the accomplished Elizabeth Smith (of
whom we shall have more to say hereafter) lay during her
fatal illness in 1806. The house where she breathed her
last is on the other side of the road. Within more recent
years the poet Tennyson was, for a short time, the
occupant of Tent Lodge.
A modern mansion known as Coniston Bank stands in
well-wooded grounds on the same side of the lake.
A mile or so further south, still on the same side
of the lake, is Brantwood, memorable as the resi-
dence of John Ruskin, the celebrated art critic
and philosopher. (Our picture is from a photograph
by Mr. Pettitt, Keswick.) Brantwood was formerly
occupied by Mr. W. J. Linton, the well-known wood-
engraver, poet, and political reformer. It was here
that Mr. Linton edited and printed the monthly
magazine which he called the English Republic. Another
poet, Gerald Massey, also dwelt at Brantwood, but
only for a short time. Wordsworth's Seat, within the
grounds, commands a magnificent view of the lake and
the mountains beyond. It derives its name from the
circumstance that the Laureate, seated on the spot, used
to go into raptures over the beautiful prospect.
Coniston Water cannot well be compared with Der-
wentwater, Ullswater, or Windermere. It is, in fact, in
some respects, only a replica of the latter on a reduced
scale. The chief interest of the scene centres in the head
of the lake, where the Yewdale Crags, overtopped by the
mountain mass of the Old Man, are the dominating
MR. RUSKIN'S HOUSE, BRANTWOOD.
33
feature of the landscape. The name Old Man is thought
to be a corruption of the Alt-Maen, the high rocky
hill ; other authorities are in favour of Altus Mons, the
lofty mountain; but the popular idea is that the imposing
mass is so-called from a cairn of stones on the summit,
which at a distance bears a slight resemblance to a
human figure. The lake is about six miles in length ;
its average breadth is about half a mile ; and its extreme
depth is about 160 feet. Trout, perch, pike, and char,
the latter of a quality superior to those of any other lake
in the locality, are caught in goodly numbers. The shores
at the lower end are prettily wooded, but, on the whole,
the outline is comparatively tame, and two small islands
are not in a position to give much diversity. One is
known as Fir Island or Knott's Island, which, when the
water in the lake is low, becomes a peninsula. The other,
which is variously called Peel Island, Montague Island,
and the Gridiron, is a wood-crowned rock. Coniston
Water could formerly boast of a floating island, a spongy
mass of weeds and foliage some twenty yards square,
which was driven about by the winds. During a storm in
1846, it stranded amongst some reeds at the foot of the
lake, and ceased to float any more.
3LitrTCff0traIe dTarotn- w tfte
Ccnturg.
N the autumn of 1792, after the Circuit Court
of Justiciary at Jedburgh had been closed,
Walter Scott, then a young advocate, set
out on his first raid into Liddesdale, in
quest of old ballads and antiquarian relics. He was
accompanied by Robert Shortreed, Sheriff-Substitute
of Roxburghshire, who knew every part of the
country and was intimately acquainted with every
farmer in the pastoral region to be explored.
Mounted on a couple of stout ponies, the two
gentlemen of the law took their journey south-
westward, resting the first night at Abbotrule, a
compact little estate, six miles from Jedburgh,
which was owned by Charles Kerr, a scion of the
Lothian family, and a Writer to the Signet in Edin-
burgh. Continuing their south-westward journey,
the travellers made straight for Hermitage Castle,
an easy day's ride from Abbotrule. At an earlier
period Queen Mary accomplished the whole journey,
from Jedburgh to Hermitage and back in one day,
but the fatigue was so great that a fever resulted,
and very nearly proved fatal. Taking a line scarcely
so far west as the course followed by the Queen, our
travellers seem to have crossed the Rule Water
travelled along the high ground by Hawthornside
and Stonedge, and gained the summit of the ridge
dividing Teviotdale from Liddesdale in the "slack,"
with the high hill of Windburgh on their left and the
two grassy peaks known as "The Maiden's Paps "
5H
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/ November
\ 1890.
not far distant on the right. Thence they could easily
proceed to the upper part of "The Nine-Stane Rig,"
commemorated in Surtees's doubtful ballad.
They shot him on the Nine-Stane Rig,
Beside the headless cross ;
And they left him lying in his blood,
Beside the moor and moss.
An enchanting prospect, reaching to the Sol way and the
mountains of Westmoreland, could here be obtained ; and,
doubtless, Mr. Shortreed would point out the little circle
of standing stones from which the "rig "has derived its
name, and where, according to the tradition, Lord Soulis
was boiled in a sheet of lead. The story is that the
lord of Hermitage was impervious to steel, that water
would not drown him, and that against any ordinary
assault of the last enemy he had "a charmed life." Not
to be beaten, his enemies bethought themselves of having
him boiled in a sheet of lead, and so "they burned him,
body, and bones, nnd all."
Descending the "rig," with Whitrope Burn on their
right and Roughlea Burn on their left, the travellers
alighted at Millburnholm. the abode of Willie Elliot, a
Liddesdale farmer, well known to Scott's fellow traveller.
The "holm," or haugh, is a level space on the left side of
Hermitage Water, just where it is joined by Whitrope
Burn. At present the site is occupied by two cottages,
one of them inhabited by a ploughman, the other by the
shepherd who has charge of the " rig," now laid in to the
adjoining farm of Hermitage. A road passes the door,
and close at hand is a milestone, indicating that the dis-
tance is 64 miles from Edinburgh, 15 from Hawick, and
five from the village of Newcastleton. On every hand
are grassy hills, and a quarter of a mile farther up the
Hermitage Vale are visible the grey walls of Hermitage
Castle. There is no mill now, nor any tradition of one ;
but, doubtlens, the mill to which the Hermitage vassals
were " thirled " had existence in the neighbourhood at
some early period.
Thirty years ago the old farm-house at Millburnholm
existed in much the same condition as it was at the time
of Scott's visit, only it was inhabited by a shepherd. It
was a quaint specimen of the old-fashioned Scottish home-
stead. Part of it was only one storey, but that seemed
to have been added on to the original house, which was
one storey with attics. The windows on the ground floor
were small, and did not admit much light ; but those
above were still smaller, and looked out through a
thatched roof. A chimney on either gable was made of
rushes, fastened together with ropes of straw or hay.
Against the outside wall, near the door, was a stone and
turf erection known as a "loupin'-on-stane." There were
no wheeled conveyances then in the district : the ordinary
mode of transit was for the wife to ride on horseback on
a pad, behind her husband. The good dame ascended the
"loupin'-on-stane," which was done by a short flight of
steps, and thence easily transferred herself to her seat on
the horse's back. Inside the house of Millburnholm were
two moderate-sized rooms, one serving for the kitchen,
the other doing duty as a sitting-room, but off it was a
mall inner sanctum. Above were two bedrooms, »o low
in the roof that a man of ordinary stature could not stand
upright. The arrival of Shortreed himself at Milburn-
holm would have excited little commotion, but Willie
Elliot was in some trepidation when told that the stranger
was an advocate from Edinburgh. Leading the advo-
cate's horse to the stable round the corner, he looked back
and observed Scott caressing the dogs, on which he felt
reassured, and whispered to Shortreed, "Weel, Robin,
deil hae me if I'se be a bit feared for him now : he's just a
chield like ourselves, I think." Over the punch-bowl the
two speedily became great friends : and on each of seven suc-
cessive years Scott visited Willie Elliot at Millburnholm.
According to Shortreed, this goodman of Milburnholm
was the original of Dandie Dinmont ; and this opinion was
endorsed to some extent by Lockhart, who wrote that, "as
he seems to have been the first of these upland sheep
farmers visited by Scott, there can be little doubt that
he sat for some parts of that inimitable portraiture."
At Millburnholm the worthy man continued to enjoy for
years a placid old age, taking life easy, and making him-
self comfortable, occasionally with a cheerful glass of
whisky. At the time of the False Alarm, when it was
rumoured that Bonaparte had landed on the British
shores, the Liddesdale Volunteers passed Willie's door on
the way to Hawick. He was out with the bottle to give
them a refresher ; and as they left to cross the '• edge,"
as the dividing line between Liddesdale and Teviotdale is
called, he charged them boldly to face the tyrant and
" dinna let him ower the edge."
Forty years before the date of Scott's visit to Millburn-
holm, Willie Elliot's father, Robert Elliot, occupied most
of the land on Hermitage Water from Millburnholm
upward, to the extent of some thousands of acres. A
manuscript containing his farm and household accounts
from 1748 to 1755 is still in existence, and sheds some
curious light on the transactions of that period. The
wnting is in a good, legible roundhand, the words are
Scotch, and the spelling is peculiar, but very quaint.
Some specimens will serve to illustrate the prices and
modes of living at that time in the secluded district of
Liddesdale, the noted resort of Border thieves in earlier
days.
The price of horses will appear from an entry in 1753,
where, among "the goods and gear bought by me this
year," there is a " mearand foil, at £5 9s. "; and the same
year, "sold to a Mers-man (a Berwickshire man), a black
mear, at £5 Is." The average price of cattle will be seen
from the following : — "From my godfather, a three-year-
old stott, £3 5s. " ; and " from Adam Beattie, Erntape,
two stirks and an eild cow, at £4." Among the transac-
tions in 1748 was a sale "to Adam Slight two fat cows at
£2 10s, "and a purchase "from John Armstrong, a four-
year-old quey, at £2." Another purchase was "from
November)
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
515
John Elliot, 2 stotts, at £6 5s. ; and he gave me sixpence
again." The "stotts " may have been good, but the
luckpenny was not large. Other purchases were
"from Robert Hut ton at Sundhope, two stirks
at £2 " ; and " from James Laidlaw, in Riccarton
mill, a stirkof the good wife's at the mil], at £1 3s." The
cattle of the district at the time were small and hardy,
capable of pasturing on the hill all the year round, and
generally black in colour. On the 28th July, 17+9, Mr.
Elliot got £30 9s. from John and Adam Slight, to whom
he had sold " two oxen and six bestial, at three guineas a
beast, and a grey filly at five guineas." On the 10th of
August, the same year, he " bought from Merrylaws two
oxen that I payd ready money for ; and I got a shilling of
luckpenny."
The majority of the transactions were connected with
sheep and wool. In 1753, Robert Elliot bought " 13
lams, 12 payable, at 3s. 2d. a-peace." Thirteen lambs to
the dozen, and the whole thirteen for 38s., would be
regarded as a windfall by purchasers in the present day ;
but Robert Elliot accepted still lower prices for another
lot, and sold " 57 lams at 2s. 2£d. the peace." In another
entry he says, " To my mother one score ten lams no
pris mad ; it must be £3 15s." That was thirty lambs
for 75s., but possibly they were given as a bargain
to his mother. On the 12th July, 1749, he bought from
Adam Croser one score sixteen lambs, and " payd
him full 48 shillings, but trot sixpence again."
On the 17th of the same month, he " sold to
Robert Hyslop in Woolerhirst eight score ten lambs,
seven payable at £0 2s. 4d. a-piece, and sixpence more
referred in my will. He is to receive them on the 19th
inst., and give bill for payment." At the same time he
"bought from James Jackson eighteen lambs all payable
at half a crown a-piece." On the same day he " sold to
John Armstrong in Whithaugb, 22 lambs, 21 payable at
half a crown the piece, in trust till Martinmas, without a
bilL"
The wages paid by this Border farmer were curious. In
May, 1748, is the following entry : — " Hyred Jean
Nickle and Hana Little, till Lady Day, for a ston of wool
a-peace, and nine shillings." Again, "Janey Nickle for
a stone of wool till Martinmas, and 18s. " ; and " Adam
Scott till Martinmas for a pair of shoes and one pound."
The shoes of that period were of the kind made by the
Souters o' Selkirk — single-soled ; and were made of un-
tanned hides. It was customary for men to stitch on an
additional sole, for which materials were provided by the
master if the men were boarded in the house. Some-
times the shoes cost little money, as indicated by a pay-
ment of one shilling " to Will Mitchellhill to buy shoes " ;
but a pair to Jean Tealfer cost 2s. lOd. In 1749, the hirings
generally were at "the old wage" ; but Jean Hyslop got
"ft ston of wool, a pair of shoes, and eleven (hillings,"
Jean Little, "a Eton of wool, a pair of shoes, and 17
shillings" ; and others at similar rates for the half year.
William Gladstone was engaged from Whit Sunday till
Martinmas for £1 7s., but had the harvest to himself.
In 1750, Hendry Glendinning was hired for the year to be
paid with twelve sheep's grass, and hose, and ten shil-
lings. William Gladstone was " to baud the plough for
five sheep's grass and £3 10," and Walter Hyslop was "to
herd the gorranberry sheep for 45 sheep's grass" for the
JAMES TAIT.
j]T is proposed this month to deal with four of
the members of the warbler family which
frequent the Northern Counties— the willow
warbler, the wood warbler, the whitethroat,
and the lesser whitethroat.
The willow warbler (Sylvia trochilvs) has a variety of
common names, such as yellow warbler, ground wren,
hay bird, &c. It is a spring and autumn migrant, arriv-
ing in April and leaving in September. Like other
warblers, it is an insect feeder, and generally sings from
the topmost branches of trees, and sometimes when on
the wing.
The bird frequents tall hedges near meadows, the
wooded margins of brooks, and where underwood abounds.
It also has a partiality for orchards, where it finds
abundance of insect food. It is a pretty little bird, and
is very active and industrious in search of food, especially
when catering for its young family. Its song, though
not of much variety, is pleasing. It consists, according
to Macgillivray, of a repetition of the syllable "twee"
about a dozen times, the first notes prolonged, the
rest gradually falling and becoming shorter. "When
warbling its sweet and melodious lay, the throat is gome-
516
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I NoTember
I 1890.
times swelled out and the whole body trills with the
effort."
The male is five inches long. Its typical bill is dusky
brown, the under mandible tinged with yellow. Fiom
the base of the bill above, to the root of the tail, the
prevailing colour is that of the chiff-chaff, with a shade
more of olive green. The wings and tail are dark brown,
shaded with black, with a yellow patch at the root of the
tail above. A yellow patch extends from the base of
the bill to the shoulders, with a dark streak across the
eye. The lower part of the body is white, tinged with
yellow. The legs, slender and delicate, are a rich brown.
The female is a little larger than the male, but her plum-
age is not so brilliant.
The wood warbler, or wood wren (Silvia libilatrix) is
often confounded with the willow warbler, from which it
is distinguished by the greener hue of the back plumage
and yellow-edged feathers of the wing and tail. The
various common names of the bird are rather puzzling,
especially as some of them more properly belong to others
of the family. Thus it is known as the yellow warbler,
yellow willow wren, large willow wren, green wren, and
willie mufti. Like most of our summer visitants, the
wood warbler winters in Northern Africa, Egypt, and
Asia.
It is perhaps oftener seen in the woods of Northumber-
land and Durham than in any other part of England.
As it frequents high leafy trees— the oak, beech, and
birch — it is not so often seen as some of the other mem-
bers of the family. It is lively and shifty in its move-
ments, and may be seen frequently gliding and flitting
amid the high branches in search of food, which chiefly
consists of insects and their larvse, the former being occa-
sionally captured on the wing. The bird mostly gives forth
its simple yet sweet song from the topmost branches of
the tallest tree in the wood. It commences low, and as
the song increases in volume its wings are moved in a
tremulous manner, and its tail jerked up and down.
When the males first arrive, they sing nearly all day long.
The song resembles the syllables "twee, twee, twee,"
with variations, and is continued till nearly the period of
the autumnal migration, about the middle of September.
In length the male is nearly five inches and a quarter.
The general colour on the upper parts of the body is a
soft green, tinged with grey, and pure white below, the
latter characteristic having earned for the bird the name
of "linty-white." The green of the upper plumage ex-
tends from the base of the short blackish-brown bill to
the root of the tail, where the plumage merges into a
crescent-shaped yellow patch. The upper mandible of
the beak is darker than the under, and the inside of the
mouth is a fine orange yellow. A streak of clear yellow
passes from the base of the lower mandible over the eyes ;
and under it, before and behind the eye, there is a very
slight brownish line. The iris of the eye is a rich dark
brown, and the eyelids pale yellow ; the head, on the
sides, is yellow, tinged with brown and green ; the
crown, back, and nape, is olive green, tinged with
yellow ; and the whole of the under part is white. The
wings, when closed, extend over three-fourths of the
length of the tail, and are of a beautiful brown, the
feathers edged with yellow and green ; and the tail
feathers are marked in a similar manner. The legs, toes,
and claws are brown. The female closely resembles the
male in size and plumage.
The whitethroat (Sylvia cincrea) is the most common
of all the warbler family. It is known as Peggy
Whitethroat, nettlecreeper, wheetee-why. whitethroated
warbler, wheatie, and blathering Tarn ; but these by no
means exhaust the list of common names. Like the rest
of the warbler family, it is a spring and autumn migrant,
and makes its appearance in the North of England about
the end of April, sooner or later, according to the state of
the weather. It is very numerous in Northumberland
and Durham. Mr. Hancock has the following brief note
on the bird : — "This is the commonest of our warblers,
and is very generally distributed ; it frequently nests in
the low herbage by roadsides, coming and going with the
other warblers."
The bird is active and lively in its habits, and in
summer its "churring" cry and song may be frequently
November!
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
517
heard among tall hedgerows, underwood, and in
gardens. It also frequents the oulsides of woods, and
may often be seen and heard amongst brushwood and
whin coverts. Amid the hedges and bushes its sharp
"churr" may often be heard when the bird is unseen. It
is also sometimes heard singing on the wing, and its quick
and hurried song, though a trifle harsh, is by no means
unpleasant, from the top of a hedge or bush the white-
throat frequently launches itself into the air, and flies
round in a circle, singing all the while, not unlike the
meadow pipit. Its alarm note resembles the syllable
"churr," and the call note "twed twed," followed often
by "cha, cha, cha, "and the well-known "churr."
The male is from five to six inches long, but the length
of the tail, nearly an inch and a half, makes the bird look
bigger than it really is, for it weighs only about four
drachms. Its plumage is very distinctively marked.
The short and slender bill is of a bluish brown, the under
mandible inclining to yellow with a bluiah tinge, and the
corners of the mouth yellowish green. The iris is
brownish yellow, eyelids olive brown, and over the eyes
is a faint streak of yellowish white. The head, on the
crown, is slate grey with a rufous tinge; neck, on the
sides, pale brownish grey. The back plumage of the nape
of the neck to near the root of the tail is a warm brown
colour. The wings, which extend to an inch and a half
from the tip of the tail, have a spread of eight inches, and
the feathers are handsomely marked with pale brown at
the edges, the longer wing feathers being of a much
darker brown. The tail is rather rounded, of a dark
brown, the feathers being graduated, and slightly decreas-
ing in length from the middle to the side feathers. The
base of the tail above, near the tip of the wings, is
coloured like the crown of the head. The plumage of the
chin and throat is silvery white, and contrasts strongly
with the rufous-coloured back plumage. The breast is of
a pale dull white, slightly suffused with rose colour,
shaded off at the sides with yellowish white, and into
greyish white below. The legs are a pale brown, and the
toes and claws are of a darker hue. The female is about
the same size as the male, but her plumage is altogether
duller than that of her mate, and devoid of the rosy tint
on the breast so distinctive of the male bird when in full
nuptial feather.
The lesser whitethroat (Sylvia eurruca) is not so
numerous as the greater whitethroat, and is more shy in
its habits. Not being so well-known, it has not such a
variety of common names as its larger relative. It is
sometimes called babillard, the babbling warbler, and the
garrulous fauvette.
It is a courageous and pugnacious little creature, and
often attacks larger birds and drives them from the
neighbourhood of its nest. Bechstein remarks that
"throughout Germany this bird is called the 'little
miller,' because some peculiar notes in its song resemble
the noise of a mill—' klap,' ' klap,' ' klap,' ' klap.' "
The length of the male bird is five inches and a quarter.
The slender bill, so typical of the family, is bluish black,
the base of the lower mandible inclining to yellow ; iri«,
yellowish white— in some cases nearly white. The crown
of the head is brownish grey, while the back plumage has
a warmer tinge of brown. The chin, throat, and breast
are white, the latter slightly tinged with red. The sides
are yellowish grey, with a warmish tinge. The wings
spread eight inches, and are of a fine brown hue, the
feathers being edged with yellowish brown. The wings
seem short in proportion to the tail, which is rather long,
and of a blackish-brown colour, the feathers being much
lighter at the edges. The female is rather smaller than
the male, which she resembles in plumage, but the sides
of the head are paler in colour, while the plumage on the
crown of the head is not so boldly marked.
[HE first Lending Library established in
England was that of the Bishop of Durham,
Richard de Bury, now almost forgotten even
in the diocese where once he famously flourished.
Richard de Bury, so called from his birthplace in the
county of Suffolk, was the son of Sir Richard de
Aungerville. Born in the year 1281, when tne extended
walls of Newcastle were a-building, he was sent to
Oxford in his youth, and passed through his college
course with honour. He then became a monk in the
convent of Durham, and was subsequently selected as
tutor to the Prince of Wales, afterwards Edward the
Third. The duties of this office were so well discharged
as to commend him to royal favour, and open a way for
his advancement in Church and State. At home and
618
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f November
I 1890.
abroad he distinguished himself in the public service ;
and in the year 1533 he was made Bishop of Durham,
entertaining the King and Queen and a noble company at
his installation.
"One of the learnedest men of his time, and also a
very great patron and encourager of learning," his
employments afforded him frequent and favourable
opportunities for the acquirement of books. These he
had judiciously improved wherever he went, so that it
is said of him he possessed a larger collection of books
than all the rest of the bishops of England put together.
His love of literature was intense, and is commemorated
for all time in his PhUobiblon, a manuscript copy of which
is comprised in Bishop Cosin's bequest at Durham,
"extremely curious as affording one of the earliest
accounts of the collection and arrangement of a library."
(Surtees's "History of Durham.")
It was in the year 1333, when the meridian of his days
had been attained, that he was made Bishop of Durham,
and seated on the Wear, with all his treasures about
him. The common apartment of his palace would seem,
by description, to have resembled the study of Monkbarns
in the "Antiquary." So littered was the floor with books,
papers, and other possessions of the kind, that the officers
of his establishment could not get at him with due
reverence and ceremony — a perplexity as to which hi?
lordship probably troubled himself very little. He had
transcribers, illuminators, and binders in his service;
and the sons of the Northern gentry were members of
his household, and educated under his roof. When the
seasons came round at which the customary offerings
were presented to the Count Palatine, they never came
to him with warmer welcome than in the form of books ;
and yet he largely valued other riches for the means
they gave him of doing good, and works of charity
accompanied his daily steps. It was his wont, in going
to and fro, to distribute stated sums : — Between Durham
and Newcastle, £8 ; Durham and Stockton, £5 ; Durham
and Auckland, 5 marks (£3 16s. 8d.) ; Durham and
Middlesbrough, £5 ; amounts bearing due proportion,
no doubt, to the then population between the respective
places.
But what gives him his peculiar claim to our notice,
just now, is his foundation of a public library in Oxford.
The students of the hall in which the books were lodged
had the free use of them, under "a provident arrange-
ment," drawn up by the donor ; who enacted, besides,
"that books might be lent to strangers," being students
of the university not belonging to the hall, the keepers
taking as security a sum exceeding the value of the loan.
("Biographia Britannica," Surtees's "Durham," and
Chambers's "Book of Days.")
Thus do we see that a Public Lending Library, the
first in the kingdom, was the benefaction of this Bishop
of Durham, who died at Auckland on the 14th of April,
1345, and was buried in the Cathedral. Sumptuous was
the ceremony: and the Sacrist vindicated his claim to
the funeral furniture, with the horses that drew the
hearse, and a mule that played a less prominent part in
the train. JAMES CLEPHAN (THE LATE).
STft*
£>tar at tfte
POME few miles to the north-east of Barnard
Castle, by the tree-shaded banks of the river
Tees, as it forces its way over its rocky
bed, one comes upon a few small cottages
and an old ivy-covered church, half-hidden from sight
by trees, and tecluded by high surrounding cliffs and
lack of roads from the busy world of toil and pleasure.
Here is a lonely, forgotten hamlet, which, by tradition of
the best authorities, gave birth and name to one of the
most prominent men in English history. Wycliffe, for
that is the name of the village, calls up rich associa-
tions, and takes the memory back to tha middle of
that long period of history which we commonly brand
with the title of the Dark Ages. Not Dark ; Mediseval
were better, or the Awakening; for was it not the time
that gave us Dante, and Petrarch, and Boccaccio? And
did it not bequeath to us that priceless boon which has
inextinguishably lighted up the whole world as no other
discovery of man has done — I mean the invention of
printing? It is, indeed, a period rich in the names of
great men— Erigena, Roger Bacon, John of Salisbury, Sir
Thomas More, Dean Colet, Melancthon, and our own
father of English literature, Chaucer, to mention only a
few. Not Dark, at least.
About 1324, then, at Wycliffe, though some say it was
at or near Richmond, John de Wycliffe, called by his ad-
mirers the Morning Star of the Reformation, was born.
John Leland, the antiquary, claims for the Reformer's
birthplace a small village near Richmond, some ten miles
to the south ; but it seems more pleasant to think that he
was one of the family that took its name from, or pave its
name to, the estate of Wycliffe, and had held it from very
early times — from the Norman Conquest, perhaps — and
continued there till 1606, when the lands passed to the
Tunstalls by marriage.
Wycliffe Church, as we look at it now, has probably not
changed greatly since the days when Wycliffe worshipped
therr, and when his mind would perhaps receive that
seed which afterwards grew into so stout a tree. The
building has an ancient and worn-out look, and its dilapi-
dated appearance certainly impresses us with its vener-
able age. The outer walls are nothing but a patchwork of
irregular masonry, reminding one of nothing so much
as an old worsted stocking that has been darned and
darned until there is none of the original fabric left,
and it will bear darning no more. The church, not a
large one, is a long, low building, consisting of chancel and
Noremberl
1890. J
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
519
nave, the former of which has been added at a later date,
and is not built on the same line as the nave. The roof is
flat, and at one end is an old bell-turret. Entering by the
porch, it is seen at a glance that the windows are the most
interesting part of the interior, for they contain some
fragments of what were formerly fine stained glass lights.
Some of them have kept the Early English arches with
graceful mullions and traceries. The interior of the
church is quaint rather than attractive, and certainly is
not ornate. The nave, except for its windows, the double
row of seats, and the font and oaken beams of the roof, is
singularly plain.
The village of Wycliffe contains only two other
buildings of any size, or that demand anything more than
passing notice. Wycliffe Hall of to-day is a compara-
tively modern structure. It is a well-built, handsome
mansion of stone, regularly planned, and in its walls are
incorporated portions of the old hpme of the Wycliffes,
but these are for the most part out of sight. The rectory,
close to the church, is pleasantly situated, and, seen from
the river, seems greatly out of proportion to the diminu-
tive village wedged in between its back wall and the Tees.
Within its walls is a valuable relic of the great Reformer
— a portrait of John Wycliffe, painted by Sir Antonio
More — which was presented as an heirloom to future
rectors of Wycliffe by the Rev. Thomas Zouch, A.M.,
a former incumbent. It is from an engraving by Edward
Finden of this portrait that the accompanying illustration
is taken.
Only the most meagre record has come down to us of
the early years of Wycliffe — almost nothing, indeed, and
that so uncertain as to be of no more value than interest-
ing traditions. Of his later life, the important part of his
history, we have, fortunately, ample details. Such ac-
counts as have been preserved speak of his life as one of
spotless purity, and the early part of it was probably spent
in pious seclusion and diligent study. He was already
past middle age when he was appointed Master of Balliol
College, Oxford, which had been founded by the Balliols,
of Barnard Castle, close by his old home. At that time
the University of Oxford was the centre of learning in
Europe, preceding even Paris, Amongst the thirty
thousand students then at Oxford he was recognised
as the first of the schoolmen of his day. Lyons, Paris,
and Cologne borrowed their professors from Oxford ;
and in Oxford Wycliffe stood foremost. Roger Bacon,
Duns Scotus, and William of Ockham had been his pre-
decessors, and from the last he borrowed the principles of
his earliest efforts at Church reform, whilst to a former
Master of Balliol, Bradwardine, he owed the tendency,
shown in the speculative treatises he published at this
time, to a predestinarian Augustinianism which formed
the basis of his later theological revolt from Rome. Add
to this that he was "the founder of our later English
prose, a master of popular invective and irony and per-
suasion, a dexterous politician, a daring partisan, the
organiser of a religious order, the unsparing assailant of
abuses, the boldest and most indefatigable of controver-
sialists, the first Reformer who dared, when deserted and
alone, to question and deny the creed of Christendom
around him."
The history of the second half of Wycliffe's life forms
a notable page in European history. The Church had
sunk to its lowest point of spiritual decay. The Black
and Grey Friars of Dominic and Francis had grown
corrupt, and his collision with these Mendicants in
violently opposing their encroachments has often been
adduced as the first notable achievement which marked
out the future tenour of his life. But the real throwing
down of the gauntlet was his action in opposition to
Urban V., whose demand in 1365 for the thirty-three
years' arrears of the tribute promised by King John
from engrauing bjj Cfbro. .finben, after
original picture bjj J>ir ^.ntonia Jttore, KM®
an h,eirloorn in th,e Jlectorj of SKjcliffe,
JUch.monbjsh.ire. jpregenteb bjj <<Fh,omajs Eotuh.,
., a former rector of th,ij( djurcrj.
brought matters to a crisis. The English king and
Parliament returned such an answer that the Pope's
lordship over England was never afterwards put for-
ward. Then it became evident that the thin, retired
student was also a man of dauntless spirit and
indomitable energy, jealous of the liberties of his country,
and always indignant at the corruptions of the Church,
Wycliffe's treatise, "De Dominio Divino," roused against
him the anger of the hierarchy. Doubtless the English
Parliament was wearied at this time with the exactions of
the Papal Court at Avignon, exactions which had ex-
isted long, but were still waxing worse ; and so England
was in a condition of revolt. But it was no small
620
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f November
m»tter— indeed, a very great help— that the moat
learned doctor at Oxford, the moat accomplished school-
man of his age, with a reputation in which the moat
piercing eyea of hii foes could not detect a flaw, should
be ranged on the side of the liberties of England. This
conduct of his strengthened the favour in which he was
held at Court, mainly held before through his friendship
with John of Gaunt. And he was not forgotten in high
quarters ; for, in 1375, he was presented by the Crown to
the living of Lutterworth. But he still retained his
position at Oxford.
Wycliffe was looked upon as the theological bulwark of
the Lancastrian party, and the clergy resolved to strike a
blow, summoning him before Bishop Courtenay of London
for his heretical propositions concerning the wealth of the
Church. John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, accepted
the challenge as given to himself, and stood by the side of
Wycliffe in the Consistory Court at St. Paul's. The trial,
however, did not take place, for John of Gaunt was a
man of acts, not satisfied with words.
It is not difficult to understand the close friendship
between Wycliffe and this man of intrigue and ambition.
The glorious part of the reign of Edward III., the wars
with France and Scotland, the battles of Sluys, of Crescy,
and of Poitiers, and of Halidon Hill and Neville's Cross
in this North-Country, were forgotten amid the terrors of
the Black Death and the poverty entailed on the one
band by the demands of an impoverished Xing and
Parliament, and on the other by the claims of the
Church. The older religious orders were sunk
into mere landowners, and were surfeited with
luxury, while the higher prelates and wealthy clergy
wero too much occupied by the noise of their own
dissensions to notice anything that occurred outside their
own pale, however much it might concern them. Yet
here were the daring and avaricious barons under John of
Gaunt eager to drive the prelates from office and seize on
their wealth. Wycliffe, though far from being animated
by the same motives as the Duke of Lancaster, joined his
party because he saw that in part at least they were striv-
ing to attain the same end. At present Wycliffe's
quarrel was not with the doctrine, but with the practice
of the Church.
At St. Paul's, then, it is not out of keeping with the
character of John of Gaunt when he undertakes to settle
the dispute in his own way by threatening to drag the
Bishop of London out of the church by the hair of his
head. His violence was so great that the populace of
London had to burst in and rescue their bishop, and they
in their turn placed Wycliffe's life in danger, for he was
only with difficulty saved by the soldiery.
Then came the revolt of the peasants under Wat Tyler
and John Ball, and in a few months all Wycliffe's work
of Church reform was undone. The Lancastrian party
lost all its power, the quarrel between the Church and the
baronage was quelled in the presence of a common
danger, and much of the odium of the outbreak
fell on the Reformer. His enemies the Friars charged
Wycliffe with being a sower of strife ; and, though
he rejected the charge disdainfully, he had to
bear the weight of a suspicion that some of his followers
justified. Apart from the ill effects of this rising, he now
alienated himself from all his friends by taking up a new
position ; literally a novel one, for he became by his
action the First Protestant. Hitherto he had posed as
a reformer of the discipline and political relations of the
Church. Now he protested against one of its cardinal
beliefs, the doctrine of transubstantiation.
The monks and friars were unceasing in their persecu-
tion of Wycliffe, and bulls were sent from Pope Gregory
NoTemberl
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
521
XL, the last in Avignon before the Great Schism, calling
for action against the Reformer. In the midst of this
Edward III. died, and the widow of the Black Prince, the
mother of the young King Richard II., was friendly to
Wycliffe. Butletters from the Archbishop of Canterbury
at last compelled the Chancellor of Oxford University to
send the offender to London, The support of the Crown
paralysed all action against him, and he returned home,
only to be summoned once more to the capital to meet his
accusers. But the people rallied round him, and raised
such a tumult that the bishop broke up the court, and he
again returned unharmed, his course thenceforward being
more determined than ever.
On the death of Gregory (1378) followed the double
election to the Papal throne, and the Great Schism
of the West. This exercised a profound influence
on Wycliffe, and when he beheld two who called them-
selves by the holiest name on earth hurling anathemas at
each other he no longer saw in them a true Pope and a
false between whom to choose, but rather two that were
false alike — two halves of anti-Christ. Then Wycliffe
announced in the pulpit at Oxford his belief that
the Roman doctrine of transubstantiation was anti-
Scriptural, and immediately (1382) followed the latest
attempt to suppress him. Probably, however, the Schism
occupying men's thoughts, as it must have done, and
522
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{November
1890.
weakening the Church's central authority, may have pre-
vented the searching out of heretics for due punishment
with the same energy as before ; hence Wycliffe, the object
of so keen a hatred, was suffered to die in his bed instead
of at the stake. At any rate, though he found it prudent
to withdraw from Oxford, he was allowed to spend the
two remaining years of his life unmolested at Lutter-
worth.
The great Reformer was seized with a stroke of paraly-
sis while he was hearing mass in his parish church, and
he died the next day at the close of 1384. V.
atttr Cmmuentams.
A NEWBROUGH CENTENARIAN.
Mrs. Mary Teasdale, of Nun's Bush, Newbrough,
near Hexham, who was born at Kirkharle, near Alston,
completed her 101st year on August 12, 1890. Nun's
Bush, which is supposed to have been formerly the site
of a nunnery, is about a mile from the ancient and
salubrious village of New-
brough. The old lady, who
lives with her son, Mr. John
Teasdale, a lead miner, is
still tolerably hale andhearty.
She can enjoy her pipe.
too, for, like many another
old woman, she indulges in
tobacco smoking. She has
the use of her eyesight, her
memory is still pretty good,
and she can "drive a good
crack " about olden times.
Mrs. Teasdale lost her
husband when her family —
a tolerably large one — were very young. So she had to
do such farm work as " shearing, " in order to maintain
her children. In short, all through life she has had to
work hard. The old lady's grandfather and grandmother
lived to upwards of a hundred years of age. The ac-
companying portrait has been takin from a photograph
by Mr. Brown, of Newbrough. M. H.
MRS. MART TEASDALE.
" HENWIFE JACK."
Many old residents in Newcastle will remember the
familiar figure and voice of an oyster vendor who, some
forty years back, perambulated the streets at nights,
calling oysters with a voice so loud that it could be
heard nearly all over the town. On a still night, when
he was in the neighbourhood of Westgate Hill, his voice
could be distinctly heard at Dunston, which is upwards
of a mile off, as " the crow flies." His name was John
Turnbull, better known as "Henwife Jack." Jack for
many years was almost constantly in the company of
fishwives, among whom he spent bin happiest hours.
Hence the nickname. This Newcastle worthy was
rather tall, lank, and lean, and as straight as a drill
sergeant. He was also an expert walker, and went over
the ground at a rapid pace with his basket on his head.
I knew Jack fifty years back. At ti>e!k time, and for
many years afterwards, he hawked fish in Dunston and
the adjacent villages. But, I regret to say, this poor
creature was ranch persecuted by the villagers, who
delighted to call him foul names. He got so accustomed
to these insults, however, that he seldom took any
notice of them. Poor Jack, like other mortals, got his
time over. He took an illness nearly twenty years ago,
and "shuffled off this mortal coil."
VILLAGE BLACKSMITH, Dunston.
A TEST OF RESPECTABILITY.
One "pay" Saturday, two pitman who had been "on
the drink " for an hour or two, met in the Bigg Market,
Newcastle, and commenced to argue as to which of the
twain was the more respectable. "Noo," observed one of
the thirsty souls, " aa tell thoo that aa's mair respectable
than thoo ; for aa could git strap for a gallon, whor thoo
could oney git put doon for a trill !"
NATUBAL HISTORY.
Some few years ago a bottlemaker, whom we shall call
Bob, had been out for a walk in the neighbourhood
of West Hartlepool. Bob came home sorely puzzled.
Meeting one of his fellow-workmen, he said to him,
" Man, aa hev had a waak in the country, an" aa seed
the curiousest thing thoo ivor seed. It was like a cuddy,
an' it wasint a cuddy ; it was like a horse, an' it wasint
a horse. Aa'm blowed if aa knaa whaat it was."
"Oo," says Bob's mate, "aa knaa whaat it's been; it's
been a mule. Bob." "A whaat?" returned Bob; "it'sne
use ye taaking that way. Aa tell ye it wasint a bord at
aall, man !"
THE BOY AND THE BEER.
A bricklayer called to a lad, " Bring me a quairt of
beer?" "Aall reet," replied the boy, "but whor's the
money?" "Wey," remarked the man, "onnybody can
get beer wi' money, but it wad show hooclivvor ye wor
if ye got it wivoot." The youth said no more, but went
and brought an empty jug. "What's this?" said the
thirsty son ot toil, "a jug— but ne beer!" "Aye," was
the observation, "ne beer. Onnybody can drink beer
cot of a pot that's full ; but ye'd be mighty clivvor if ye
could drink beer, or owt else, out of a pot that hes
nowt in't !"
COCKNEY ENGLISH.
Some three months ago, a steamer left Newcastle for
China, having on board a very larp-e number of pas-
sengers. Amongst them were a Tynesider and a Cockney.
Norenjberl
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
523
The latter, in the course of conversation, proposed to
have a " spelling bee. " "Noo," said the Tynesider, "aa'U
ask ye the foret yen." "Right," replied the Cockney.
Seated as they were in the saloon, the thought naturally
occurred to the Tynesider to ask, "Can ye spell 'saloon'!"
" Of course I can," replied his London friend, " it's quite
easy," and, in apparent triumph, he added, "There's a
hess, and a hey, and a hell, and two hoes, and a hen."
" Begox," exclaimed the Tynesider, " if 'saloon' haads aall
them, let's oot o' this !"
THE ARCHDEACON AND THE STONE-BBEAKER.
A good tale is told of a kind-hearted North-Country
archdeacon and an old protrge of his, whose humble
occupation it was to break stones by the roadside. Stop-
ping one day to have a chat, the old stone-breaker
remarked upon the hardness of his task, and the kindly
archdeacon promised to look out for an easier job for him.
Several times " Old John " reminded the archdeacon of
his promise ; but a suitable situation was slow in offering
itself. About a year passed, when John, on hearing of
the death of the bishop of the diocese, posted off to see
the archdeacon. Says John, "Aa's cum te see ye aboot
the sityation, sor." "Well, John," replied the ecclesiastic.
"I'm sorry nothing has turned up yet." " Whaat !" says
John, " de ye mean to say the bishop isn't deed ?" " Yes,
certainly, but you can hardly take that post, John."
"No, sor," replied the old man, "not tnysel, but aa can
hire a substitoot !"
Miss Charlotte Bond, of Winchester Terrace, New-
castle, a lady well known for her benevolence and
philanthropy, died on the 10th of September. The de-
ceased was a sister-in-law of Alderman W. H. Stephen-
son.
On the llth of September, James Tearney, better known
as "Blind Jimmy," a notorious South Shields character,
died in the Union Workhouse at Harton. The police
records showed that, since 1865, he had been charged
before the magistrates no fewer than 123 times, the
offences being almost exclusively drunkenness, disorderly
conduct, assaults, and wilful damage. The deceased was
46 years of age.
Mr. Fred Gosman, who for twenty-three years had been
connected with the Coal Trade Association and Mining
Institute, in the capacity of assistant-secretary and
cashier, died in Newcastle on the 13th of September.
Apart from his official position, he was best known for his
musical attainments, which were very considerable. He
was fond of literary pursuits, and some time since pub-
lished a work entitled "Seven Days in London," which
became very popular. He further published a " Guide to
Newcastle," and a yearly book recording past events in
Newcastle and district.
The death took place, on the same day, of Mr. William
Watson Fairies, ton of the late Mr. Nicholas Fairies,
J.P., of South Shields, who was murdered near Jarrow
Slake in June, 1832. The deceased gentleman belonged
to one of the oldest families in South Shields, and had
reached the advanced age of eighty-nine years. (See vol.
for 1888, pp. 83 and 236.)
Mr. Thomas Walton, who for nearly a quarter of a
century had acted as representative of the Newcastle
Chronicle at Durham, died in that city on the 17th of
September, aged 51. Mr. Walton was an energetic and
painstaking journalist, and was much respected by his
employers, colleagues, and the general public of the
county of Durham.
Mr. David Milne- Home, of Milne Gradon, Ooldstream,
died on the 19th of September, at the advanced age of 85
years. The deceased gentleman was a brother of Admiral
Sir Alexander Milne, and assumed the name Milne-Home
on marrying Miss Jean Home, of Wedderburn and Billie,
Berwickshire.
Mr. Henry Salkeld, of East Boldon, who had been be-
tween the last thirty and thirty-fivp years a servant of the
River Tyne Commissioners, died suddenly on the platform
at Cleadon Lane Station on the 20th of September. The
deceased was at one time a member of the Tynemouth
Town Council, and had long taken an active interest in
local public affairs.
On the same day, an old resident of Jarrow passed
away in the person of Mr. Henry Hunting, aged 74,
Deceased was manager of Messrs. Palmer and Co.'s iron-
works for the space of fourteen years.
On the 22nd of September, the Rev. R. E. Beaumont
died at Newsham Hall, near Winston, Barnard Castle.
The death was announced, on the 23rd of September, of
Dr. Peter Hood, of Seymour Street, London. Dr. Hood
was a native of Gateshead, and was in the 82nd year of
his age.
On the 24th of September, the death occurred, some-
what suddenly, of Mr. R. K. Liddle, who for fourteen
years had occupied the position of senior verger at Durham
Cathedral. The deceased was 60 years of age.
Mr. Frederic Donnison, a well-known citizen of New-
castle, of which he was a native and a freeman, died
on the 24th of September. The deceased, who was at one
time connected with the Customs, but subsequently be-
came an accountant and property agent, was 76 years of
age.
On the 26th of September, Mr. John Price, formerly
foreman bookbinder with Messrs. M. and M. W. Lambert,
and afterwards agent for the Industrial Dwellings Com-
pany, died suddenly at his residence in Ridley Place,
Newcastle. The deceased, who also devoted a good deal
of time to literary work, and had frequently contributed
to the columns of the Newcastle Chronicle, was 60 years of
age.
Mr. John Corner, for many years a merchant of Whitby,
and long intimately associated with many good works
for the benefit of Staithes and Remswick fishermen, died
at his London residence on the 27th of September. Mr.
Corner was much devoted to antiquarian and scientific
pursuits, and had only recently become the possessor of
the orignal manuscript of Captain Cook's journal of his
voyage round the world.
Mr. Adam Laidlaw, head of the old-established brush-
making business conducted by his family in Newcastle,
died on the 27th of September, in the 64th year of his age.
The Rev. John Dodd, who for thirty-eight years had
been curate and vicar of Lumley, died on the 8th of
October.
524
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{November
1890.
at d&btntti.
©ccurrence*.
SEPTEMBER,
1L— A council meeting of the Durham Miners' Associa-
tion was held at Durham, to take into consideration the
owners' offer to reduce coal-drawing from eleven to ten
hours. The offer was accepted, to come into force on
January 1st next. The Wearmouth strike was also dis-
cussed, and it was agreed that the men should commence
work at once at seven hours, and continue till the details
of the ten hours were finally settled.
12. — At the invitation of the Tees Conservancy Com-
missioners, a large number of the payers of dues and
others paid a visit of inspection to the works of the Com-
missioners on the river and its banks.
13. — It was announced that the number of children
enrolled up to this date as members of the Dicky Bird
Society, managed by Uncle Toby through the Children's
Corner of the Jfeiccastlc Weekly Chronicle, exceeded
200,000.
—Sir Charles Russell, Q.C., M.P., and Mr. Leckwood,
Q.C., M.P., addressed a political meeting at West Hartle-
poo). On the 20th, Sir Charles spoke at Darlington.
— Two workmen, named William Gates and Thomas
Rawlings, were repairing a pumping engine in the Hetton
seam of the Tyne Coal Company's pit at Hebburn,
when a valve opened, and the escaping steam so severely
scalded them that they died within fifteen minutes.
14. — An imposing Hospital Sunday demonstration was
held by the friendly societies of Hartlepool.
15. — The boys' camp at the Links, Hartley, was brought
to a conclusion. During the time the camp has been in
existence this season 254 poor boys have had a holiday, in
batches of about 24 at a time, for a fortnight.
— Damage, estimated at £15,000, was caused at West
Hartlepool by the destruction of the paper works estab-
lished a few years ago at Belle Vue by Mr. Smalley.
— A complimentary dinner was given by the representa-
tives of the Danish import trade to Mr. Councillor A. P.
Andersen, at the Crown Hotel, Newcastle, in recognition
of the part he had taken in effecting a settlement of the
strike of Danish seamen.
— It was decided that the Newcastle noon-day prayer
meeting, established by Messrs. Moody and Sankey in
1873, should be removed from the Central Hall to the
building of the Young Men's Christian Association.
— A boy named Archer Goldsborough, 11 years of age,
was drowned while bathing in a pond near the West
Stockton Ironworks.
16.— By a majority of 11 to 8, the Stockton Town
Council resolved tc purchase three acres of land at £300
per acre for the purpose of adding the same to the new
park.
— A workman named Benjamin Burns was killed by
falling from a scaffolding at the Steel Works of Sir W. G.
Armstrong and Co. at Elswick.
17. — The Bishop of Durham (Dr. Westcott) opened a
Jubilee Memorial Room in connection with Holy Trinity
Church, Darlington.
—Mr. W. H. James, M.P., addressed his constituents
at Gateshead, and received a vote of confidence.
18. — It was announced that two handsome memorial
brasses had been dedicated in the Royal Dockyard
Church, Sheerneis, to the officers and men of H.M.S.
Wasp, which, under the command of Lieut.-Commander
Bryan J. H. Adamson, son of Major Adamson, of Culler-
coats, was lost with all hands on a voyage from Singapore
to Hong Kong, in October, 1887.
— At the twentieth annual meeting of the Committee of
Management connected with the Newcastle Hospital
Sunday Fund, it was reported that the total collections
for the past year had amounted to £4,508 12s. 6d. — the
largest sum ever received by the fund.
— In some official letters received at a meeting of rate-
payers of Elswick Township, Newcastle, it was stated
that George Sterling, the assistant-overseer for the town-
ship, had absconded, and that it had been found he had
made false entries in the books to the amount of £1,300
13s. 3d. Against this amount securities of £800 were held.
I.IFTON HOUSE, JESMOND, NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNK.
November!
1890.
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
525
— It was stated that the Weardale Lead Company had
ceased operations in consequence of the action of Durham
County Council prohibiting the lead husk from the ore-
washings being discharged into the river Wear.
19.— It was ascertained that bequests to the amount of
£15,500 had been left to various public institutions by Mr.
R. W. Hollon, of York, some years ago Lord Mayor of
that city, whose remains were interred in Jesmond
Cemetery, Newcastle, on the 19th of July last. Among
the gifts were £1,000 each to the Newcastle Infirmary,
the British and Foreign Bible Society, the Church Mis-
sionary Society, the Pastoral Aid Society, the Zenana
Mission, and the National Lifeboat Institution. The
gross personal estate was sworn under £41,500.
— A shocking tragedy was enacted at Leeming, near
Bedale, the victim being an acting-sergeant of police
named James Weedy. His assailant, it was stated, was a
small market gardener, with one arm, named Robert
Kitching, against whom a coroner's jury returned a
verdict of wilful murder. Weedy was a native of
Eofpen, near Bamburgh, Northumberland.
— Mr. and Mrs. Christian John Reid, of Newcastle,
celebrated their golden wedding.
20. — The workmen employed at the Consett Iron and
Steel Works presented to Mr. Thomas Williams, of Con-
sett, the vice-president of the Board of Conciliation and
Arbitration for the North of England Manufactured Iron
and Steel Trade, a handsome illuminated address and a
purse of gold.
22.— Between seven and eight thousand members of tho
Boilermakers' and Iron Shipbuilders' Society, chiefly from
the Tyne, Wear, and Tees district, held a demonstration
to celebrate the opening of new offices, £c., for the
society, erected behind Jesmond Church, Newcastle, at a
cost of £8,000. The opening ceremony was performed by
SirB. C. Browne, and at an evening entertainment the
Mayor (Mr. T. Bell) presided. The secretary (Mr.
Knight) stated that in the last twenty years the society
had spent over a million for benefit purposes, and that
only 3 per cent, of its income went in strikes. A sketch
of Lifton House, as the new building is called, will be
seen on previous page.
23. — In the afternoon, about half-past four o'clock, a
fire was discovered to have broken out on the premises of
Messrs. Mawson and Swan, chemists, Mosley Street,
Newcastle. Information was sent to the fire station, and
the fire-brigade, under Superintendent Matthews, was
promptly on the spot. The fire was confined to the cellar
of the establishment, and was soon extinguished. Unfor-
JAMES GREY.
tunately, the fire, though of small moment of itself, was
productive of fatal results. The men on duty were all
more or less affected by the fumes of nitric acid, the
bursting of a bottle of which was the cause of the disaster.
WILLIAM BOWET.
WILLIAM MUBPHT.
William Murphy was the first to fall a victim to the
poison, and died between eight and nine o'clock. The
deceased, who was a native of London, had been in the
force about twelve years. He had also been in the navy,
526
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{November
1890.
and in the fire-brigade in London, having altogether
served the public for about thirty years. The next to
succumb was James Grey, thirty-five years of age, who
died about ten o'clock. He was a native of Cromer, in
Norfolk, and had been a member of the Newcastle fire
brigade for about three years, having seen eleven years'
service altogether. Superintendent Matthews and a fire-
man named William Bowey also suffered severely
from the effects of the fumes. The latter, unhappily,
succumbed on October 11. The calamity excited a wide-
spread feeling of sorrow and sympathy : and amid a vast
crowd of spectators, the remains of the two men Murphy
and Grey were interred in Elswick Cemetery on the 25th
of September. Fireman Bowey was buried at Barn-
borough, to which place he belonged. The Mayor (Mr. T.
Bell) took prompt action in instituting a fund for the
relief of the widows and orphans of the de-
ceased, and a committee for receiving subscrip-
tions was appointed at a public meeting held
under the presidency of his Worship on the 26th.
— Under circumstances of great difficulty and
bravery, Joseph Craig, son of James Craig, the
Ouseburn hero, rescued a man, named John
Armstrong, from drowning in the River Tyne,
near the Ouseburn. (See vol. for 1889, p.p. 287,
334, 428.)
— In the Lecture Theatre of the Literary and
Philosophical Society, Newcastle, the fourth
annual public meeting in connexion with the
Northern Association for the Extension of Uni-
versity Teaching was held. There was a large
attendance. The chair was occupied by the
Hon. and Rev. A. T. Lyttelton, Master of
Sehvyn College, Cambridge.
— The annual conference of the North of
England Temperance League was held at
Crook.
24. — Fifteen men were more or less severely
injured by au accident caused by a sudden out-
burst of name from one of the furnaces on
board the warship Katooniba, of the Royal
Navy (originally known as the Pandora), while
the vessel was lying in the Tyne at the Elswick
Works.
25. — Dr. Barry, of the Local Government
Board, held an inquiry at Darlington relative
to the typhoid fever epidemic on Tees-side.
27. — The new building, erected as the Grand
Hotel by Mr. James Deuchar, at Barras
Bridge, Newcastle, was formally opened for
business. The hotel has a frontage in Barras
Bridge of 140 feet, whilst the space occupied
by it and the Assembly Rooms is 2,340 square
yards. The front part of the ground floor con-
sists of six shops and the principal entrance to
the hotel. (See next page. )
— Miss Margaret Jenner, a young lady employed as
governess to the family of Archdeacon Chiswell, was
accidentally drowned in the sea at Wbitburn.
— The results of the first examination held by the
University of Durham for degrees in music were pub-
lished. There were 81 candidates, of whom 59 passed.
— On the occasion of their silver wedding, Mr. and Mrs
William Boyd were presented by the workmen of the
Wallsend Slipway and Engineering Company with an
illuminated address, a framed portrait of some of the
Company's workmen, and a silver salver and bowl.
— It was stated that a rich vein of lead ore had been
discovered on Alnwick Moor.
— It was announced in the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle
that Lord Tennyson, the Poet Laureate, had written to
say that he would be happy to place his name on the list
of honorary officers of Uncle Toby's Dicky Bird Society.
Similar communications had also been received from Mr.
Ruskin, Lord Armstrong, the Earl of Ravensworth, the
Bishop of Durham (Dr. Westcott), the Bishop of Hexham
(Dr. Wilkinson), the Bishop of Newcastle (Dr. Wilber-
force), the President of the Wesleyan Conference (Dr.
Moulton), Professor Garnett (Principal of the College of
Physical Science), and other eminent persons. A fac-
simile of Lord Tennyson's letter is here printed : —
28.— For only the second time since its erection, about
thirty years ago, the Mayor and Corporation of Newcastle
attended divine service in Christ Church, Shieldfield.
29. — A musical ffite was given in the Rectory Grounds
at Morpeth, as a welcome to the recently-appointed
Rector, the Rev. H. J. Bulkeley, M.A.
30.— It was announced that Mr. Edward Lake had been
appointed mineral manager of the southern division of the
North-Eastern Railway, to fill the vacancy caused by the
retirement of Mr. Bailey.
— At a public meeting held in the Council Chamber,
1890.
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
527
under the presidency of the Mayor, a Public Health
Society was formed for Newcastle.
— In the absence, through illness, of the Archbishop of
York, the Bishop of Durham presided at the Church
Congress at Hull, and one of the sermons was preached
by the Bishop of Newcastle.
— A dividend of 11£ per cent, was declared at the
annual meeting of Sir W. G. Armstrong, Mitchell, & Co.
OCTOBER.
1. — The Stella and Stanley tenants on the Towneley
estates were entertained to dinner in the County Hotel,
Newcastle, on the occasion of the marriages of Lady
Clifford and Mrs. Delacour.
— It was reported that the Biscayo and Thule, the two
vessels despatched from the Thames with cargoes for
Siberia by the Anglo-Siberian Trading Syndicate in
July last, had returned to Vardo, having discharged their
outward cargoes, and loaded cargoes for England. The
practicability of the Arctic Sea route had, therefore, now
been fully demonstrated.
2. — The autumnal meeting of the Institute of Ac-
countants in England and Wales was held in Newcastle.
— Tlir^e skulls, leveral human bones, and a lartre slab of
stone, were found in the course of some excavations near
the Stephenson Monument in Westgate Road, New-
castle.
— It was announced that the will of Mr. Thomas Eelk,
Recorder of Hartlepool, who died on June 21th last, had
been proved, the value of the personal estate being
£76,000.
3. — Sir John Gorst, M.P., Under Secretary for India,
addressed a political meeting at North Shields.
— It was notified in the Lyndon Gazette that the Queen
had granted to Mr. and Mrs. Watson Askew, of Pallins-
burn and Ladykirk, her royal license and authority to use
the surname of Robertson, in addition to and after that
of Askew.
, — The men employed in the shipyard of Sir W. G. Arm-
strong, Mitchell, and Co., at Elswick, to the number of
about 1,000, came out on strike against the importation of
strangers to fill the places of the local joiners on strike.
They shortly afterwards returned to work, however, on
the understanding that the firm would not employ strange
joiners pending efforts to settle the joiners' strike.
4. — At a Blue Ribbon meeting held at the Central Hall,
Newcastle, Mr. Alderman W. D. Stephens, J.P., the
chairman, as local hon. sec. of the institution, made the
presentation of a certificate granted by the Royal Humane
Society to David Urwin, of Newcastle, for having on the
15th of June last saved the life of a boy of five or six
years of age, who had fallen from the Fish Quay into the
river Tyne. On the same day, the committee of the
Royal Humane Society awarded its bronze medal to
Stephen Renforth, brother of the late champion sculler,
for saving (with the assistance of J. Bryan), W. Baker,
at Gateehead, on August 6th last. The bronze medal was
also awarded to J. Gogan, aged 13, for saving Patrick
Collins, in the river Tees, Port Clarence, Middlesbrough,
on August 17.
—The Northumberland coalowners agreed to further
advance the miners' wages li per cent., making 50 per
cent, since the great strike two years ago.
— A beautiful memorial monument to the memory of
the late Mr. i]dward Hunter, of Dudley Colliery, one of
the leaders of the Northumberland miners, and a pro-
minent member of the Permanent Relief Fund, was
unveiled in Cramlington Churchyard, bv Mr. Thomas
Burt, M.P.
— An interesting ceremony took place at Tynemouth,
on the occasion of the unveiling of portraits of Mr. John
I''orster Spence, Mr. John Morrison, and the late Mr.
Joseph Spenoe, the founders of the Tynemouth Volunteer
Life-Brigade. The portraits, which had been painted by
Mr. Frank S. Ogilvie, were formally presented in the
Watch House of the Brigade, by Mr. R. S. Donkin, M.P.
(See ante page 319.)
— At the Morpeth Police Court, Lionel Middleton, a
youth, 18 years of age, was remanded on a charge of
murdering a servant girl, named Hughes, by shooting
her, in her master's house, at West Chevington. The
coroner's jury, however, found that the sad occurrence
was purely accidental ; and the magistrates, for the game
reason, eventually discharged the accused.
— Weldon Mill, in the occupation of Mr, John Appleby,
was destroyed by fire.
528
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{November
1890
6.— Mr. Alderman T. Richardson, as representative of
the Newcastle Corporation, WHS elected a governor of the
Durham College of Science, in the room of Sir B. C.
Browne, resigned.
— It was intimated that Mr. Alderman William Wilson
had, owing to impaired health, retired from the position
of chairman of the Stewards of the Incorporated Com-
panies of Freemen of Newcastle, and had been succeeded
by Mr. W. H. WUlins.
—The Earl of Carlisle presided at a public meeting,
held in the Church of the Divine Unity, Newcastle, in
connection with the Northumberland and Durham
Unitarian Christian Association.
8. — The fourth session of the Tyneside Geographical
Society was inaugurated in the Northumberland Hall,
Newcastle, by Miss Uolenso, daughter of the late Bishop
Colenso, who delivered a lecture on " Zulu-land."
— The foundation atone of the first Board School for
Benwell was laid by Mrs. Hodgkin, at Benwell Dene.
— The will Mr. William Aldam, of Frickley Hall,
Yorkshire, and Healey Hall, Northumberland, was
sworn at £196.742. The bequests included £100 to the
Newcastle Infirmary. (See ante, p. 428.)
— A meeting, under thn auspices of the Church Mis-
sionary Society, was held in the Central Hall, Hood
Street, Newcastle, to bid farewell to missionaries shortly
sailing for the East. The missionaries were : — Tho Kev.
H. J. Molony, curate of St. Stephen's, Newcastle,
going to Central India ; Dr. W. P. Mears and Mrs.
Mears, of Tynemouth, to China; the Rev. W. T.
Proctor, of Durham, to North India ; and Miss E. Ritson
and Miss Fawcett, of Sunderland, bound for Japan.
9.— Colonel E. T. Gourley, M.P., and Mr. S. Storey.
M.P.. addressed their constituents at Sunderland, and
received a vote of confidence.
10. — While some workmen were engaged in excavating
for the cellars of Messrs. Hodgkin, Barnett, Pease,
Spence and Co.'s new banking premises in Ccllingwood
Street, Newcastle, they came upon what was supposed to
be a remnant of the great Roman Wall.
(general ©entrances.
SEPTEMBER.
10. — During a serious riot of dock hands at Southamp-
ton, the military only succeeded in restoring order after
charges with fixed bayonets.
12. — Owing to the refusal of the Government to revise
the Constitution of Switzerland, a number of insurgents
established a Provisional Government in the canton of
Ticino. Two councillors of the Government were seized,
and another — M. Rossi — was shot dead. Troops were
despatched to Bellinzona, and the disturbance, which
had almost assumed the aspect of revolution, was quelled.
A man named Angelo Castioni was afterwards arrested
in London, charged with the murder of M. Rossi.
17. — Much destruction was caused by fire to the ancient
Moorish palace, the Alhambra, near Granada, Spain.
The damage was estimated at £10,000.
18.— Death of Mr. Dion Boucicault, actor and play-
wright, aged 68.
19.— News was received from Yokohama, Japan, that
the Turkish frigate Ertogroul and the mail steamer
Musashi Maru had foundered. The crew of the steamer
all perished, while of those on board the warship only six
officers and fifty men were saved. Among the drowned
was Osman Pasha, the special envoy sent by the Sultan of
Turkey with an autograph letter and decoration for the
Mikado of Japan.
20. — Twenty -one persons were killed and thirty injured
in a railway accident on the Philadelphia and Readine
Railway, at Shoemakersville, U.S.
25. — Serious disturbances occurred at Tipperary, Ire-
land, where Mr. William O'Brien, M.P., Mr. John
Dillon, M.P., Mr. David Sheehy, M.P., Mr. Patrick
O'Brien, M.P., Mr. John Condon, M.P., and other lead-
ing Nationalists, were prosecuted by the Government on
a charge of conspiracy in advising tenants not to pay
their rents. In the course of a collision between the
police and the people, Mr. John Morley, M.P., was
roughly handled.
— The president of the Mormon Church in Salt Lake
City, U.S., issued a manifesto denying that the church
teaches polygamy or plural marriages any longer.
26. — The forces of the Sultan of Morocco defeated a
large band of insurgents with heavy loss in killed and
wounded in the district of Tit Shokhman.
28. — An insane man committed suicide in St. Paul's
Cathedral by shooting himself with a revolver.
30. — The trial of John Reginald Bircball for the
murder of F. C. Benwell took place at Woodstock,
Canada, when the accused was found guilty and sen-
tenced to death. Birchall advertised for a partner in
what proved to be a fictitious farm in Canada. The
evidence showed that Benwell, who belonged to England,
was lured into a dismal jungle and shot.
OCTOBER.
1. — Death of M. Alphonse Karr, a celebrated French
novelist, at Nice, aged 82.
— As a carriage containing three ladies and two child-
ren was passing over a level crossing at Louisville, near
Quebec, Canada, a goods train dashed into the vehicle.
All the ladies were killed, but the children escaped with-
out a scratch.
4.— The McKinley Tariff Bill, which greatly increased
the duties on foreign articles, came into force in the
United States.
— Death of Mrs. Booth, wife of the general of the Sal-
vation Army.
6. — William Jackson, a labourer, was accidentally shot
dead at Stanwix, near Carlisle, by some men who were
playing with a gun.
10. — When the Crimes Act Court which had been en-
gaged in the trial of several Irish members of Parliament
met at Tipperary, Messrs. John Dillon and William
O'Brien, two of the accused, were found missing. It was
rumoured that both of them had gone to America by way
of Havre.
— Slavin and McAuliffe, two pugilists from abroad,
were sent for trial on a charge of committing a breach of
the peace during an alleged prize fight at the Ormonde
Club, London.
Printed by WALTER Soon, Felling-on-Tyne.
Chronicle
OF
NORTH-COUNTRY*LORE*AN D*LEGEND
VOL. IV.— No. 46.
DECEMBER, 1890.
PRICE 6n.
V.
HALTVTniSTLE HARRIED AND AVENGED.
JJURING the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the
Elliots, Croziers. and Scotts, the lairds of
Mangerton and Whithaugb, repeatedly
made dreadful raids upon Haltwhistle,
carrying off great numbers of horses, kine and oxen, goats
and sheep, as well as household plenishings, money,
and even writings, besides murdering some of the inhabit-
ants, and seizing others as prisoners, to be held till
ransomed. Sir Robert Carey says that soon after he was
appointed to the wardenship of the Middle March the
outlaws of Liddesdale sacked Haltwhistle. and carried
away the principal inhabitants and all their goods. " I
>.ent," says he, "to seek for justice for so great a wrong.
The opposite officer sent me word it was not in his power,
for that they were all fugitives, and not answerable to
the king's laws. .1 acquainted the King of Scots with
this answer. He signified to me that it was true, and
that if I could take my revenge without hurting his
honest subjects, he would be glad of it. I took no long
time to resolve what to do, but sent some two hundred
horse to the place where the principal outlaws lived ; and
took and brought away all the goods they had. The out-
laws themselves were in strongholds, and could no way
be got hold of. But one of the chiefs of them, being of
more courage than the rest, got to horse and came prick-
ing after them, crying out and asking them ' What he
was that durst avow that mighty work?' One of the
company came to him with a spear, and ran him through
the body, leaving his epear broken in him, of which
wound he died. The goods were divided to ppor mien,
from whom they were taken before. This act so irritated
the outlaws that they vowed cruel revenge, and that
before next winter was ended they would leave the whole
country waste. His name was Sim of the Cathill (an
Armstrong) that was killed, and it was a Ridley of Halt-
whistle that killed him. They presently took a resolution
to be revenged of that town. Thither they came, and set
many houses of the town on fire, and took away all their
goods; and, as they wero running up and down the
streets with lights in their hands to set more houces on
fire, there was one other of the Ridleys that was in a
strong stone house that made a shot out at them, and it.
was his good hap to kill an Armstrong, one of the sons of
the chiefest outlaw. The death of this young man
wrought so deep an impression amongst them, as many
vows were made that before the end of next winter they
would lay the Border waste. " This event occurred about
the end of May, 1593. The vigilant warden, however,
prevented a third visit of fire and sword in Haltwhistle
by capturing some of the principal leaders of the banditti,
and bringing the whole of them into subjection, as he
relates at length. All the houses in Haltwhistle were
formerly more or less fortified, and there were two or
three towers in the place.
THE ELLIOTS AND ARMSTRONGS.
About the same period, the Elliots and Armstrongs, to
the number of five hundred or more, entered Elsdon,
burned the town, murdered fourteen men, plundered the
inhabitants to the extent of five hundred pounds in
money and household stuff, and drove off four hundred
horses and mares, and as many prisoners, whom they
ransomed at heavy rates. No wonder that the despoiled
people, in their pitiful application for redress to the
Council sitting at Alnwick, in April, 1586, exclaim —
530
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/December
\ 1890.
"We are so pillaged by open-day forays, and by night
rieves and barryships, by the thieves of East and West
Teviotdale, that we at this day be neither able to pay our
rent, nor to furnish six able men nor horse, by reason of
these great outrages and oppressions ; nor have we had
any restitution nor redress for the space of twenty-six
years past." The marauders here styled Teviotdale
men, were doubtless from that prime rendezvous of
thieves, Liddesdale. The Armstrongs appear to have
been at an early period in possession of great part
of that secluded valley, and of the Debateable Land
adjacent. Their immediate neighbourhood to England
rendered them the most lawless of the Scotch Border
clans ; and as most of the country inhabited by them
was claimed by both kingdoms, they preyed securely
upon both, being often protected from justice by
the one in opposition to the other. The rapacity of the
Armstrongs, and of their allies the Elliots, gave rise to
the popular saying, "Elliots and Armstrongs ride
thieves a' !" Their head-men lived in peels, planted
down on salient points along the banks of the Liddell.
But when hard pressed they abandoned these, and took
refuge in the peat mosses, accessible by paths knowii
to themselves alone. One of the most noted of these
asylums was Tarras Wood, in the heart of a desolate
marsh, through which a small river takes its course.
Upon the banks of the stream were found some dry spots,
which were occupied by the outlaws and their followers
in cases of emergency. The place, says an English
writer, "was of that strength, and so surrounded with
bogs and marsh ground, and thick bushes and shrubs, as
thev feared not the force nor power of England and Scot-
land, so long as they were there." The only way to ferret
them out of this stronghold and secure their persons was
by a simultaneous inroad by armed men from both sides
of the Border, a conjunction which could seldom happen.
In 1598 Carey made a raid upon them, however, in con-
cert with the Scottish garrison of Hermitage Castle.
But while he was besieging them in the Tarras, they con-
trived, by ways known only to themselves, to send a
party into England, who plundered the warden's lands.
On their return they sent Carey one of his own cows, tell-
ing him that, fearing he might fall short of provisions
during his visit to Scotland, they had taken the pre-
caution of sending him some English beef. They also sent
him word that he was like the puff of a haggis, hottest
at the first, and told him that he had their permission
to stay in the country as long as the weather would give
him leave. At length five of the ringleaders were taken
in an ambuscade, and an accommodation was effected,
on their delivering up a number of stolen sheep and kine
to their rightful owners, bonds being entered into to keep
the peace in time coining. Similar tales are told of the
thieves in the Northumberland Dales. When any of
them had committed some greater depredation than
common, and the warden or country-keeper sent a party
against them, the troops could never approach their
stronghold without their receiving timely notice ; and
when hard pressed, they usually managed to make their
escape into Scotland, where they could reside till they
had made their peace, or the danger had blown past. At
other times they found shelter among the "hideous
mountains, precipices, and mosses," "desert and impass-
able," extending from the Lawes near Sewingshields,
towards Bewcastle, the hills in which quarter were so
boggy, Camden says, that no horsemen were able to rido
through them.
KINMONT WILLIE.
The story of the release of Kinmont Willie from Car-
lisle Castle is told in the ballad which Mr. John Stokoe
has communicated to the Monthly Chronicle, pagn 453.)
Queen Elizabeth is said to have stormed not a little when
news was carried to her of this daring deed. It almost
seemed for a while as if it would be the occasion of war
between the two countries, though every cool political
consideration forbade. Some very angry correspondence
passed between London and Edinburgh. In one d«s-
patch Elizabeth irefully wrote — "I will have satisfaction,
or else " The matter was at length arranged by the
commissioners of both nations in Berwick, by whom it
was agreed that the delinquents should be delivered up
on both sides, and that the chiefs themselves should
enter into ward in the opposite countries until these
should be surrendered, and pledges granted for the future
maintenance of the quiet of the Borders.
WAT OP BUCCLBUOH.
But while the affair was yet unsettled, certain of the
English Borderers having invaded Liddesdale and wasted
the country, the Laird of Buccleuch retaliated the injury
by a raid into England, in which he not only brought off
much spoil, but apprehended thirty-six of the Tynedale
thieves, all of whom he put to death. Sir Robert Kerr,
of Ceseford, rode with him on this occasion, Buccleuch
directing the attack chiefly against the Charltons, and
Cessford against the Stories. Caroy, in a letter to Lord
Burghley, states that at a place called Greenhaugh, find-
ing no men about, they burned the house and all that was
therein, including a good store of corn, and at the Bough t-
Hill they killed four of the Charltons, "very able and
sufficient men," and went away threatening they would
shortly have more of their lives. The origin of the
quarrel between the Scott* and the Charltons is said to
have been this : — A good while before, some of the Scotts,
led by Will Harcotes and others, had made a great
" rode " into Tynedale and Redesdale, wherein "they took
up the whole country, and did very near beggar them for
ever." Buccleuch and the rest of the Scotts, having
bragged that the Dalesmen durst not cross the fells to
take back anything of their own, the Charltons, being
"the sufficientest and ablest men upon the Borders," not
only went and took their own goods again, but heartened
and persuaded their neighbours to take theirs also. This
December 1
1890. J
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
531
stuck, Carey tells us, in Buccleuch's stomach. Moreover,
he alleged that, a long while previously, during a time of
war, the Tynedale men had gone into his country (Sel-
kirkshire), and there took his grandfather prisoner, and
killed divers of his people. When the Commissioners at
Berwick had at length agreed on articles for keeping and
preserving peace on the Border, James, King of Scots,
had great difficulty in persuading Bucclench and Cessfori
to comply with the order to enter into ward in England
for a brief space. It required all his authority to over-
come their scruples. In the end, however, they went.
On Buccleuch being presented to Elizabeth, tradition has
it that " she demanded of him, with her usual rough and
peremptory address, how he dared to undertake an enter-
prise so desperate and presumptuous as the rescue of Will
of Kinmont," and that the undaunted chieftain replied,
" What is it that a man dares not do ?" Elizabeth, it is
said, struck with the reply, turned to a lord in waiting
and exclaimed, " With ten thousand such men, our
brother of Scotland might shake the firmest throne of
Europe."
JOCK O' THE SIDE.
Of Jock o' the Side, the hero of one of the most popular
of the Border ballads, Sir Richard Maitland says, "a
greater thief did never ride." He seems to have been
nephew to the Laird of Mangerton, in Liddesdale, and
brother to Christie of the Side, mentioned in a list of
Border clans dated 1597. The Laird's Jock, the Laird's
Wat, and Hobbie Noble delivered him out of Newcastle
gaol, where he lay with fifteen stone of Spanish iron laid
right sere upon him. They had shod their horses the
wrong way, and taken the road like corn cadgers, as was
a common practice with the mosstroopers, as well as with
the last century horse-stealers, their lineal descendants.
Having crossed the Tyne at Chollerford, and provided
themselves with a tree, with fifteen "nogs " on each side,
wherewith to scale the wall, they managed, if the ballad
speak truth, to reach their friend Jock in his dark and
dreary dungeon, and carry him off home, where he forged
his irons into horse shoes. Hobbie Noble, one of the
adventurous three, was an Englishman, born and bred in
Bewcastle Dale. (See Monthly Chronicle, 1888, p. 68.)
THE BORDEBS PARTIALLY CLEARED.
After the accession of James to the English throne,
a sweeping clearance of the Borders was undertaken.
The Laird of Buccleuch collected under his banners the
most desperate of the marauders, whom he formed into a
legion in the service of the States of Holland. At the
same time the Debateable Land was cleared of the
Graemes, who were transported to Ulster, and their
return prohibited under pain of death. The office of
warden was abolished in both kingdoms, and the con-
stable bearing the sheriff's writ superseded the warden-
sergeant. But for a long time subsequent to the union of
the crowns, the mosstroopers still continued to pursue
their calling, though greatly diminished in numbers and
sadly sunk in reputation. They no longer enjoyed either
the pretext of national hostility, or the protection or
countenance of the nobility and gentry. These had often,
in the olden times, made their baronial and manorial
towers "flemens," "firths," or asylums for fugitive
outlaws. Even the Government had winked at their
atrocities sometimes, when the damage they did was to
the rival kingdom. But now, instead of living as
formerly by incursions into a foreign and often hostile
country, they had to betake themselves to robbing their
fellow-countrymen and neighbours, no longer even affect-
ing to bear upon their blazon, as Drayton says their
fathers did, the snaffle, spur, and spear.
THE LAST OF THE MOSSTROOPERS,
The last public mention of mosstroopers occurs during
the civil wars of the seventeenth century, when many
ordinances of Parliament were directed against them,
and several were caught, tried, and hanged. They latterly
got the name of English Tories, in the southern part
of Scotland, as we learn from Fuller. The last rem-
nant of them was rooted out of their fastnesses by Charles
Lord Howard, Earl of Carlisle, who shipped numbers of
them off to the sugar plantations in Barbadoes. A price
was set upon the heads of such as took to the bent to
avoid expatriation, as if they had been so many pestilent
vermin and runaways. They might be lawfully seized
and carried off, wherever met, and even killed on the spot,
without any judicial inquisition. The ringleaders having
been thus got rid of, the rest of the people were by and by
reduced to something like legal obedience. It was not to
be expected, however, that the Border land would all at
once be converted into a peaceful Arcadia. It is true that
feuds which had existed for centuries gradually wore out,
under the influence of common and statute law. It was
no longer safe for a man to take justice into his own
hands. Instead of disputes being settled, as they had
once been, by club-law at fairs, football matches, and
other meetings, recourse was now oftener had to the
courts of quarter sessions, which used to be crowded,
down till less than a century ago, with suitars from Reed-
water and the North Tyne, on this side of the Cheviots,
and from Liddesdale and Upper Teviotdale on the other
side. Apropos of the sugar plantations in the West
Indies, and the "Virginia and Carolina tobacco-fields,
many a likely lad was kidnapped from these parts by the
Widdringtons and other man-stealers, and sent off to be
sold as slaves. The legislative union between England
and Scotland contributed not a little to modify and
soften, but by no means to suppress, the predatory
tendencies of the Borderers. It is true that many who
would formerly have made raids into merry England as
mosstroopers now shouldered more or less heavy packs,
and came tramping across the country as travelling
merchants, otherwise pedlars. Others of less caution and
more daring, though possibly not less conscience, turned
smugglers of whisky, salt, and other commodities. But
632
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/ December
\ 1890.
the legitimate successors of the Border thieves of the
middle ages may be said to have been the horse-stealers.
THE HOUSE STEALEBS OF LAST OENTUBY.
Horse stealing continued to be practised to a great ex-
tent, all along tlie Borders, down to the insurrection of
1715, and even long afterwards. Many of the rievers
lived in the vicinity of Bewcastle, a place well fitted for
the purpose of eluding pursuit, from its secluded and yet
central position, amidst extensive uninhabited wastes, the
people living on the skirts of which were universally more
disposed to put the searchers after stolen property on the
wrong scent than to direct them right. A story is told of
a Southron examining the Runic pillar in the churchyard
at Bewcastle, and expressing his surprise at the paucity
of the tombstones, being addressed by the sexton as
follows: "Do you no keu the reason? Why, man, the
greater part o' wor Bewcastle folk have outher been
hanged or transported ; their banes dinna rest here."
WILLTAM BKOCKIK.
33toh0j) Cnoin'tf ftitfclu
j]R. JOHX COSIX was the first Bishop of
Durham after the Restoration. Church and
King had now "their own again"; and
Cosin, returning from exile, was enthroned
on the Wear. He was a lover of books, and familiar
with them. Nor was he miserly of his treasures, but
ready to communicate. The building for the accommo-
dation of his Durham Library, erected on Palace Green,
was completed in the year 1668 ; and he addressed himself,
with characteristic ardour, to the storing of the structure
with books.
It is amusing to read, in the correspondence he carried
on with his secretary, Miles Stapylton, how bent he was
on winning gifts for the enrichment of his pet institution.
(Surtees Society, vol. 55.) Having abundant openings for
doing good turns to others, he saw not why they should
escape from the pinch of the reciprocating proverb. Out
of every one on whom he had a reasonable claim, he was
determined, in his own phrase, to hook some book or
other. He must have either a book or a subscrip-
tion. Especially was he anxious to make a prize of a
Tractatia Tractatuum, "in twenty-eight great volumes,
fairly bound," which Mr. Flower, his domestic chaplain,
had found him out ; " but the bookseller, "says the bishop,
"demandeth £60, and may perhaps be brought down to
£50 for the lowest thereof, which I am not able to give,
having expended so much on my library already." Mr.
Stapylton, however, might raise the money by subscrip-
tion ; or — (happy thought !) — " peradventure you may
find the parson of Sedgefield to be in a generous humour,
and to be a benefactor for the giving of these books to the
library his own self alone ; but if you move him— you, or
Mr. Davenport [rector of Hougbton-le-Spring], or any
other — I pray you do it in your own names, and not in
mine,"
This suggestion was made to his secretary on the
2nd day of December, 1669. On the fourth he was pen
in hand again ; and in a postcript to a long letter of that
day he proposes a compromise, under which a layman
should share with the Sedgefield parson the pleasure of
purchasing the stately volumes: — "Mr. Davenport is still
acquainted and free with Mr, Tempest [of Old Durham],
It would not be amiss, considering, the £300 that I gave
him, if he and the parson of Sedgefield were moved to
give some contribution to the public library, so that,
between them both, we might get the Tractatui Tracta-
tuum to be put into it, with some other pond books of a
lesser value to bear it company, Galen, or Scotus, or Atlas
Major, &c. ; but be you and Mr. Davenport sure that you
make no motions in my name, for your own motions in
opportuno fandi tcmpore will sooner prevail. Mr. Arden
saith that he hath heard from Mr. G. Jackson, who is
in hope to prevail with Mr. Hutchinson for £5 for the
library. "
But "the best-laid schemes " do not always go smooth,
although a bishop be the contriver. From neither the
parson nor the squire, nor from both of them together,
could the money be got ; and the bookseller would nob
budge from £60. £35 was all that had been promised ;
and Cosin writes, on the 27th of January, that if no more
was to be had, "his own purse, or other provision, must
supply the rest."
The prospect brightens, however, before the month is
out. The £10 fine of Mr. Wright, a leaseholder, " added
to your £35 for Tractatus Tractatuum, and £5 more from
Easington division, would give well near the purchase of
tlie book."
Near the end of February there is another windfall
in view, and it brings out a touch of that "sub-acid
humour" with which his lordship's memory is asso-
ciated:— "The Lambs' leases at Quarrington, being 3,
may very well allow £10 for a book to the library,
besides what they allowed to Mr. Marmaduke Allison,
and think themselves well-used."
The month of March being more than half-spent, his
lordship writes : — "When you have got the money (£35)
for the library, if Tractatus Tractatuum be then to be
sold, as I doubt it will be gone before, we must add more
money to it, such as the Lambs for their parts £10, and
£10 more from some others ; else we must lay out what
you have, or can get, upon a set of the common law
books, or those authors that will be useful in a public
library for the city and country."
With the close of the month there is a glimpse of
further additions to the shelves : — "In my last I bid you
take the offer of £20 which the Norton tenants had
made, and there an end of that matter, unless you can
December V
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
533
get some book to the library, which I think you will eay
you cannot do neither, and therefore trouble not yourself
about it. If Farrow the idiot be an old man, I wonder
that I never heard of him before ; but, seeing that I hear
of him now, let the guardianship be disposed of accord-
ing to Mr. Stott's mind ; and if the grant of it be worth
anything, either take it yourself, or get a book for the
library."
In May there was a lease in embryo, "which I believe
will be worth £100, or a hundred marks at least, for the
supply of our library "; a good set-off for "this Taylor,''
who had so sorely annoyed the old bishop. "I will have
no more stewards," he vows, "that are bred after the
Scotch way, and am glad that I am rid of this Taylor,
who, among other of his virtues, would not endure a
servant here to take away the candle grease-pot upon one
of the stairs upon a Sabbath day morning, as he called it,
and thought my daughter and her housekeeper very pro-
fane persons that would suffer so irreligious an action."
All the while that his lordship was on the look-out for
books, he was seeing to the preparation of his building for
their reception. His mind was set upon having a meet
casket framed for his jewels. He "would have it done
very handsomely." 'It was suitably to be fitted for keep-
ing "all maps, books of geography, and all manner of
manuscripts that we can buy or beg from any others in
who?e houses, if any such there be, they are not so likely
to be well preserved as they will be in this library; to
which purpose I pray you set Mr. Davenport of listening
out and searching after them, you and he and all your
acquaintances besides."
In October he was inquiring how John Langstaffe got
on with the additional room to tbe library, and also mak-
ing report of £100 more he had laid out for books. Books
— books — more books — occupied his lordship's mind.
Stapylton is "to take all advantages for augumenting
the stock." In November there is Dean Carleton to be
looked after; and in January— "I shall not much stand
with Mr. Gilson for a patent without fee of the steward-
ship at Stockton, if he will give a book to the library."
In March, Carleton comes up again, who is " to blame
thus to delay the business, and to shuffle with me about
the £10 for the library book, in regard whereof I abated
him at least £50 in his fine." Cosin saw too plainly that
the Dean "would wrangle it out, and have it in his own
choice."
In April he is hoping that " John Langstaffe and James
Hull are about the work at the library " ; and — " now we
are at the libiary " — he is minded to inquire, "Where is
the £20 that Mr. Archdeacon promised to give towards
Tractatus Tractatuum ?" " Mr Archdeacon " was his son-
in-law, Denis Granville, the aforesaid " parson of Sedge-
field," who knew better how to thwart than conciliate his
father-in-law. When standing in his lordship's way in
April, 1670, Stapylton received a letter saying— "The
next time I give him such a parsonage as Sedgefield is,
which I might have kept to myself, he shall not serve me
so." Granville was Dean at the time of the Revolution ;
and then, the High Church dignitary, who was bent on
making others conform, could not conform in turn, but
fled to the Continent at the same time with King James.
Cosin, neither from the incumbent of Sedgefield nor
from any other source obtained the Tractatus by which his
fancy had been captivated. It was probably gone ere the
money was raised.
On the 9th of December, 1071, two days prior to the
date of his will, his lordship writes to Stapylton from Pall
Mall : — " I think Mr. Baddeiey, for his coronership of
Stockton, may give a book of £5 to the library."
His library was with him to the last. He was making
his will on the llth of December. He had bestowed "a
great part of his temporal estate in founding, building,
furnishing, and endowing a public library next the
Exchequer on the Palace Green in Durham, which shall
be called the Bishop of Durham's Library for ever, the
same having cost him about £2,500"; he had set apart
"a great number of his books, about a thousand, to the
public library of St. Peter's College in the University of
Cambridge " ; and, " the rest, by a special deed, he had
already given to a public use in the new library on Palace
Green, for the common benefit of the clergy, and any
others that should resort thereunto ; the whole collection
of all his books having cost him near upon £3,000, and the
c.ire of above five and fifty years together."
Such were the worthy monuments formed for himself in
his lifetime by Bishop Cosin. "Twenty years of penury
and privation had not taught him," as Surtees remarks,
"to forget the true use of riches; and amongst the very
many liberal and high-minded prelates who had held the
see of Durham, the name of Cosin stands emineutly dis-
tinguished for munificence and public spirit."
JAMES CLEPHAN (THE LATE).
STftrc*
JHREE military ramblers of Norwich visited
the North in the year 1634. The narrative
tells us that the journey was undertaken
by "three Southern commanders, in their
places, and of themselves and their purses, a captain,
a lieutenant, and an antient, all voluntary members
of the military company in Norwich." They deter-
mined, "at an opportune and vacant leisure, to take
a view of the cities, castles, and chief situations in
the Northern and other counties of England." They left
home on the llth of August, 1634, "mustering up their
triple force from Norwich, with soldiers' journey ammuni-
tion, two of them, the captain and the ensign, clad in preen
cloth like young foresters, and mounted on horses. " In
the short period of seven weeks they passed through
534
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
' December
twenty-six counties. The record of the journey was
written by one of the party, and his manuscript forms
one of the volumes in the Landsdowne Collection in the
British Museum. It was printed in an abridged form, in
Mr. E. W. Brayley's "Graphic and Historic Illustrator,"
in 1834 ; but the portion relating to the Northern
Counties was afterwards printed, fully and accu-
rately, by the late George Bouchier Richardson, in
one of the now scarce " Reprints and Imprints."
After travelling through Lincolnshire and Yorkshire,
the travellers entered the county of Durham and reached
Darlington, where they " were entertained with a hideous
noise of bagpipes." There they made but short stay.
At Ferryhill, of which they remark that " such as know it
knows it overtops and commands a great part of the
country," they rested for refreshment. "On the top
thereof we produced our travelling plate, and borrowed a
cup of refreshing health from a sweet and most pleasant
spring." Crossing the Wear by the "fair long arched
bridge'' at Sunderland Bridge, near Croxdale, they
"climbed and descended nothing but steep rocks to the
city" cf Durham. The toilsome road caused them to be
benighted ; "but," says the narrator, "we happily lighted
upon an honest gentleman, who was pleased to be our
pilot through those rugged dark ways, to our inn, the
Lion, where our host, an honest trout, caused us to be care-
fully attended by his she-attendants ; for which good
usage we gave many thanks to the courteous gentleman,
our guide."
The following morning the travellers sallied forth to see
the Cathedral, which, they tell us, "was near our inn,
placed on the top and heart of the city, which stands all
on a rock on a hill in the dale." They describe this hill
as being "environed and nigh girt round by the river
Wear, which was made to build the Castle, Minster, and
other fair structures that were erected about GOO years since."
We have previously met with the tradition that the
present course of the Wear round the city of Durham is
artificial. (See Monthly Chronicle, May, 1890, p. 210.)
On entering the Cathedral they found " some living bene-
factors there, that had disbursed great sums to adorn
his goodly and stately fair church." They especially
mention the font, which had been set up a few years be-
fore by Dean Hunt and the Chapter. It was "not to be
paralleled in our land : it is in eight squares, with an iron
grate, raised two yards every square : within is a fair
ascent of divers steps : the cover opens like a four-
quartered globe : the stone is of branched marble : and
the story is that of St. John baptizing our blessed
Saviour, and the four evangelists, curiously done and
richly painted ; within the globe all above so artificially
wrought and carved with such variety of joiners' work as
makes all the beholders thereof to admire." This descrip-
tion is all the more valuable, since the Scotch prisoners
who were confined in the Cathedral in 1650. after
the battle of Dunbar, entirely destroyed the font and
cover seen by the travellers. A new font was erected in
1663, but was removed a few years ago, and is now at
Pittington. They next mention the "rare and rich clock
and dial, with several globes whereby to know the age of
the moon, the day of the month, and the month of the
year, &c." The clock indeed still exists, but all the
elaborate and interesting woodwork in which it was en-
cased was destroyed less than fifty years ago. Amongst
other objects which attracted the travellers' attention was
"the fair and rich communion table, "the costly sacra-
mental plate, the shrines of Saints Cuthbert and Bede,
the tombs of the bishops, and the monuments of the
Nevilles. In the "fair library" the travellers were shown
the ancient manescripts, and they specially mention
one of the New Testament. " in Saxon characters,
one thousand years old." This manuscript is still
preserved, and is displayed in one of the glass cases in the
old library. In the vestry they saw " divers fair copes
of several rich works, of crimson satin, embroidered with
embossed works of silver, beset all over with cherubims,
curiously wrought to life ; a black cope wrought with gold,
with divers images in colours ; . . . . and four other
rich copes and vestments." The Dean and Chapter, they
inform us, " glory in the rich gift they presented to his
Majesty [Charles I.] in his progress, the richest of all
their ancient copes, which his Majesty graciously ac-
cepted, and esteemed at a high value." Five of these
copes, which excited the vigorous spleen of Peter Smart,
are still preserved, and may be seen by any visitor to
the Cathedral, hanging in an old oak press in the new
library.
The travellers attended the morning service in the
Cathedral, where they " were rapt with the sweet sound
and richness of a fair organ, which cost £1,000, and the
orderly, devout, and melodious harmony of the choristers. "
After prayers, they were invited to the Deanery, where
they received " noble entertainment, such as was fit for
neat-palated courtiers, and not for such dusty travelling
soldiers as we were." The account given of their reception
at the hands of the dean must not be abridged.
The first salute and welcome from this worthy gentle-
man [Dean Hunt] was expressed with a double reflect
upon us ; first as we were strangers, bub more especially
as we ware his countrymen.* It pleased him to leave
all his guests, doctors, prebends, and citizens of both
sexes, and of both kinds, spiritual and laity, and to con-
descend to walk with us in his garden for about half an
hour, till his gentleman ushar, the harbinger of dinner,
came and told him his meat was upon the table. We
wished the cook had not been so hasty, or that he had
lain longer in bed, for his [the dean's] discourse was su
mild, sweet, and eloquent, as would make a man so in a
trance as never to be weary of hearing him. The same
courteous usage we had in his garden, the name we had
at bis board, which neither wanted good dishes nor com-
pany, for there were of both choice and plenty.
After half an hour's sitting there came a young scholar
and read a chapter, during which time all discourse
ceased. No sooner was it ended but the grave master
of the house brings a cup of wine to all his guests, with
* The dean before coming to Durham had held two livings in
Norfolk, and was, I believe, a native of that county.
December 1
1890. j
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
535
a hearty welcome, which his gentle servitors were careful
to see every man pledge, to wash down the fat venison,
sweet salmon, and other great cheer this large and
sumptuous table was furnished with.
Thus we spent an hour to refresh our travelling corps
with as good meat and drink, and from aa good and free
and as generous a gentleman as England affords.
Tha dean would have had his guests stay with him a
week, but they were anxious to pursue their journey.
After leaving Durham, they saw Bear Park in the
distance, which they confounded with the site of Neville's
Cross. They saw also " a stately pile of building, and a
park, sweetly situated upon a fine ascent by the river
Wear," which must have been Lumley Castle.
As our travellers journeyed, the shades of evening
gathered round them, and before they reached Newcastle
the night had closed in. "When we were within a mile of
the town, the light above gave us no directions to descend
the steep rocky hill of the town ; but the lights beneath,
as we passed that stony street, Gateside, down to the
bridge, did serve us for land-marks, by which we made
shift to grope out our way, and late, with some difficulty,
obtained our harbour. ... It was BO late when we
entered the sea-coal, maritime, country town, Newcastle,
as, like pilgrims, we were forced to lig in Pilgrim Street,
where our host, a good fellow, and his daughter, an ia-
different virginal player, somewhat refreshed our weary
limbs."
k The next day the travellers " viewed the towu." " We
found the people and streets much alike, neither sweet
nor clean." They mention the " fair stone bridge of ten
arches, with some towers, to which come the ships."
Their description of the town itself must be quoted
almost in its entirety.
The quay is fair, and long, and a strong wall there is
between it and the town, on which we marched all abreast.
On the top of the old Castle .... we saw
all the way down to Shields, some seven miles distance,
where the sea's entrance is, in which channel lay not that
number of ships, vessels, and barques that sometimes doth,
for we were informed that the river is capable of receiv-
ing two, three, four or five hundred sail at a time, and
to ride therein safely at anchor, without damnifying one
another.
" The town is surrounded by a strong and fair built wall,
with many towers thereon. It hath seven gates, and is
governed by a mayor, Mr. Cole [Ralph Cole, grandson of
the blacksmith of Gatesbead and father of the baronet of
Brancepeth], then fat and rich, vested in a sack of
satin, and twelve aldermen Then
did we take a view of the Market Place [the
Sandhill], the Town Hall Jthe Exchange], the neat cross
[the Cail Cross], over against which almost is a stately,
prince like, freestone inn [the Nag's Head — the site of
Reid's Printing Court Buildings J, in which we tasted a
cup of good wine. Then, taking a view of the four
churches in the town, and breaking our fast in that fair
inn, Mr. Leonard Carr's [of Leonard Carr see Mr.
Welford's account in Monthly Chronicle, 1888, p. 354], we
hastened to take horse.
Leaving Newcastle, the travellers "marched away, with
pretty murmuring music, along the rivers of Tyne and
536
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f December
Derwent," passing "many fair houses, parks, and castles,"
and, after " some dangerous ways and passages," reached
Uexbam. There they found the town small and the in-
habitants poor, "yet was there in it two fair towers, which
were built, as well there as in many other places of
these wild countries, to defend them against the
Scots." They felt confident that "this town hath been
of greater note and receipt ; for here is a large cathedral-
like church, much defaced and decayed, and now un-
seemly kept." Near the church, they tell us, "is a fair
and handsome abbey, wherein liveth a noble knight, Sir
John Fenwick, that giveth free entertainment." At their
iun they were " as well accommodated with cheap and
good fare, sweet lodging and kind usage, as travellers would
desire."
The following day the travellers secured the services of
a guide, with whom they went forward, by roads which
they found " mountainous, rocky, and dangerous,"
towards merry Carlisle. The first place they especially
mention, after leaving Hexham, is Naworth, where
we must bid adieu to their company.
J. K. BOYLE, F.S.A.
at Wtinlxtan mill.
pMBROSE CROWLEY, who in the seventeenth
century began life as an anvil-maker and
crowned it with knighthood and affluence, was
the founder of Winlaton and Winlaton Mill — the one
placed on the top of a hill overlooking the valleys of tha
Tyne and the Derwent, and the other situated in tha
lowlands near the confluence of the two streams. Win-
agp£gr-=i A ^-^/"^ ..
— ~ ^r . «~ -'^^ 'f^zz=~- ;
— - • 'jA-^-^^iZ. -T ' — ' — '.f — «- :==.
>'*'' " '-"""-«• *' -=-~s~-^&~n
December \
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
537
Uton Mill is an interesting spot, and, as the sketches on
this and previous pages indicate, it is picturesque to
boot. A full account of Crowley's enterprise and "Crow-
ley's Crew " will be found in the Monthly Chronicle for
1888. Of the later development of the industry which
Sir Ambrose Crowley established on Tyneside an interest-
ing description was furnished by a correspondent to the
Newcastle Weekly Chronicle on Oct. 25, 1890. The writer
•aid:—
The Crpwley operations were carried on at Winlaton
(on the hill top) ; at Winlaton Mill (in the Derwent
Valley); at the Forge, now worked by Messrs. R. S.
Bagnall and Sons, between Swalwell and Winlaton Mill ;
at Swalwell ; and at the Teams. After a time, Mr.
Millington acquired an interest in the undertaking ;
whereupon the business proceeded under the style or firm
of Crowley, Millington, and Co. In further course of
time, the proprietors — descendants of Crowley-Millington
— gradually fell out of the run, and ultimately, about 25
or 30 years ago, relinquished all connection with what, up
to then, had remained in operation of the once extensive
works.
Portions of these works are, however, carried on under
other proprietors. Winlaton Mill, nestling amid charm-
ing scenery in the Derwent Valley, between Axwell and
Gibside Parks, now employs more men and pays more
wages than at any other time of its 200 years' industrial
history. Many of these men — for instance, of the
name of Massey, Brooks, Brown, Laybourn, Hunter,
Vinton, ElliEon, Bennett, Lockey, etc. — are direct
descendants of members of the "Crew." Messrs. Raine
and Co., the proprietors, have very successfully blended
the new with the old. Under the shadow of buildings
with an inscription stone of 1690, may be seen machinery
of the most modern description, whilst, in conjunction
with old water wheels with their water courses and
dams, there are boilers and engines representing later-
day methods.
The main site of the Swalwell establishment is occupied
by the new steel works of Messrs. RiSley and Co. ; whilst
at Winlaton (on the hill top) are the premises of the Win-
laton Nut and Bolt Company, R, S. Bagnall and Sons,
the Thompsons and the Whitfields, John Howdon and
Co., Jared Nixon, and others, who, more or less, occupy
the shops of the historic firm. As to the Teams, the
main portion of the ground is covered by the paper mill
of Messrs. E. Richardson and Sons.
atttr
SeJclforb.
Sir 2oh,n J'cnrotck,
MEMBER FOR NORTHUMBERLAND DURING THE CIVIL WAR.
Pipe of Northumbria, sound !
_\Var pipe of Alnwicke !
Wake the wild hills around,
Summon the Fenwicke !
Prrcy at Paynim \var
Fenwicke stands foremost ;
Scots in array from far,
Swell wide their war-host.
— tt'. Richardson.
i|HE "Fenwyke of Northumberland," as wo
are told in a chapter of local history written
by one who bore their name, " were of Saxon
origin, and took their cognomen from their
ancient fastness in the fen lands near Stamfordham. By
538
CHRONICLE.
I December
I 1890
purchase and by marriage with some of the principal
families in the county they obtained large possessions,
which, from the unsettled state of the times, required the
protection of military power. Fierce and resolute in
their own character and disposition, they not only sus-
tainad the shock of many a Scottish inroad, but were ever
ready to avenue real or supposed wrongs by a furious raid
into the territories of the enemy. The slogan, or s-ather-
iag cry of the clan — ' A Fenwyke ! A Fenwyke 1 ! A Fen-
wyke ! 1 ! ' was never heard in vain, and many a Border
battle field bears witness to their deadly strife with their
Scottish neighbours." In the old ballad, "The Raid of
the Reidswire," they are described as coining to one of
the meetings of the Marchwardens in a flock : —
I saw, cum merching ower the knows,
Five hundred Fennicks in a flock,
With jack and speir and bowis all bent
And warlike weapons, at their will.
Northumbrian history teems with them. They were
established at Brinkburn and Bywsll, Earsdon and Each-
wick, Heddon and Kenton, Meldon and Matfen, New-
castle and Offerton, Stanton and Stamfordham, and so
on, right down the alphabet of local topography to
Whitton and Wallington. At one time or another
members of this widely diffused family have filled every
position of trust and of honour in the Northern Counties
that sovereign could bestow, burgess award, or profes-
sional acquirement achieve.
In the time of the Stuarts the three leading families
of the Northumbrian Fenwicks were settled at Wal-
lington, Stanton, Meldon, and Brinkburn. Walling-
ton, acquired by marriage with the Strothers in the reign
of Henry IV., was the seat of the most wealthy and the
most powerful branch of the family. They were all three
united by ties of consanguinity and intermarriage ; but
into minute details of their relationships it is unnecessary
to enter. For present purposes it is sufficient to
begin with Roger Fenwick, of Wallington, who married
Dorothy, daughter of Sir John Widdrington, of
Widdrington, and died young (in 1552 or 1553), leaving
his widow to marry Sir Robert Constable, the spy, and
his son and heir William Fenwick, aged three years, to be
brought up under the guardianship of William Hilton.
This William Fenwick came of age in 1571, and had
special livery of his father's estates, including the manors
of Wallington, Cambo, Harterton, Fenwick, Longwitton,
Ryal, and Bitchfield, and lands in half a dozen other
places. He married, in 1579, Grace, daughter of Sir John
Forster, of Edderstone, and by her had an only son — the
Sir John Fenwick whose name stands at the head of this
chapter. After her decease he was united to Margaret,
daughter of William Selby, of Newcastle, a lady known
in after years by her ghostly visitations to the banks of
the Wansbeck aa "Meg of Meldon."
Sir John Fenwick of Wallington, knighted at Royston,
18th January, 1604-5, and afterwards created a baronet,
wa« thirty-fire yearn old at the inquisition after bin
father's death in 1614. He inherited Fenwick, Walling-
ton, Bast Matfen, Cambo, Walker, Eshington, Gunnerton,
Ryal, Sweethope, and Harewood, tenements in Hawick,
Catcherside, Green Leightou, Longwitton, Hawkwell,
and Brunton, and half of a watermill at Heaton called
" Dust-little MilL" His maternal grandfather, Sir John
Forster, bad settled upon him, in 1602, the manor and
capital messuage of Hexham, with lands and tenements
there, Anick Grange, Dotland Park, Hexham Mills, the
tithes of Hexham, Acomb, Anick, Sandhoe, Wall, and
Fallowfield, and he purchased, on his own account, in
1618, Rothley, and in 1632 the regality of Hexham, with
its long train of manors, villas, lands, and appurtenances.
With the lordly estate acquired from his father and
grandfather he was in a position to render the State some
service. He had been High Sheriff of the county in 1620,
and in 1624, upon the elevation to the peerage of Sir Wm.
Grey (who had been elected one of the members for
Northumberland at the previous election), he was sent to
the House of Commons. Ten years before, Sir John had
been described to King James I. and his Council, by
Lord William Howard, as "a gentillman that more
aimes at a private life then publick imploiement." We
have already had a glimpse of him as a country gentle-
man, engaged in the promotion of local sport, and par-
ticipating in the diversions of the day. (Monthly
Chronicle, voL Hi., 397.) Chaytor, of Butterby, the
local diarist, mentions "Puppie, a horse of Sir John
Fenwick," which "bett a horse of the L. Kethe's in
Scotland " in 1613. But the duties of a representative of
the people in the reign of James I., and his successor,
Charles I., were not of an arduous nature. King James
loved Parliaments but little ; his son liked them still less.
Charles summoned one in May, 1625, and dissolved it in
August ; convened another in February, 1626, and broke
it up in June ; ordered a third to assemble in March,
1628, and dispersed it in March following. To all these
short Parliaments Sir John was returned. He was
evidently a favourite with the king, for on the 9th June,
1628, his Majesty made him a baronet. It is equally
clear that he was a popular man in the county, for he
retained his seat throughout, while his colleague was a
different person each time. When the king, after
governing without a Parliament for twelve years, ordered
the Houses to assemble on the 13th April, 1640, Sir John
Fenwick was re-elected, having Sir William Widdrington
for his colleague. This assembly Droved to be the
shortest of all King Charles's short Parliaments. On the
23rd day of their session the king ordered them to
dissolve, and once more tried to govern by his own
authority. Then followed the entry of the Scots into
England, the skirmish at Newburn, and the taking of
Newcastle. The country was practically in a state of
civil war.
The position which Sir John Fenwick occupied in the
heated debates of the period is not traceable. His name
December 1
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
539
does not appear in the Journals of the House of Com-
mons during the five brief sessions in which he bad sat as
representative of Northumberland. When the next
Parliament assembled — that which by its continuous sit-
ting from November, 1640, to April, 1653, obtained the
sobriquet of the Long Parliament — the representation of
the county was changed. Sir William Widdrington
retained his seat, but Sir John Fen wick transferred his
services to the ad joining, county of Cumberland, and took
his seat as member for Cockermouth. He sat for Cocker-
mouth no longer than was necessary to secure a favour-
able opportunity of returning to his old love, acting
meanwhile, by special appointment of the Commons, as
one of the local commissioners for perfecting accounts of
billets and other moneys due to the county of Northum-
berland by the Scots army. An opportunity of making
the desired exchange was not long in coming. It
happened that, very shortly after Parliament met, both
the new members for Northumberland fell under dis-
pleasure of the House. Sir William Widdrington's
offence was trivial — a dispute about the bringing in of
caudles to enable a debate to be prolonged after dark—-
and after he had been imprisoned in the Tower for five
days he made his submission and was restored to his seat
and its privileges. Henry Percy's transgression was
serious, and led to serious consequences. He was accused
with others of an attempt to seduce the army against
Parliament, of designing to bring it up to London, and
secure the Tower, and so by force compel Parliament to
obey its orders, &c., &c. Instead of facing this accusa-
tion boldly, Percy fled the country, and on the 9th
December, 1641, he was declared by formal resolution to
be no longer qualified to sit in the House, and a writ was
issued for a new election. To the vacancy thus created,
Sir John Fenwick was elected, and thus for the sixth
time he became one of the representatives of his native
county.
As the quarrel between the King and Parliament pro-
gressed, Sir John Fenwick ranged himself on the side of
the king. His name is not to be found among thosa of
229 members who signed the Solemn League and
Covenant on the 22nd September, 1643, and very soon
afterwards it was known that he had deserted to the
Parliament which the king had set up at Oxford. There-
upon, at the sitting of the House on the 22nd January,
1643-44, a resolution was passed by which he and about
fifty other members were "forthwith discharged and dis-
abled for sitting or being any longer members of this
House, during this Parliament, for deserting the service
of the House, and being in the King's Quarters, and ad-
hering to that party." A few months later, as White-
lock relates, he was taken by the Parliamentary forces, as
he was proceeding with thirty horse and arms from
Northampton to Banbury. Captivity brought him into
nubmission to the Parliament, for, in less than a year
after his expulsion from the House of Commons, he was
chosen, for the second time, High Sheriff of Northumber-
land, and placed at the head of the county militia. That
Sir John had thrown off his allegiance to the king and
become reconciled to the dominant party soon after the
siege and capture of Newcastle is evident from the course
which the House of Commons took in his favour. At a
time when they were sending for delinquents and
sequestering estates of royalists all over the country, they
not only appointed him to these responsible offices, but
they rescinded their order of expulsion, and admitted him
again to his seat. The next day he was appointed one of
thirty-four members who were to act as "Commissioners
for Conservation of the Peace between the Two King-
doms."
During the hasty invasion of the Scots, in the autumn
of 1648, and on the eve of the battle of Dunbar, Sir John
Fenwick was reported to have suffered considerable
josses: — "In Northumberland many were plundered to
great values, among uther Sir John Fenwick, from whom
was taken his best moveables ; his damage valued at
£2,000." This we read in Rushworth, under date
September 1st, and, turning to the Journals of the Com-
mons, we find that on the 28th of that month a call of
the House was ordered, and Sir John Fenwick reported as
absent, but excused. Then on the 26th April following
(1649) the House directed that "the petition of Sir Jotm
Fenwick, Knight and Baronet, be read to-morrow morn-
ing, the first business," but no further reference is made
to the matter. Indeed, from that time till his death,
little or nothing was heard of him. Mr. Hodgson states,
on the authority of the "Diurnal of Occurrences." &c.,
that his name occurs frequently aa a Parliamentary
Committee man for sequestrating the estates of notorious
delinquents, and levying taxes in Northumberland. But
this allegation is not sustained by a search through the
Journals of the House. In those vast stores of political
history his name does not appear after the end of 1648.
It is not unlikely that he was one of the suspected pro-
monarchy members who were "secluded" by Colonel
Pride, on the 6th of December in that year, and that he
did not sit again. All that we know positively about him
after that time is that in 1654 his name occurs in a list of
persons who were slack in their payments to the public
revenue, as a debtor for £1,107 6s. 8jd., that be joined
with his son William in mortgaging Fenwick and other
estates in 1657, and that he died in the year following.
Sir John married, first, Catherine, daughter of Sir
Henry Slingsby, of Scriven, by whom he had John
Fenwick, colonel of dragoons, and M.P. for Morpeth,
who was slain at the battle of Marston Moor, and buried
in Hexham Church, where his helmet, or reputed helmet,
may still be seen. His second wife was Grace,
daughter of Thomas Loraine, of Kirkharle. From this
marriage came Sir William Fenwick (who sat as M.P.
for the county in the Long Parliament, in three of the
Commonwealth Parliaments, and in two of those of
540
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I December
\ 1E90.
Charles II.), father of the famous Sir John Fenwick,
whose erratic career and melancholy end have been
described in these columns by the master-hand of the
late James Clephan. (See Monthly Chronicle, 1889, p. 481.)
Juttteitzmt-Colonel
Jfennrick,
A NEWCASTLE COVENANTER.
To which branch of the widely diffused race of Fenwick
belonged the earnest but turbulent Puritan who figures
in local history as Lieutenant-Colonel John Fenwick
cannot be ascertained. He was not a native of New-
castle, but had apparently come from the country in
youth to serve his apprenticeship as a boothman, or corn
merchant ; had gone, when out of his time, to gain
experience of commercial life in Germany ; and had then
married and settled in the town. Most of that which is
known about him is contained in a curious pamphlet of
hia own writing, published in London in 1643, under the
title of —
Christ Ruling in the Midst of his Enemies ; or Some
First Fruits of the Churches Deliverance, Budding Forth
out of the Crosse and Sufferings and Some Remarkable
Deliverances of a Twentie Yeeres Sufferer, and now a
Souldier of Jesus Christ.
Taking this autobiographical narrative as our guide, we
learn that, in the early years of Charles I.'s reign, the
writer of it was in a considerable way of business in
Newcastle. He tells us that he served the town " divers
yeers in a publique office," that he had commercial rela-
tions with German houses, a good connection in the
North of England, and extensive business transactions
with producers in Scotland. Across the Border he
frequently travelled, buying grain, freighting ships, and
dealing in various other commodities that pertained to
his calling. During these numerous Scottish expeditions
he imbibed Presbyterian views, and taking no pains to
conceal them, made himself exceedingly obnoxious to the
ruling powers in Newcastle. When the troubles about
religion in Scotland were coming to a head, he made
himself an emissary between the Covenanters and their
sympathisers on this side of the Tweed. He went even
further. To the surprise of his friends and the indigna-
tion of the royalist party— then very strong in the town —
he and his friend Bittleston, a Newcastle tanner,
proceeded to Edinburgh io May, 1638, and signed the
National Covenant. This was a bold thing to do, and it
had serious consequences. The authorities reported the
daring act of these two Newcastle Puritans to the
Government, and the Government ordered Sir Jacob
Astley to apprehend them and commit them to prison.
Fenwick was not to be caught, however. He had
escaped into Scotland, and there he remained until, in
1640, the army of the Covenant entered England. Under
the wing of the invaders, he returned to Newcastle, and
had the grim satisfaction of seeing his adversaries dis-
comfited and put to flight, all which, in mocking phrase,
he graphically describes and chuckles over in his pamph-
let. But, although once more safely housed within the
walls of Newcastle, his troubles were by no means ended.
Protected as he was by the Scottish army, then in posses-
sion of the town, be found himself and his wife
"continually reviled and abused by the malignant people
of the towa," of whom he could get no provisions for his
family without authority and command of the Scots, or
seldom go abroad without the company of some of the
Scottish gentlemen, neither would anybody pay him the
money they owed him. In these straits he went to
London (journeying by water to avoid the king's soldiers)
in order that he might place his grievances before Parlia-
ment. Even there he was not safe, or fancied he was not,
and so lay hidden for some time, waiting for Parliament
to consider his claims — claims which he had set forth in a
petition. This petition was put forward by the Scots
Commissioners when arranging the treaty of pacification
in December, 1640, but without result. Equally unsuc-
cessful was it at the next treaty-making in 1642. Mean-
while the claimant had joined the Parliamentary army.
He alleges that he was called to arms at the first going-
out of the forces, and lost some blood "in Keynton
Field," where he received a new life (and his lieutenant-
colonelcy no doubt) "being sore wounded, and stript, and
left for dead upon the ground, among the dead almost an
hour, senseless." It was not until the middle of 1650,
ten years after he had prepared it, that Parliament was
induced to give a favourable ear to him, and then they
rewarded his service, his sufferings, and his patience by
giving him a valuable local appointment — the mastership
of Sherburn Hospital. In the Journals of the House of
Commons, under date July 2, 1650, we read : —
Sir William Armyn reports from the Council of State
the Petition of Lieutenant-Colonel John Feuwick, and
that the House be desired to do something for his relief,
viz. : —
"That the Petition of Lieutenant-Colonel John
Fenwick be reported to the House by Sir William
Armyn ; and they be desired to do something for his
Relief and Subsistence ; and particularly, if the House
shall so think fit, by giving unto the son of the said
Lieut.-CoL the Government of the Hospital of Sherborne,
in the County of Duresme, for his Life, and after the Life
of his Father."
Resolved— That the Mastership and Government of the
Hospital of Sherborne, in the County of Duresme, be
settled upon Lieutenant-Colonel John Fenwick, for his
Life, and that the Reversion, after his Decease, be settled
upon John Fenwick, son of the said Colonel John Fen-
wick, during his natural Life ; And that Mr. Attorney-
General do prepare a Patent for passing the said Office to
them accordingly ; And the Lords Commissioners for the
Great Seal of England be authorized and required to
pass the said Patent, under the Great Seal of England
accordingly.
Surtees, in the "History of Durham," describes the
intruding Master of Sherburn as " a tradesman in New-
castle, and Guide to Lesley's Army into England ;
appointed Master by authority of ' Sir William Erinyne
and the other Commissioners of the then Parliament to
invite the Scots into England, by a note under their
hands, without order or vote of the House of Commons or
December 1
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
541
Lords.'" Beyond that inaccurate statement, and the
facts that he resigned Sherburn in favour of his son, and
that the latter was dispossessed at the Restoration,
nothing is known of the later days of Lieutenant-Colonel
John Fenwick.
©torge jTenrattk,
SOLDIER AND MEMBER OP PARLIAMENT.
Col. GEO.
FKNWICKE of
Brenkburne Ksq. ;
Governor of Berwick,
In the year 1652, was
A principal instru-
ment of causing this
Church to be built ;
And died March 15th,
1656.
A good man is a public good.
— Epitaph, in Berwick Church.
The distinguished Parliamentary soldier who was
known during the Civil War as Colonel George Fenwick
belonged to the Brinkburn branch of the great Fenwick
family. He was the eldest son of George Fenwick of that
place, by Dorothy, daughter of John Forster, of Newham,
and was born in 1603. Of his youth and early manhood
nothing is recorded. Trained to the profession of arms,
his earlier years were no doubt spent in the service of his
country. It is said that he had distinguished himself in
Ireland, and received £100 from the House of Commons
for his meritorious achievements against the rebels in that
island. Richardson, in one of his Reprints, suggests that
he was an agent of the Puritan lords Say and Sele and
Brooke in New England, where he founded a jurisdic-
tion called Say-brook, and where he lived and presided
several years. Be that as it may, he was undoubtedly
the George Fenwick who, in 1645, was sent to the Long
Parliament by the electors of Morpeth. At the general
election in 1640, the members returned for that borough
were Sir William Carnaby and John Fenwick, son of the
Sir John Fenwick whose biography formed the subject of
a previous chapter. Carnaby, proving to be a Royalist,
was disabled to sit by vote of the House ; Fenwick was
also disabled, and shortly afterwards killed, fighting for
the Crown, at the battle of Marston Moor. To fill up the
vacancies thus created. Colonel George Fenwick was
elected, with John Fiennes as his colleague.
Although the Long Parliament sat continuously, its
military members were excused from regular attendance
in order that they might help to fight the forces of the
Crown and repress local conspiracies against the Com-
monwealth. Colonel Fenwick was one of the repre-
sentatives so excused, and he employed his time to some
purpose. When, in 1648, Marmaduke Langdale seized
Berwick for the Royalists, and, with Colonel Grey,
Colonel Tempest, and others, troubled all Northumber-
land, he was sent, with Colonel Lilburn and Major
Sanderson, to repel the advance of the enemy. A letter
from Sir Arthur Hazlerigg, Governor of Newcastle, in-
formed the House of Commons, in July, of the complete
success which had attended the campaign. The House
ordered public thanksgiving to be made in all the
churches round about London for this victory, conceiving
it to be one of the utmost importance, tending to a speedy
and effective pacification of the North-Country. A few
days later Colonel Fenwick drove a party of Royalists
under Colonel Carr out of Simonburn. Again at the
close of August, the colonel "relieved Holy Island with
Necessaries, stormed Fenham Castle, near thereto, in
which was <\ Scotch Garrison, and summoned Haggers-
ton, but there came so many from Berwick that they
were constrained to quit it." At the end of the year he
was appointed one of the commissioners for the trial of
the king, but does not appear to have accepted the office,
or to have taken any part in the proceedings. He under-
took the governorship of Berwick in the autumn of 1649,
and in that capacity the following summer received Crom-
well, marching to the " crowning mercy " of Dunbar. It
would appear that the colonel marched with him, for he
is mentioned in a letter written to the Council from New-
castle by Sir Arthur Hazlerigg on the 31st October, 1650,
respecting the sufferings of some unfortunate prisoners on
their march from Morpeth to Durham: — "On being
told into the great cathedral church they were counted to
be no more that 3,000, although Colonel Fenwick wrote
me that there were about 3,500." Thence he accompanied
the general to Edinburgh, and took part in the siege of
the city— a part so prominent that when the castle was
surrendered he was placed in charge of it. In the words
of a Scottish historian, the fortress was garrisoned with
"English blasphemers under Colonel Fenwick." Crom-
well sent him in the February following (1650-51) to de-
mand the surrender of Hume Castle, and there occurred
an episode which Carlyle, quoting Whitlocke, has made
memorable : —
The governor answered, " I know not Cromwell, and
as for my castle it is built on a rock." Whereupon
Colonel Fenwick played upon him a little with the great
guns. But the governor still would not yield ; nay sent a
letter couched in these singular terms : —
I, William of the Wastle,
Am now in my castle ;
And aa the dogs in the town
SbaniKi gar me gang down.
So that there remained nothing but opening the mortars
upon this William of the Wastle, which did gar him gang
down — more fool than he went up.
Returning to Newcastle, Colonel Fenwick received, on
the 8th March, 1650-51, the honorary freedom of the town,
and in October wa3 appointed by the House of Commons
one of eight commissioners to be sent into Scotland to
treat with the representatives of that nation for redress
of grievances and settlement of outstanding disputes.
His name occurs frequently in the Journals of the House
at this time as a member of important committees. H*
was mixed up, too, in the trouble < of John Lilburn,
"Freeborn John," as he was called. With Lilburn's
assistance, one Josiah Primat, a leatherseller in London,
542
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I Decomber
\ 1890.
circulated a petition accusing Colonel Fenwick and others
of complicity in a case of alleged confiscation of the
collieries, &c., of John Hedworth, of Harraton. The
House cleared Colonel Fenwick and his colleagues from
this tormidable charge, voted the petition " false, mali-
cious, and scandalous," condemned it to be burned by the
common hangman, and not only directed the petitioner to
pay nine thousand pounds, but fined John Lilburn also
seven thousand pounds, and ordered him to be banished
from the kingdom.
When the Lung Parliament was broken up by Crom-
well, Colonel Fenwick lost his seat. Being a man of bold
and independent spirit, he seems, like his friend and
relative, Sir Arthur Hazlerigg, to have fallen into dis-
favour at this time. It ;j noticeable that neither he nor
Sir Arthur were invited to join the Little, or Barebones,
Parliament which followed. But in the summer of 1654,
when freedom of representation had been restored to the
constituencies, and again in August, 1656 (described
as " Governor of the Garrison of Leith,") he was returned
member for Berwick. To this latter Parliament three
Northumbrian Fenwicks were elected— William of Well-
ington and Robert of Bedlington, for the county of
Northumberland, and Colonel George for the Border
borough. Death, however, soon reduced their number;
the colonel survived his return but a few months. He
was elected on the llth August, but did not leave Ber-
wick till the 8th September, when, according to Scott's
history of the town, the Chamberlain was ordered to take
sugar and wine to hm house, and the Guild would drink
with him before he departed. This was the final leave-
taking. He died on the 15th of March, 1656-57, and was
buried in that towerless and otherwise peculiar edifice,
the parish church of Berwick, which, as stated upon his
monument, he had been "a principal instrument" in
erecting.
Colonel Fenwick married for his first wife, Alice,
daughter of Sir Edward Aspley, and widow of Sir Juhn
Pirotlee, by whom he had two daughters — Elizabeth, wife
of Sir Thomas Hazlerigg of Nosely, and Dorothy, who
married Sir Thomas Williamson. His second wife was
Catherine, elder daughter of Sir Arthur Hazlerigg, who
outlived him, married Philip Babington, and was buried
in the Garden at Harnham, under circumstances detailed
in the Monthly Chronicle, vol. i., p. 376.
No portrait of this famous Roundhead colonel is avail-
able, but here is his signature, written in a bold and
legible hand, indicating, as far as handwriting indicates
anything, a man of energy, firmness, and resource.
m. ft. |3attn-s0it,
HILLIAM HAMMOND PATTERSON is the
oldest member and now the head of the
Durham Miners' Association. Having been
appointed corresponding secretary as the
successor to the late Mr. Crawford, he is practically the
leader of a body of men numbering about forty thousand.
Mr. Patterson, who was born at Fawdon Square, New-
castle, in 1847, after leaving the Royal Jubilee Schools,
commenced work at Jesmond Quarry. Subsequently, at
the age of sixteen, he. took service at Heworth Colliery as
a hewer of coals.
Mr. Patterson first became connected with trade*
unions in 1865, when at hia instigation the miners at
ersot\
Heworth Colliery formed a union lodge, with himself as
secretary. When twenty-one he attended as the delegate
from Heworth at a meeting in the Market Hotel, Durham,
to form a combination of the working miners of the county,
the object of the union being the improvement of the
condition of the miners engaged in the Durham coal-
field. At the outset, Mr. Patterson was appointed a
member of the Executive Committee, and took part in
drawing up the original rules for the guidance of
the members of the association. In 1869. he was
elected vice • president, and shortly afterwards was
chosen one of the two agents of the association, being
deputed to look after the South Durham district. Mr.
Patterson was next placed at the head of the financial
DMember 1
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
543
department. Since that time he has attended all the
council meetings of the association except once, when pre-
vented by illness.
With Mr. Stratton, the manager, he was the first to
descend the Seaham Colliery when so many lives were
lost by the explosion, the only method of entering the
mine being by the kibble. In the same way Mr. Patter-
son was among the first and most diligent workers who
entered Trimdon Grange Colliery after the last disastrous
explosion there. Not until every one of the 83 poor
fellows who then lost their lives was accounted for, and a
search made to ascertain the cause of the accident, did he
ascend. He also took a prominent part at the Usworth and
Elemore disasters. At the great gatherings of the miners
on Durham Racecourse he has never failed to appear to give
a correct account of the financial position of the associa-
tion, together with a statement of the large sums that are
regularly distributed among the aged and suffering mem-
bers. He has been a member of the Joint Committee
of Owners and Workmen and the Federation Board
since the formation of those bodies. He was elected a
member of the Durham School Board in 1884, and has
since been make a County Councillor, representing Tan-
field. Mr. Patterson is also a member of the Durham
Corporation as a representative of the North Ward.
Our portrait is from a photograph taken by Mr. W.
Wilkinson, North Road, Durham, to whom we are in-
debted for permission to reproduce it.
Cfcurdt.
HE little wayside railway station of Carlton,
on the line between Ferryhill and Stockton,
is the best point from which to start for a
visit to Redmarshall. Half-a-mile of country
lane, between high hedgerows, brings us to the village of
Carlton, which, we are at once reminded, was part of the
dowry which Bishop Aldune gave to his troublesome
daughter on the occasion of her marriage. (See article on
Haughton-le-Skerne Church, page 470.) It is not an
especially picturesque village, but the ample gardens
which front most of the cottages give it that aspect of
rural quietude which is always charming.
A little more than half-a-mile beyond Carlton we reach
the church and village of Redmarshall, pleasantly em-
bosomed and almost hidden amongst tall tufted trees.
The village is one of the smallest in the county. ItR
whole population does not number a hundred souls. It
consists of a rectory, one or two farm houses, and an inn,
which has long borne the sign, cot, as one would expect,
of the Plough, or the Wheat Sheaf, but of the Ship.
Redmarshall, anciently written Redmershill, stands on
slightly rising ground, and from this circumstance part of
the name is doubtless derived. The two first syllables,
"red-mere," mean the mere or marsh where the reed
grows ; and thus the whole place-name may be taken to
mean "the hill near the reedy marsh."
The church, which is dedicated to St. Cuthbert, is a
very modest, simple structure, prettily embowered
amongst the churchyard trees. The tower, which is its
most striking feature, can be seen at a considerable dis-
tance, peeping out from amongst the foliage. The oldest
portions of the edifice are of early Norman date, and may
be ascribed to the first quarter of the twelfth century.
The tower (except the parapet) and the walls of the nave
are of this period. The church is entered by a south
porch of comparatively modern date, but its doorway is
as ancient as any part of the edifice. The walls of the
nave do not retain a single architectural feature which is
contemporary with their original erection.
The chancel appears to have been rebuilt about the
middle of the thirteenth century, or a little later.
The tracery of all the windows in the church
is quite modern, but I em assured that it faith-
fully represents the ancient work of which it takes
the place. If this be so, the windows in the north
and south walls of the chancel are especially interesting,
as presenting examples of the very earliest types of
window tracery. The one in the north wall consists of a
circle carried by two lancets. The one in the south wall
is of slightly more advanced type, and consists of a
quatrefoil carried by two trefoil-headed lights. The east
window is of three lights. The tracery is of much more
elaborate design, and is of later date than the other
windows. There are three sedilia of late character and
\ioor design in the south wall, as well as a priest's door,
now covered by a porch of very uncertain date, and a
walled up, square, low-side window in the usual position.
I ought to mention that in all the windows of the chancel
there are fragments of ancient stained glass.
On the south side of the nave is a chantry chapel, now
known, for a reason presently to be mentioned, as the
Claxton Porch. It is really the chapel of the chantry of
St. Mary. By whom it was founded I do not know, but
it was certainly in existence long before the erection of
the present chapel. In the year 1311, Bishop Kellaw
instituted Hugh de Redmarshall to this chantry, on the
presentation of Alan de Langton, lord of Winyard and
Red marshal!, and of Catherine, his wife. Alan de Lang-
ton, who, by the way, was a burgess of Newcastle, was
lord of the manor of Redmarsball in right of his wife, the
niece of Sir Henry de Lisle, who had purchased it from
one Sir Thomas de Moulton, who, in turn, had bought it
from John Bek, to whom, lastly, it had been given by
Bishop Anthony Bek. The lordship of Redmarshall
remained with the Langtons during four generations;
but Alan's great-grandson and heir, Thomas Langton,
whose effigy, with that of his wife, lies in this same chapel,
died without issue in 1440, and the manor descended to a
niece. She married a scion of the great family of
544
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{December
18*1.
Conyers; but after two generations of that name the
manor of Redmarsball came once more to a female
heir, who married a Claxton. The chapel, which
would thus successively bear the names of Langton
Porch and Conyers Porch, came at last to bear its
present name of Claxton Porch. As I have already
mentioned, the present chapel is of much later date than
the foundation of St. Mary's chantry. It was, indeed,
built in the fifteenth century. It opens into the nave by
a wide and lofty arch, which would originally be partially
closed by a screen. The arch rests on corbels of some-
what peculiar character. The one on the west side is a
rudely carved representation of the upper part of a
female's body, on whose head, but partly supported by
her hands, rests the capital which carries the arch. The
chantry is lighted by a fine four-light perpendicular
window in its south wall. In the same chapel we have
the effigies, charmingly carved in alabaster, of the Thomas
Langton mentioned above, and Sybil his wife. They lie
on a rudely built altar tomb, which is probably not
original. One cannot see these interesting, and once
beautiful, examples of mediaeval art without a feeling of
intense pain that monuments in every way so valuable
should be so disgracefully mutilated, and in other ways
shamefully treated, as these have been. Not only have
hands and arms been wantonly broken off and removed,
but the whole surface of the figures has been scratched and
covered with the initials of innumerable nobodies. Not
only are such monuments valuable as examples of art —
they are also the most precious and reliable evidences we
possess as to the history of costume, to say nothing of the
reverence due to all honest memorials of the departed.
Such memorials should be reverenced, not perhaps so
much for the sake of those whom they commemorate, as
for that of the filial affection by which they were raised.
Thomas Langton is attired in plate mail. His head
rests on his tilting helmet, and is encased in a close-
fitting pointed bascinet, round which a wreathed orle or
chaplet is carried. His armpits are protected by oblong
palettes, and his elbows by elbow-pieces. His body to
the waist is encased in plain plate mail, below which
descends a skirt of metal hoops or taces, the hinges of
which are seen on the left side. The sword belt, which
is unusually narrow, appears to have been adorned with
roses. A beautifully carved girdle passes round his hips.
Plain genouillieres cover the knees, and the feet rest upon
a lion. The lady's head rests on two cushions placed
diagonally to each other. Her hair is done up in the ugly
and extravagant horn-like manner which was fashionable
in the latter part of the fourteenth and in the fifteenth
centuries. It is partly covered by a veil, which hangs
down in loose folds at the sides. She is dressed in a long
loose gown, a garment which was constantly tucked up
under the arm to enable its wearer to walk. Over this
she wears a kind of tight-fitting tunic, the border of
which would be probably painted in imitation of em-
broidery. Over all she wears a loose cloak, thrown back
to the shoulders, and held by a cord, which, passing
across the breast and through a hole in each side of the
cloak, is brought back nearly to the centre and looped
across itself, and then falls downwards and terminates in
tassels.
The nave is lighted by two windows iu its north wall,
and by a curious single-light window, with trefoil head,
near the west end of the south wall. The fittings are all
of one period. They have been usually described as of
Elizabethan date, but they possess no characteristic
features of the work of that time, and, I think, would be
much more correctly assigned to the early part of last
century. The pew backs are of open work, with turned
,,-*^
December 1
1880. f
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
545
balusters. The pulpit retains its sounding board. The
whole of these fittings are extremely plain, but are such
as one cares to see in a village church. The font is of
Early English date, probably about. the beginning of the
thirteenth century. Its cover belongs to the same period
as the rest of the woodwork.
The tower is plain and massive. Its embattled parapet,
which bears a pinnacle at each corner, was added in the
fifteenth century. The general aspect of the church,
inside and out, is one of marked simplicity, which har-
monises agreeably with the quietude of its surroundings.
J. R. BOYLE, F.S.A,
•BeUte'tn* Castle.
jjPPOSITE Haltwhistle, on the south side of the
River Tyne, is Bellister Castle, or Bellecester,
as it used to be called. It is a goodly pile of
grey ruins, with modern additions in the castellated
style, the latter inhabited as a farmhouse. It stands on a
fair mound, partly natural and partly artificial, but the
moat that once encompassed it is long since dry and
grass-grown. "Rich, flat, alluvial ground," Hodgson
tells us, " surrounds it on every side ; and on the east
and south its demesne lands are walled in with woody
banks, formed, long cycles since, by the labours of Father
Tyne. From its western window the view extends up the
tweet valley of Glenwhelt, as far as Blenkin's-hope
Castle ; and down the Tyne you see the sun shining on
the town of Haltwhistle, and the scattered villages of
Melkridge, Henshaw, and Thorngrafton, and over them
to the north, on the basaltic vertebrae of the Roman
Wall."
Of the many castles and towers in South-Western
Northumberland, by far the most picturesque is Bellister.
It was described in 1541 as a "bastell house, in
tboccupac'n of one Blenkensoppe, in measurable good
repacs'ns." The modern additions were built by the
Kirsop family, who owned it. The origin of the castle is
not clearly known. The manor of Bellister belonged, in
the 12th century, to the family of Ros or Roos, and was
forfeited when Robert de Roos, of Wark-on-Tweed, sided
with Scotland in 1296. The family of Fitz Alan soon
afterwards obtained the manor, for, in 1306, an inquest
mentions Maud, wife of Brian Fitz Alan, as in possession
of Bellister, in Tindale ; and the Calendar of Patent
Rolls for 1339 states that the Bishop of Durham had
granted to Brian Fitz Alan, and Maud his wife, in tail
general, the manor of Belstre, by the accustomed
services, to revert to the bishop and his successors, which
grant the king confirmed. John Darcy le Cozin died
possessed of it in 1347, and in 1348 the king, for twenty
marks, confirmed the manor in fee to Gerard de
Salveine. In 1369 Alan del' Strother had a grant of the
office of bailiff of Tindale, and the custody of the king's
manors of Wark in Tindale, and Bellister, and other
perquisites, at a yearly rent of 200 marks. In 1374 the
manor was given by the king to his son Edmund Plan-
tagenet, whose widow died possessed of it in 1416. Sub-
sequently the castle and manor fell into the hands of the
Blenkinsops, but the exact date is not known. They
resided in the castle in 1542, however, and through the
reigns of Edward VL and Elizabeth onward. In 1715,
John Bacon, purchaser of Bellister and Wyden, settled
them on his son John, on his marriage with Jane Mar-
546
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
I December
\ 1890.
shall, widow of John Blenkinsop, and their grandson,
the Rev. Henry Wastal, sold thnm in 1818 to John
Kirsop, of Hexham.
The legend of the Grey Man of Bellister will be found
in the Monthly Chronicle for 1887, page 351.
WO miles and a half south-west of Long-
horsley, and the same distance north-east
of Netherwitton, Northumberland, stands
Clavering's Cross, in a field behind Stan-
ton House, about forty yards east of the road which
leads up the hill past the ancient, dilapidated hall
of the Corbets and Fenwicks. It is a plain, oblong:,
sandstone pillar, with the angles chamfered, fixed in a
base of three steps, 18 inches high, and it measures 4 feet
2 inches in height, 3 feet 6 inches round the lower end,
and 2 feet 10 inches round the upper end.
Like that fragment of a cross in Homer's Lane, three
miles and a half from Hexham, this pillar had cut upon
it the figure of a sword about three feet in length. Very
faint are the traces of it at the present day. Some letters
also are said to have been once decipherable on the same
tide of the stone. These are now quite obliterated.
Some years ago the stone was removed to a field on the
other side of the road by Mr. Spraggon, a farmer, as it
interfered with his ploughing, and was much used as a
rubbing post for cattle. About eight or nine years ago,
however, Mrs. Baker-Baker, of Elemore Hall, in the
county of Durham, on whose property the stone stands,
had it put back on a new base, the old one having been
destroyed, in the exact position where the oldest person on
the estate remembers it to have previously stood.
Now what is the history of the cross? If the mean-
ing of the name Stanton be the " town by the stone," as,
according to Mr. F. Davis in his " Etymology of Derby-
shire Place Names," it sometimes is, then we may be
tempted to assign to the stone a prehistoric origin, though
it has served since, after being roughly chiselled into its
present shape, to commemorate some tragical occurrence
in North-Country history.
According to Hodgson ("Hist, of Northumberland."
part 2, vol. 2, page 111), who calls the field where the
stone stands, at present known as "Clavering's Close,"
the Limekilnflat, "the tradition of the neighbourhood
says (it) was set up in memory of a gentleman of the
name of Clavering being slain on the spot in an en-
counter with a party of Scots." Could anything be more
vague? We can gather nothing as to the name of the
particular member of the Clarering family who was
killed, nor as to the date when the occurrence took place.
Search our local histories as we will, we shall find no
record of this encounter.
In Richardson's "Table Book," volume 6, page 143,
there is a poem — of little merit, however — on "The
Death of CUvering,"by Mr. Frederic R. Surtees, of the
Temple, London. It is founded on the local tradition re-
ferred to by Hodgson.
It appears from the register of the sanctuary at Dur-
ham and the State Papers of the sixteenth century, that
two members of the Clavering family were murdered in
this part of the country — one in 1517, and the other in
1586.
In the 16th century this was a lawless and choleric
district, and life was taken on the slightest provocation.
The cases of murder and manslaughter committed within a
comparatively short period are very numerous. John
Crawforth was killed at Netherwitton in September, 1506,
by Cuthbert Law ; Robert Cooke, of Bolam, in February,
1516, by George Young, of Angerton ; John Story, at
Ingo Crag in June, 1516, by George Watson, of Belsay,
and his two sons ; John Lambe, just outside the church-
yard at Hartburn, in August, 1516, by John and James
Cowper, of Angerton ; and William Lawson at Stanton in
June, 1517, by John and Robert Smyth.
The particulars of the death of the first of these
Claverings are to be found in the sanctuary register
referred to above. The entry is as follows: — "1517.
10th April. Edward Horsley, of Scranwood, in the
county of Northumberland, desired sanctuary because, on
the 2nd instant, at Goorfen, between the towns of Mor-
peth and Horsley, in the county aforesaid, he had
feloniously struck with a sword a certain Christopher
Clavering on the head and in other parts of his body, in
consequence of which he died the same day."
The next entry shows that a double murder was com-
mitted at this place on the same date : — " 1517. 10th
April. Christopher Horsley, of Horsley, desired sanctuary
because on the above-mentioned 2nd of April, at the
said Goorfen, he had feloniously struck with divers
December 1
1890. I
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
547
•weapons, to wit, -a sword and dagger, a certain John
Carr, of Hetton, in the said county of Northumberland,
in consequence of which he died the same 10th day."
Goorfen — now called Gorfen Letch— is a hamlet
consisting of one farm and a cottage near the Wooler road
four miles from Morpeth and two miles and a half from
Longhorsley. It is two miles direct east of Clavering's
Cross. The road, from the North, after passing over
Longhorsley Moor, descends rapidly to a dreary-looking
flack, through which runs the Heron's Close Burn,
making a triangular turn there. From the south there is an
equally steep gradient. Gorfen Letch is a quarter of a
mile north of this slack.
The character of the landscape here may be gathered
from the descriptive word "letch," which, according to
Brockett, signifies "a long narrow swamp in which
water moves slowly among rushes and grass." A more
sinister-looking place for a murder could hardly have been
chosen, and one can easily inmerine that it was here where
the Hors'.eys laid in wait for their victims.
The question arises, was Christopher Clavering killed
at Gorfen Letch ? He may have taken to flight across the
open country when attacked by the Horsleys, and been
overtaken and killed near Stanton, the place being after-
wards marked by the cross.
The scribe who took down the statements of the cul-
prits, not perhaps having himself any knowledge of the
district, might easily fail to make out the exact locality
where the tragedy was enacted, even if the fugitives were
precise and coherent in their story, as it is only too pro-
bable, from the nature of the case, they might not be.
It is somewhat disappointing that nothing is known
about this Christopher Clavering. The editor of the regis-
ter of the Durham Sanctuary merely observes, referring to
the actors in the tragedy :— " These were all gentlemen of
family and fortune." Mr. Thomas Clavering, of Glas-
gow, who has collected materials for a history of the
family, says that he cannot trace this Christopher, which
is a name not common to the family. Perhaps some
light may eventually be thrown on the subject by our
diligent antiquaries.
One more glimpse we get of Edward and Christopher
Horsley, and that is five years later, in 1522. In the
Patent Rolls of that year there is a special pardon granted
to them by Henry VIII. for the murder of John Carr of
Hetton and Christopher Clavering of Callaly, Northum-
berland, exempting them from the consequence of any
action of attainture or outlawry, and making restitution
to them of the goods and chattels which by law were for-
feited to the king by their felony. From this document
we gain this further information about them : the former
is not only styled gentleman, of Scranwood, Northumber-
land, but also of Sockburn, in the Bishopric of Durham ;
and the latter not only gentleman, of Horsley, Northum-
berland, but also of Sockburn, Durham, and soldier of
Berwick-upon-Tweed. Within forty days after they had
taken refuge at the sanctuary of Durham, they would
have to appear before the coroner clothed in sackcloth,
and there confess their crime and abjure the realm.
Making their way to the nearest port, they would take
ship to some other country. What they passed through
during these five years, and what became of them after-
wards, are questions which the reader will long put in
vain to the local historian.
The incidents connected with the death of the other
member of the Clavering family are to be found in the
State Papers of the reign of Elizabeth preserved in the
Public Record Office. The story, pieced together from
several official letters, is as follows : —
On the 22nd of November, 1586, a gallant company
might have been seen riding north from Newcastle. It
consisted of Sir Cuthbert Collingwood of Eslington—
" that courteous knight " of the old ballad, •' The Raid of
the Reidswire," who had twice been Sheriff of Northum-
berland, and was much renowned along the Borders ; his
lady and daughter, riding on pillions behind two retainers;
Thomas Collingwood, his heir ; a younger son ; Robert
Clavering, the High-Sheriff of Northumberland, son-in-
law to Sir Cuthbert, described by the Earl of Hunting-
don, in a letter from Newcastle, as *' well -given to religion
— a rare matter here — and of very good government " ;
his brother, William Clavering; and nine others. Sir
Cuthbert Collingwood and Robert Clavering had been
summoned to Newcastle with other North-Country
gentlemen to attend the Lord President of the North and
to celebrate the Queen's accession.
"On a moor beyond Morpeth" they were met by
William Selby, of Berwick, the eldest son of Sir John
Selby, of Twisell, and twelve or thirteen of his associates,
chiefly soldiers from the garrison of Berwick, who had
been lying in wait for them.
No one in Sir Cuthbert's company could have any
doubt as to their intentions, for there had been for some
time a bitter feud between Collingwood and Selby, and
between the younger members of the two families — a feud
originating, it would seem, with Sir Cuthbert, who had
accused Sir John of high treason and March treason.
Lady Collingwood precipitated herself from her seat,
and, falling on her knees, desired Selby with tears to let
her husband alone for that time. The Sheriff also, by
solemn proclamation and other means, endeavoured to
preserve the peace, but to no purpose, for Selby and his
company, discharging their pistols, " shot Sir Cuthbert in
the belly and young Clavering, the Sheriff's brother, in
the breast and out at his back."
Sir Cuthbert's wound was not fatal ; but for William
Clavering there was no hope of recovery, and while his
life was ebbing away he seems to have dictated the
substance of his will, so, at least, we infer from the open-
ing clause of that document, which is still preserved at
Durham :—
Memorandum. That in the latter parte of November
548
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/ December
\ 1890.
Anno 1586, or thereabouts. William Claveringe, late of
Duddoe, within the parishe of Norhame, gentilraan,
being of perfect mind and memorie, thoughe vene craysed
and sore wounded in his bodye, did make his will
nuncupative in the manner following.
Selby fled, but four of his associates— Koger Selby,
Thos. Mill, and Thomas Dawson of Alnwick, and John
Strowther of Newton— were tried at the December
Assiaes at Newcastle. Against three of them a verdict
of manslaughter was returned ; the fourth, John Strow-
ther, was liberated.
The Collingwoods and Claverings were still further
incensed against the Selbys by this tragic event, and
they made it very difficult for those in authority to bring
about a reconciliation. The affair was submitted to
arbitrators, but the proceedings were broken off by the
"unreasonable demands" of Robert Clavering, and when
the Lord Chamberlain undertook, at the request of Sir
Cuthbertand his son-in-law, "to end this trouble," they
rendered his intervention useless by tneir absence from
Berwick on the day appointed for hearing the case. This
was in April, 1538, and there seemed every probability of
the feud having to be settled in the law courts. As, how-
ever, nothing appears in the State Papers after this date,
it may be presumed that the matter was compounded to
the satisfaction of the three families.
Clavering's Cross is undoubtedly a memorial to one of
these ill-fated gentlemen. Whether it was Christopher
or William Clavering who fell here must, for the present,
remain a problem of local history. The weight of
evidence perhaps inclines to the side of William Claver-
ing. The circumstances of his death, and the position of
the persons concerned in it, were such as to excite an
exc«ption»l interest in the district — an interest sustained,
one may imagine, by the embittered and prolonged
character of the feud. It is therefore highly probable
that a monument would be erected on the scene of the
fray to commemorate the tragic event.
WM. W. TOMLINSOX.
JFatlurc at tlit J3tstrict
EfflTft.
j]N the spring of 1836, one of those commercial
manias which seem to recur periodically all
over the commercial world began to develop
itself in this country. It took the form of
the establishment of large joint stock companies. The
epidemic, as it might well be called, spread to Newcastle-
upon-Tyne, the commercial capital of the North of
England. No fewer than four joint stock banks were
established in the town in the course of the year. These
were the Newcastle Commercial Banking Company, the
Newcastle Joint Stock Bank, the Newcastle Union Joint
Stock Bank, and the Northumberland and Durham
District Banking Company, which had five branches in
the earlier part of its existence, and ultimately eight, viz.,
at Alnwick, Berwick, Hexham, Morpeth, North Shields,
South Shields, Sunderland, and Durham. By means of
these branches auxiliary to the main office, which was
located in Grey Street, the District Bank drew into its
coffers, to be spent at the discretion of the directors and
managers, a large proportion of th« savings of the middle
and lower classes in the locality.
The prospectus of the company was issued on the 12th
of March, 1836. The capital was proposed to be half-a
million, in 50,000 shares of £10 each. There was no diffi-
culty in raising the money, at least nominally. Upwards
of 40,000 shares were taken in less than a month, while
hundreds of respectable persons, who came forward to
subscribe, being too late, were refused an allotment.
The utmost number of shares allowed to each applicant
was a hundred, and one shilling per share was paid on
allotment. Before many days had elapsed speculation
rose to a high pitch, five pounds premium being paid for a
share, so that a person with only five pounds actually in-
vested could convert it into five hundred. Merchants and
tradesmen, widows and spinsters, masters and servants,
professors of law, physic, and divinity, all on a sudden
became bankers ; and, though responsible to their last
penny for the debts which they might incur in their new
character and capacity, they were quite innocent of doubt
or fear. The shareholders at their first general meeting
made choice of men, partners in the enterprise, to conduct
their operations. The managing directors were Jonathan
Richardson, of Shotley Park, and William Bernard
Ogden, of Newcastle, both respected members of the
Society of Friends.
At a meeting held in Newcastle on the 12th of May,
1836, the company was declared established. On the 18th
of May, the directors issued a notice that arrangements
had been made with Messrs. Jonathan Backhouse and Co.,
of Darlington, for the incorporation of their Newcastle
branch with the new establishment, and the bank was
opened for business on the 1st of June, in the premises
previously occupied by Backhouse and Co. Profits were-
reported, and handsome dividends declared, from the very
first starting of the concern.
On the 20th March, 1839, the banking house of Sir
Matthew White Ridley, Bart., C. W. Bigge, and Co.,
which had been in existence for eighty-four years, and
had obtained a high degree of public favour and confi-
dence, was incorporated with the District Bank. Sir
Mattl.ew retired from the concern, but the other mem-
bers of the firm — Mr. Charles Williatr. Bigge, Mr.
Charles John Bigge, Mr. William Boyd, Mr. Robert
Boyd, and Mr. Spedd ing— became large proprietors in
the new business. About this time the number of shares
was increased to 60.000.
Like many other commercial establishments, the share-
holders in which, being ignorant of the business carried
on, hare to depend on the directors and managers, the
December!
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
549
District Bank was very recklessly conducted. Loans
were made on insufficient security, and, what was
particularly objectionable, they were made to a large
amount to parties more or less directly connected with
the bank. And when, through fluctuations in the coal,
iron, and other trades, these persona got into difficulties,
and overdrew their accounts as far as they could, the
directors were under strong temptation, to which they
unfortunately yielded, to sustain the credit of really
bankrupt concerns, with some of which they themselves
or their near relatives were connected, by additional
advances, m the fallacious hope that the debtors might
thus retrieve their affairs, and at length pay in full both
the old and the new advances — a hope which was never
fulfilled.
A course of this kind could have only one result. The
bank suspended operations on the 26th of November, 1857.
The catastrophe was altogether unexpected. It had
transpired on the previous day after bank hours, by tele-
graph from London, that the drafts of the bank had been
dishonoured by its London agents, Messrs. Barclay and
Co. and Messrs. Glynn and Co. ; and this intelligence
was confirmed when the following notice, posted up on
its doors, could be read by all and sundry :—
The directors of the Northumberland and Durham
District Banking Company lament to announce that,
owing to the long-continued monetary pressure, and the
difficulty of rendering immediately available the resources
of the bank, they have felt themselves obliged to suspend
its operations. Deposits and cash balances will be fully
paid with as little delay as possible.
A meeting of shareholders will be convened for an
early day.
26th November, 1857.
This unexpected stoppage, after the bank had been in
existence for twenty-one years, and was doing, as was
supposed, a thriving 'business, caused a vast amount of
distress throughout the entire district amongst all classes.
The average weekly amount paid through its instrument-
ality for wages alone is stated to have been abeut
£35,000, and a large number of persons were thrown out
of work by the catastrophe, although every effort was
made by the Bank of England, and also by other institu-
tions, to mitigate the evil as far as possible.
At a meeting held in the month of December, it was
resolved to register the bank under the Joint Stock
Banking Campany's Act of the previous session, so as
ostensibly to protect individual shareholders by requiring
the necessary funds for liquidation to be raised by general
calls upon the entire body — a process the result of which,
it will be seen at a glance, was in some cases to mitigate
and in others to aggravate the effect of unlimited
liability, since it protected several wealthy shareholders
who, suspecting or knowing the real state of matters, had
prudently decided to retain but a trifling holding, yet
whose well-known names had possibly decoyed many
other persons of simpler and more implicit faith, while it
ensured the utter ruin of those who were holders of the
rotten bank stock to the extent of all, or nearly all, their
means, as was the case with a considerable number.
At the date of the last return, the number of share-
holders in the bank was 402, the directors being Mr.
George Ridley, M.P., chairman, Charles Selby Bigga,
Jonathan Richardson, W. B. Ogden, Matthew R. Bigge,
Joseph Hawks, and James Sillick. The chief contri-
butories were Christian Allhusen, merchant, Newcastle,
who held 1,960 shares ; the executor of Charles William
Bigge, of Linden, 3,375 shares ; John Fleming, Newcastle,
gentleman, 1,000 shares ; John Grey, Dilston, 1,540 shares;
the Rev. William Hawks, Newcastle, 1,821 shares :
Joseph Hawks, of Jesmond House, 1,200 shares; James
Joicey, Newcastle, colliery owner, 1,200 shares ; William
Mountain, Newcastle, gentleman, 2,290 shares ; Edward
Paull, Peckham, Surrey, gentleman, 1,325 shares ; John
Richardson, Newcastle, tanner, 1,600 shares ; Thomas
Sanders, Bath, captain R.N., 1,205 shares ; and William
Henry Wood, Coxhoe Hall, colliery viewer, 1,000 shares.
Thirty of the contributors held ten shares each, and fifteen
only five ; thirty-seven were widows, and sixty-seven
spinsters, and the great majority of these had been induced
to invest their all in the bank. The total paid up on tho
shares was £652,891, and there was a pretended reserve
fund of £90,874. Large dividends— 10 to 12 per cent.—
had, as we have stated, been distributed regularly, but it
was out of capital, not out of profit.
Soon after the suspension, it was found that the bank
had scarcely a single available asset, and that to a single
establishment, the Derwent Iron Company, of which one
of its directors was chairman, it was under advance to an
amount in excess of its entire capital. Large advances
had likewise been made on collieries which were at the
time unprofitable. Mr. Benjamin Coleman, an eminent
actuary, engaged to examine the books and vouchers,
reported that the assets of the bank were very uncertain,
it being possible that a difference of more than a quarter
of a million might be found to exist between the estimate
he had made and the ultimate realisation.
At a meeting held on the 22nd January, 1858, resolu-
tions were adopted declaring the company dissolved, and
appointing Mr. John Fogg Elliott, of Durham, Mr.
William Bainbridge, barrister, of Newcastle, and Mr.
Joseph Fairs, chemist, also of Newcastle, the official
liquidators. Into the details of the liquidation it is un-
necessary to enter. Suffice it to say, that although the
affair was managed with at least an average amount
of prudence, the result was ruinous to many of the
humbler class of shareholders, very mischievous to the
whole of them, and greatly damaging to the reputation of
some who had hitherto stood high in public estimation as
competent and successful men of business. The liquidators
succeeded in getting the sanction of the larger creditors
and of the Court of Chancery to offer a composition of
sixteen shillings in the pound to all such of the creditors
under £50 as would accept it in full discharge of their
550
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f December
claims ; -and they proposed that, as soon as the assets
in hand would admit, fifteen shillings in the pound should
be paid on the same condition to the creditors between
£50 and £100. Those who did not compromise their
claims received, after many years had passed away, the
full sum of twenty shillings in the pound.
JTftt
rrf tf titan,
the line of the Great North Road, between
Morpeth and Alnwick, is the picturesque
village of Felton, running up a steep bank
from the brink of the Coquet — a rustic re-
treat of antique character beloved of anglers and cele-
brated in many of their "garlands."
In the old posting days Felton must have been familiar
to everyone travelling between London and Edinburgh.
That it awakened some interest in travellers then may be
gathered from " A Dane's Excursions in Britain," during
the earlier years of the present century. The writer—
J. A. Andersen — set off one February mornine in 1803
from Morpeth by the Union coach for Felton, where he
alighted. "A young lady of Darlington," he remarks,
"recommended the village of Felton to my particular
notice ; she had herself once got out of the carriage anil
lingered a considerable time upon the bridge over the
Coquet, lost in admiration of the picturesque scenery."
We can readily imagine what a stir there would be in the
place when the splendidly-appointed mail coaches came
thundering down the high road from H«lm-on-the-Hill,
the musical notes of the oft-blown horn re-echoing through
the valley.
Felton can be seen to best advantage from the south,
the most favourable standpoint being a meadow at West
Thirston. It is from near this point that the view given,
below, copied from a sketch by Miss A. E. Batey,
is taken. Approaching the village from the south, we
descend the Peth— defined by Brockett as "a steep road
up a hill " — passing on the right the well-known North-
umberland Arms, and on the left a quaint seventeenth-
century house, having above its doorway a weather-worn
inscription suggestive of Puritan times — "Proverbs, chap.
24, verse iii. Through wisdom is an house builded, and
by understanding it is established."
Below is the rippling Coquet crossed by a fine stone
bridge of three arches, the eastern portion, strongs-ribbed,
belonging to the 15th century, and the western portion,
having a plain soffit or underside, to the early part of the
18th century. Some alterations were made in the bridge
in 1835 and the year following, the corners being rounded,
•> M — ^?/60y'4y/s//£*vAyx
December 1
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
551
and the continuing wall built along the banks. On the
north bank of the river immediately to the west of the
bridge are a few elms casting their shadows on the glitter-
ing waters. Behind them, facing the south, is a terrace
of modern houses, with roses and clematis trained up
their fronts.
During the Civil War, Felton Bridge had a narrow
escape. When the Scots were entering England to assist
the Puritan or Parliamentary party (they came by way
of Northumberland), Sir Thomas Glemham, who had
been sent from Yorkshire by the Marquis of Newcastle
to oppose them, had to fall back. He had retreated as
far as Felton, and it was at this time, according to a
letter from the Scottish army, given in "Richardson's Re-
prints," that the bridge narrowly escaped destruction.
The letter, after alluding to the earlier parts of the cam-
paign, goes on : — " Sir Thomas Glemham did intend to
cut Feltam Bridge, but the masons and workmen which
he brought thither for that purpose were so affrighted by
reason of the exclamations and execrations of the coun-
try women upon their knees, that, while Sir Thomas
went into a house to refresse himselfe, they stole away.
And before he could get them to return, hee received an
alarum from our horse (Scottish), which made himselfe
to flee away with speed to Morpeth, where he stayed not
long, but marched to Newcastle."
From the bridge end commences the village proper —
two long rows of stone-built houses stepping one above
the other up the slope, several with the end wall facing
the street. Two or three ot the houses can boast of a
good old age. One bears carved on its doorhead the date
"1728," with the name, "James Ines," while others,
thatched and constructed of rough, unsymmetrical sand-
stone blocks, may be still more ancient. Plain-fronted
and substantial are the houses as a rule, with only a foot-
path of cement or cobble-stones t,~> separate them from the
road. It is only when we get to the end of the village
that we come across any of those trim little gardens
which we look tor in the country, with their sweet-
smelling pot-herbs and old-fashioned flowers. In the
rear of the village, however, are a numoer of well-tilled
gardens with a south-west aspect sloping down to the
Swarland road.
Though typically rural in its main characteristics,
Felton is not too stupidly conservative. It has its library
and reading room, its schooh, Parochial and Roman
Catholic, and since 1865 it has been lighted by gas. Its
attractions are being more and more recognised and ap-
preciated, and many are the visitors to the village during
the summer and autumn months.
On a high wooded ridge to the west of the village
is the church of St. Michael, with the stateliest of
trees for a background. From the walls of its grave-
yard, green meadows sweep down to the road and the
Back Burn. At Felton, as at other places, the additions
and alterations of the last half-century have destroyed,
very nearly, the antique charm of the sacred building.
The church, which was built in the 13th century, con-
sisted at first of a nave and chancel, with a bell-turret
and porch. Then in the 14th century it was enlarged by
the addition of aisles, that on the north side opening to
the nave by five arches, that on the south side by three.
The bell-turret was also tebuilt, and the wall of the
chancel strengthened by a huge buttress. A new porch was
thrown out, giving access to the old one, which, instead
of being removed, was enclosed in the body ot the church.
In the eastern wall of the south aisle there is a beautiful
example of the work of the period— a window of five
lights, the head of which, filled with geometric tracery, is
carved from a single stone. The church has two old bells,
one of them being of pre-Reformation date. A few yards
from the entrance-gates is the vicarage — a long, low, pic-
turesque building erected in 1758.
Felton Park with its lovely grounds is not far from the
church. It is approached from the village by a loner,
steep carriage drive, bordered with trees and shrubs. Ad-
joining the hall is the Roman Catholic chapel of St.
Mary, which was opened on the 16th of June, 1857. It is
built in the Decorated style, and has a tapering octagonal
spire— an object of grace in the landscape.
Few villages are surrounded by more romantic scenery
than Felton. The Coquet is famed for its beauty. Its
clear, bright waters run briskly along under high woody
banks and perpendicular scaurs of crumbling shale, eddy-
ing among the boulders, and lingering in darkling pools
where the trouts most coveted by the angler lie hidden.
Below the bridge the broadening stream is divided by a
gravelly shoal, called the Stanners. Along the banks of
the river, especially to the west, there are bits of wild
nature still left undisturbed — green haunts of quietness,
sylvan alleys where nestle the flowers most dear to the
botanist.
In addition to these natural charms, Felton has also a
few historical associations of some interest. It was here,
— or, to be more precise, at Old Felton, which stood about
a mile to the north— that in 1216 the barons of Northum-
berland, in arms against King John, did homage to
Alexander of Scotland : a defection which the tyrant
punished by reducing the village to ashes. Felton was
rebuilt on its present site, and eighty-six years later, on
Feb. 19th, 1302, was honoured by another royal visit,
less disastrous to the village than the former. The
monarch.was Edward I., returning from an expedition into
Scotland. Lying as it did on the line of the route to the
north, Felton must have been only too familiar with the
passage of mail-clad armies in troublous times. In October,
1715, the village would be thrown into a state of excite-
ment by the arrival of the Earl of Derwentwater
and his band of Northumbrian Jacobites. They
were joined here by "70 Scots horse or rather gentle-
men from the Borders, who increased their party to
about 300, all horse." They seized the post at Felton
552
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
J December
December)
1890. f
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
553
554
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
r December
I 1590.
Bridge, and apprehended and detained one Thos. Gibson,
a smith of Newcastle, as a spy. When the rising of 174-5
took place, the Puke of Cumberland, on his way into
Scotland, passed through Felton. where he met with a
loyal display of hospitality from the owner of Felton Park,
a staunch Roman Catholic, the troops being regaled by
the roadside with bread, beef, and beer. When the duke
thanked him for his liberality, Mr. Widdrington replied
that he "detested these internal commotions, for, without
peace, neither pleas jre nor plenty could be enjoyed."
An event to be remembered in the history of Felton
was the great flood of Sunday, the 15th of September,
1839. The Coquet rose to a great height, presenting such
a scene as the oldest inhabitant bad never before wit-
nessed, the torrent bearing on its way sheaves of corn,
hay, trees, gates, and the bodies of drowned sheep, as it
rushed from the woody recesses of Felton Park.
There are several small items of information relating
to Felton of interest to the local historian, such as the
anecdote of the hedgehog domesticated by the landlord
of the Angel Inn, which answered to the name of Tom
and was used as a turnspit ; the wonderful racing records
of Dr. Syntax and X.Y.Z., the celebrated race-horses
belonging to Mr. Ralph Riddell ; and the account of the
discovery. last autumn, of a gigantic lycoperdon or puff-
ball, 2ft. Sins, in circumference and 21bs, 9ozs. in weight,
in a field near Thirston Shaw.
There is a difference of opinion as to the derivation of
the name Felton, which was given to the place by some
Anglian settlers. "The town on the fell " would suggest
itself to the majority of people ; but Mr. J. V. Gregory
hold? that the prefix fell is not from the Norse fjeld. a
hill-side, but from the Anglo-Saxon field. At least the
features of the locality suggest that to him,
The sketch on page 552 is taken from Felton, and
shows the bridge, with the Northumberland Arms and
a few cottages on the right bank of the Coquet, the
southern suburb of Felton, though in the township of
West Thirston. W. W. TOMLINSOJT.
Cite £UTtftt(rt&
|E have 'three kinds of redstarts in England,
the Common, Black, and Blue-throated
Redstart, all of which have been found in
the Northern Counties. Although they are
generally associated with the warblers, Macgillivray and
other naturalists have placed them in a genus by them-
selves, under the designation Saticilla.
The common redstart (Sylvia phanicurus) has a yariety
of popular names, all of which bear reference to its
ruddy-hned tail and the plumage of the lower part of
the back— such as red-tail, fire-tail, bran-tail, and red
warbler. The bird is frequently found in the neighbour-
hood of towns and villages where there is suitable cover,
and it may be seen in summer in most of the denes in
the two counties, but very seldom in open parts of the
country destitute of wood, as it is essentially a bird of
the covert. It arrives in this country from the middle of
April to the beginning of May, according to locality and
the state of the weather, and retires to winter quarters in
August or September at the latest. The redstart has a
curious habit of flirting its tail, pump-handlewise, in a
way very like the magpie, with the feathers spread out.
Its food chiefly consists of wild and garden fruits, insects,
and beetles. It catches flies on the wing, after the
manner of the fly-catchers, as well as on the ground.
The redstart, oven in its wild state, often imitates the
notes of other birds, and in captivity it has been taught
to whistle tunes. It is a bird of beautiful plumage,
and the colours of the feathers are strongly contrasted —
black, white, ruddy jjrey, and brown. The male is about
five and a half inches long. Near the forehead, above
the base of the bill, is a patch of clear white ; head on
the sides black, extending to the shoulders, the black
feathers being lightest at the tip ; the crown, neck, and
back, or mantle, deep bluish grey, with a tinge of light
brown. The breast is warm yellowish red on the upper
part, and nearly white below. From the middle of the
back to the root of the tail the plumage is ruddy,
coloured like the upper part of the breast. The tail,
which is rather long and rounded at the tip, is rusty red,
nearly tke colour of the breast, but the two middle
feathers are brown on the inner webs. The wings are
brown, and beautifully edged with a paler tint of the
same colour.
Mudie gives an interesting account of its habits. "The
bird, "he observes, " is both familiar and shy ; familiar
as to its general haunting place, for it visits gardens and
courts, and even the close vicinity of towns, and the
December 1
189J. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE ANp LEGEND.
55.3
squares and less frequented streets. But it is continually
hopping about, so that it is not easily cot sight of ; and
this has led to the supposition that it is not so generally
diffused as it really is. The 'blink' of reddish orange
displayed by the flirt of the tail, even when there is not
time to notice the peculiar movement of that organ, is,
however, sufficient to distinguish it from every other
bird. Its sone is sweflt though plaintive, and has some
resemblance to that of the nightingale, only very inferior
in compass and power, and audible only at a short
distance. The song is uttered from the perch, on a ruin,
a tall post, the trunk of a blasted tree, or some other
situation from which it can see around it ; and one who
has heard the plaintive strain of the redstart from the top
of a ruined abbey or crumbling fortalice, would be
inclined to call it the bird of decay, rather than the wall
nightingale, as Buffon did."
The nest of the redstart is usually well concealed, and
is mostly built in a stone wall, or in the hollow of a
decayed tree. Yet it sometimes builds amid the branches
of wall-trees in gardens, and its nest has also been found
under the eaves of a house, and even in watering pots and
flower pots.
The black redstart (Pkcenicura tithys), though com-
mon in Southern Europe, is a rare visitor to this country.
Several have been shot in the two counties. The late
Mr. Hancock states that a pair of black redstarts, in the
year 1845, nested in the garden of the late Rev. James
Kaine, the historian of Durham, in that city. Mr. Raine
at
presented Mr. Hancock with an egg from the nest. This
is the only instance where the black redstart has been
known to nest in the North. The bird is rather larger
than the common redstart, and the dusky grey plumage
of the head, back, and breast gives it its distinctive name.
|| HE subjoined graphic and exciting account of
the escapades of a remarkable animal which
was known far and wide as the Wild Dog of
Ennerdale, is taken from the late William Dickenson's
"Cumbriana" — a volume of the greatest interest to all
lovers of Cumberland folk-lore, as well as to all interested
in the life and customs of the sturdy inhabitants of the
Cumberland dales. SERGEANT C. HALL.
The misdeeds of the Ennerdale doff were so numerous
and audacious, that whatsoever mischief other dogs might
ha^e done in other years, their deeds of destruction were
greatly overshadowed by the doings of this animal in the
year 1810. " T'grit dog " was talked about, and dreamt
about, and written about to the utter exclusion of nearly
every other topic in Ennerdale and Kinniside, and all the
vales round about there ; for the number of sheep he
destroyed was amazing, and the difficulties experienced in
taking him were almost beyond belief.
It is upwards of half a century ago, but many of the
incidents in connection with the depredations and
exciting chases of this wonderful dog are fresh in my
memory, and were recorded as well soon after their
occurrence; others have been related to me by persons who
suffered losses of sheep by him, and who took active part
in the watchings for and ultimate capture of the animal.
Amongst the rest, Mr. John Steel, of Asby, who fired the
fatal shot, has carefully written his recollections of the
affair.
Xo one knew to whom the dog had belonged, or whence
he came; but, being of mongrel breed and excessively
shy, it was conjectured he had escaped from the chain of
some gipsy troop. He was a smooth-haired do#. of a
tawny mouse colour, wich dark streaks, in tiger fashion,
over his hide ; and appeared to be a cross between mastiff
and greyhound. Strongly built and of good speed, being
both well fed and well exercised, his endurance was very
great. His first appearance in the district was on or
about the 10th of May, 1810, when he was seen by Mr.
Mossop, of Thornholme, who was near, and noticed
him as a stranger. From that time till he was shot in
September following, he was not known to have fed on
anything but living mutton, or, at least, the flesh of lambs
and sheep before the carcases had time to cool. From
one sheep he was scared during his feast, and when the
shepherd examined the carcase, the flesh had been torn
from the ribs behind the shoulder, and the still beating
heart was laid bare and visible. He was once seen to run
down a nne ram at early dawn, and, without killing it, to
tear out and swallow lumps of flesh from the hind
quarters of the tortured animal while it stood on its feet,
without the power to resist or flee, yet with sufficient life
to crawl forward on its forelegs. He would sometimes
wantonly destroy seven or eight sheep in one night, and
all his work was done so silently that no one ever heard
him bark or growl.
At other times, when a lazy fit came over him, or when
he had been fatitrued by a long chase, a single life and the
tit-bits it afforded would satisfy him for the time — taking
his epicurean meal from a choice part of the carcase. He
seldom fed during the day ; and his cunning was such
that he did not attack the same flock or sport on the same
ground on two successive nights, often removing two or
three miles for his next meal. His sagacity was so
matured that his choice often fell on the best, or one of
the plumpest, of the flock ; and his long practice enabled
him to dexterously abstract his great luxury, the warm
blood from the jugular vein ; and, if not with surgical
precision, it was always with deadly certainty, for none
ever survived the operation. The report was current at
the time that he commonly opened the vein of the same
side of the neck.
All through his career of depredation he was exceed-
556
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f December
I J89J.
ingly cautious and provident in the selection of hie resting
places ; most frequently choosing places where a good view
was obtainable, and not seldom on the bare rock, where
his dingy colour prevented him from being descried on
stealing aw vy. For a few weeks, at first, it was thought
from his shy habits that it would be easily possible to
drive him out of the country. But this was an entire
fallacy ; for he seemed to have settled down to the
locality as his regal domain ; and though many a time
chased at full speed for ten or fifteen miles right away, he
was generally discovered by his murderous deed to have
returned the first or second night following.
A few hounds had been usually kept in the neighbour-
hood to help in the destruction of the fell foxes, which
took tribute of lambs in the spring and of geese and
poultry at other seasons. These hounds, distributed
among the farm houses in the vale of Ennerdale and
Kinniside, and being allowed to run at large, were easily
assembled at the halloo of any shepherd espying the dog,
and were often available in chase, though of no real use ;
for the dog got so familiarised with their harmlessness
that, speedy and enduring as they were, he has been
known to wait for the leading dog and give the foreleg
such a crushing snap with bis powerful jaws that none of
the pack would attack him twice. From the unequal
speed of the local hounds, he seldom had more than one
dog to contend with at a time, and his victory was quick
and effectual.
The men of the district volunteered to watch on succes-
sive nights, armed with guns or other weapons; and
when these were wearied out other volunteers came in
from a distance, or were hired to watch on the mountains
through the night, rain or fair ; and the hounds were dis-
tributed in leading amongst them, covering many miles of
the ground nightly. If anyone fired a shot or eave the
view halloo, the dogs were let loose and were soon laid on
the scent, pursuing it with the same bustling energy that
accompanies the chase of the fox. But no dog had any
chance to engage him singly till the rest came up.
Various schemes were tried to entice him within shooting
range, but he took especial care to keep out of harm's
way. Poison was tried, but soon abandoned, on account
of the risk of injury to other dogs. The bait of the sheep
already destroyed had no effect on him, for he was too
well versed as an epicure to touch a dead carcase, if ever so
fresh. Week after week the excitement was kept up.
The whole conversation of the neighbourhood and adjoin-
ing vales was engrosied by the interesting topic of the
"Worrying Dog." Newspapers reported his doings, and
friend wrote to distant friend about him, but no one took
time to write a song about him.
Every man who could obtain a gun. whether cap-
able of using it with effect or not, was called
out, or thought himself called out, to watch
or pursue, daily or nightly ; and many an idle or
lazy fellow got or took holiday from work to mix
with the truly anxious shepherds, and to snoozle under a
rock at night, or stretch himself on the heather dur-
ing the day, with a gun or a pitchfork, or a fell
pole in his hand, under pretence of watching for the
wild dog.
Men were harassed and tired out by continuous watch-
ings by night and running the chase by day. Families
were disturbed in the nights to prepare refreshments for
their fatigued male inmates, or for neighbours who
dropped in at the unbarred doors of the houses nearest
at hand at all hours of the night. Children durst not
go to school or be out alone, and they often screamed
with fright at the smallest nocturnal sounds, or in their
dreams ; while women were exhausted with the toil of
the farm their husbands and brothers were obliged to
abandon to their care. The hay crop and all field labours
were neglected, or done by hurried and incomplete
snatches, no one attempting jobs that could not be per-
formed in an hour or two— every eye on the look out and
«very ear listening for the alarm of the frequent hunt
which every one was ready to join in. Property was dis-
appearing in the shape of sheep worried, crops wasting,
wages paid for no return, time lost, and work of all kinds
left undone. Cows were occasionally unrrulked and
horses unfed or undressed. Many fields of hay grass were
uncut, and corn would in all likelihood have shared the
same fate if an end had not opportunely come.
There are few dogs that do not occasionally indulge
in a long and melancholy howl, when quite alone, and
listening to the distant howl of other dogs ; but " The
Worrying Dog of Ennerdale " was never known to utter a
vocal sound. And along with this remarkable trait, his
senses of sight, hearing, and scent were so acute that it
was rare indeed for anyone to come upon him unawares
in the daytime. On the few occasions when he was acci-
dentally approached he exhibited nothing vicious, and
always tied hastily.
Seldom a week elapsed without the dog being once or
twice chased out of the district, most frequently down in
the lower country where the level land better suited bis
running, and where the softer ground of the fields did less
harm to his feet.
On one occasion he was run across the vale of Enner-
dale. through Lowes Water, and lost in the mist of night.
Next morning his traces were found on his old ground by
two or three fresh carcases. On another occasion he was
run from Kinniside fells through Lamplugh and Dean,
crossing the river Marrow several times, and resting in
a plantation near Clifton, till a number of horsemen and
some footmen came up, and the hounds again roused him
and ran him to the Derwent and there lost him, after an
exhausting run of nearly twenty miles. This chase was
more severe than usual, and he took two days to rest and
return.
Many times he was run in the same direction, but
always found means to escape. One Saturday night a
great number of men were dispersed over the nigh fells
watchme with guns and hounds ; but he avoided them
and took his supper on a distant mountain ; and the men,
not meeting with him, came down about eleven o'clock on
Sunday morning and separated about Swinside Lane end.
In a few minutes after, one Willy Lamb gave the view
halloo. He had started the beast in crossing a wooded
gill, and away went the dog with the bounds in full
cry after him. The hunt passed Ennerdale Church dur-
ing service ; and the male part of the congregation, liking
the cry of the hounds better than the sermon, ran out and
followed. It has been said the Rev. Mr. Ponsonby could
not resist, and went in pursuit as far as he was able. This
run ended at Fitz Mill, near Cockermouth, in a storm
which the wearied men and dogs had to encounter in a
twelve miles return.
Next morning the dog was seen by Anthony Atkinson
to steal into a grassy hedge and lie down to rest. Such
an opportunity seldom occurred and was not to be lost.
Anthony charged his gun with swan shot and crept to-
wards the place, with a determination to have as close
a shot as he could ; but the wily animal was on the
watch, and stole away at a long shot distance with three
of Anthony's pellpts sticking harmlessly jn his hide, as it
proved when the skin was taken off some weeks after.
On another occasion thirteen men, armed with loaded
guns, were stationed at different parts of the wood and
fields where he was believed to be lurking. The halloo
was soon heard, and every armed man was in hopes of
earning the ten pounds reward that had been offered.
The dog ran in the direction where Will Rothery was
stationed with gun in hand, but so much was Will over-
come by his near and first view of the creature that,
instead of lifting his gun to take aim, he quietly stepped
back and suffered the dog to pass at a short pistol snot
distance without attempting to do him any harm ; merely
exclaiming with more fear than piety, "Skerse, what a
doe ! '•
Many other long and arduous chases took place, but,
the incidents not varying much, a full recital might be-
come tedious.
On the 12th of September, the dog was seen by
Jonathan Patrickson to go into a cornfield. Jonathan
quietly said, " Aa'll let ta lig theer a bit, me lad. but
aa'll want to see tha just noo." Away went the old man,
and, without the usual noise, soon raised men enough to
surround the field ; and as some, in their haste, came
unprovided with guns, a halt was whispered round to
wait till more gung were brought and the hounds col-
lected. When a good muster of guns and men were got
December 1
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
557
together, the wild dog was disturbed out of the corn ; and
only the old man who had seen him go into the field was
lucky enough to get a shot at him, and to wound him in
the hind quarters. This took a little off his speed and
enabled the hounds to keep well up with him, but none
durst or did engage him. And though partly disabled he
kept long on his legs, and was often headed and turned
by the numerous parties of pursuers, several of whom met
him in his route from the upperside of Kinniside, by
Eskat, Arlecdon, and Asby, by Rowrah and Stockhow
Hall to the river Ehen. Each of these parties he shied,
and turned in a new direction till he (tot wearied. He
was quietly taking a cold bath in the river, with the
blown hounds as quietly looking on, when John Steel
came up with his gun laden with small bullets, but durst
not fire, lest he should injure some of the hounds. When
the dog caught sight of him. he made off to Eskat woods,
with the hounds and John on his track, and after a few
turnings in the wood, amid the greatest excitement of
dogs and men, a fair chance offered, and the fatal dis-
charge was made by John Steel, when the destroyer fell
to rise no more, and the marksman received his well-
earned reward of ten pounds, with the hearty congratula-
tions of all assembled.
After many a kick at the dead brute, the carcase was
carried in triumph to the inn at Ennerdale Bridge ; and
the cheering and rejoicing there were so great that it was
many days ere the shepherd inhabitants of the vales
settled to their usual pursuits.
The dead carcase of the dog weighed eight imperial
stones. The stuffed skin was exhibited in Button's
Museum, at Keswick, with a collar round the neck,
stating that the wearer had be«n the destroyer of nearly
three nundred sheep »nd lambs in the five months of his
Ennerdale campaign.
2Tfte lUfc, dFraitlt
SUCCESSION of able lectures on the poets
has helped to make the name of the Rev.
Frank Walters, pastor of the Church of the
Divine Unity, familiar as a household word in New-
castle.
Mr. Walters was born at Liverpool, on December 28,
18*5, and was educated at private schools in that city.
Greatly influenced by the ministry of the Rev. C. M.
Birrell, a leading Baptist minister, and father of Mr.
Augustine Birrell, M.P., author of "Obiter Dicta, ''young
Walters in 1859 joined the church of which the rev.
gentleman was pastor. He preached his first sermon on
Aug. 4, 1861, at the Baptist Chapel, Ogden, near Rochdale;
and subsequently spent vacations in preaching throughout
Lancashire and Cheshire. Having obtained a bursary
for five years in 1863, he proceeded to Rawdou Baptist
College, near Leeds, to study for the Baptist ministry, his
theological training being superintended by the Rev. S. G.
Green, D.D., now one of the secretaries of the Religious
Tract Society. In 1866, Mr. Walters proceeded to Edin-
burgh University, where he remained tor two years. He
studied English Literature under Professor Masson, Logic
under Professor Eraser, Greek under Professor Blackie,
and Latin under Professor Sellar.
Towards the close of the year 1868 Mr. Walters received
an invitation from the Baptist Church at Middlesbrough,
which he accepted. In the following year he acted as
Moderator of the Northern Baptist Association on its
visit to that town. During the spring of 1869, Mr.
Walters paid a visit to Newcastle to conduct services in
Ryehill Baptist Chapel.
The next important step in Mr. Walters's life was his
appointment as pastor of Harborne Chapel, Birmingham.
During his four years' ministry at this place, he passed
through great mental changes. In his distress he
took counsel of Mr. George Dawson, who advised him
to resign his position among the Baptists. After
much anxious thought, this step was taken in September,
1873.
Some correspondence now took place between Mr.
Walters and Dr. James Martineau, who invited him to
preach in his pulpit in London. An introduction to the
Unitarian Church at Preston, Lancashire, followed, with
the result that Mr. Walters was invited to become
the minister. He accepted the proposal and settled
there in January, 1874. Early in 1877, he received at
unanimous call to the St. Vincent Street Church a
Glasgow, in succession to the Rev. J. Page Hopps — the
same church of which the Rev. George Harris was
once minister. Having given the matter his favourable
consideration, he commenced his ministry in Glasgow in
May, 1877.
Mr. Walters's literary activity may be said to have com-
menced during his residence on the Clyde. He lectured at
various times on " Shakspeare's Life," ''Shakspearo'a
Heroines," "Shakspeare's Fools," &c. ; and he became
editor of the Unitarian Magazine, and subsequently of
"Modern Sermons."
The year 18S5 saw Mr. Walters settled in Newcastle,
where he has not only endeared himself to his congreg.v
558
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
r December
tion, but made himself exceedingly popular among all the
intelligent and thoughtful classes of the population.
Onr portrait of Mr. Walters is reproduced from a
photograph by Ralston and Sens, 141, Sauchiehall Street,
Glasgow.
ilarlt lt?all
[ANUABY, 1800, was the date when a mis-
chievous sprite, whose pleasure it was to
remain invisible, played such fantastic tricks
at a place called Lark Hall, near Burrowdon, in the
parish of Alwinton, as not only to astonish the somewhat
simple-minded natives, but to puzzle the wisest heads
among those learned Thebans who came to penetrate the
mystery.
Lark Hall is a small farm, which belonged at the begin-
ning of the century to Mr. William Walby, of Burrowdon,
and was rented by Mr. Turnbull, a butcher in Rothbury,
who kept his father and mother, two decent old people, at
the place. There was also a hind and his family, who
were separated from the Turnbulls by a partition only,
formed by a couple of those old-fashioned close beds
which were once so common in Northumbrian cottages,
and which left a narrow dark passage between, the two
apartments constituting a "but" and a "ben." The
garrets above were kept locked by old Turnbull, who had
them filled with all sorts of stored-up trumpery. The
only access to "ben the hoose" was through the outer
room, and the occupants of the two halves were unfortu-
nately not on the most friendly terms, it being almost im-
possible, under such circumstances of continual close con-
tact, for even the kindliest and best-disposed people to
avoid annoyance and bickerings.
It was suspected that the house was haunted. Knock-
ings and noises were heard every now and then in
Turnbull's apartment. The plates, bowls, basins, glasses,
tea cups, and other crockery, which the old lady took a
pride in arranging showily on the dresser, with peacock's
feathers stuck in for ornament, jumped off the shelves
and were broken. The chairs and tables danced about
the room in the most fantastic manner. Scissors, knives
and forks, horn spoons, wooden dishes, bottles. &c., flew
in all directions, and the confused and terrified spectators
were sometimes actually wounded by these uncanny
missiles. A poor tailor had a tin pot full of water dashed
in his face, and had the hardihood to stand to his post
notwithstanding, when, to punish him for his temerity, a
large rolling-pin descended from overhead, and hit him a
smart blow on the shoulders that made him beat a
retreat. One of the most curious tricks was played in the
presence of the Rev. Mr. Lander, the Presbyterian
minister at Harbottle, who came to administer some
spiritual consolation and comfort to the afflicted inmates,
but who went away almost, if not quite, convinced that
the arch-deceiver Satan had a finger in the pie, while he
was not gifted with the power of exorcising and laying
him, as John Wesley had done the Building Hill ghost &t
Sunderland some years before. Mr. Lauder had been
but a short time in the house, and had scarcely got his
preliminary inquiries over, when a large family Bible,
which had been lying in its accustomed place in the
window recess, made a sudden series of gyrations through
the air into the middle of the room, and fell down at his
feet — a marvel enough to shake the nerves of a doctor of
divinity, or even the moderator of the general assembly,
let alone a poor village presbyter.
All these wonders were verified by credible witnesses.
Two professors of legerdemain, besides many intelligent
gentlemen, examined the premises with critical eyes, but
failed to discover anything that could lead to an explana-
tion. Suspicions, indeed, attached to a certain humorous
individual, reported to be versed in the black art, and a
frequent visitor to Lark Hall ; but some of the most
astonishing manifestations having taken place when he
was certainly absent, these suspicions were set aside as
groundless. Twenty guineas were offered for the
detection of the fraud, if fraud it should turn out to be,
but without success, for nobody ever came forward to
claim the money. Nor was the mystery, so far as our
knowledge of the records go, ever clearly explained.
rrf
2!oh.n j&tokoe.
title of
HUGHIE THE GR^SME.
lOSEPH RITSON'S curious and valuable
collection of legendary poetry, entitled
"Ancient Songs," (edition 1790), contains
a version of this Border ditty under the
'The Life and Death of Sir Hugh of the
Greeme," taken from a collation of two black letter copies,
one of them in the Roxburgh Collection. The ballad
first appeared in D'Urfey's " Pills to Purge Melancholy,"
and several versions have since been published — in Sir
Walter Scott's "Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border," iu
Johnson's "Scots Musical Museum," and in other stan-
dard works on ballad poetry.
The Graemes were a powerful and numerous clan, who
chiefly inhabited the Debateable Land. They were said
to be of Scottish extraction, and their chief claimed his
descent from Malis, Earl of Stratherne. In military rer
vice they were more attached to England than to Scot-
land ; but in their depredations in both countries they
appear to have been very impartial, for in the year 1600
the gentlemen of Cumberland complained to Lord
Dscember 1
1890 /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
559
Scroope, "that the Graemes and their clans, with their
children, tenants, and servants, were the chief actors in
the spoil and decay of the country." Accordingly they
were at that time obliged to give a bond of surety for each
other's demeanour, from which bond their number
appears to have exceeded four hundred men. (See Intro-
duction to Nicholson's "History of Cumberland," page
cviii.)
Tne nationality of the ballad is apparently as debate-
able as that of the land occupied in those days by the
clan.
Gude Lord Scroop's to the hunt-in y £ane. He has
2U
rid - den o'er moss and muir, And
he has grip -pit Hutfhie the Grame For
steal - ing
the
bish - op's mare.
Gude Lord Scroope's to the hunting cane ;
He has ridden o'er moss and muir ;
And he has grippit Hughie the Graeme,
For stealing o' the bishop's mare.
"Now good Lord Scroope, this may not be !
Here hangs a broad sword by my side ;
And if that thou canst conquer me,
The matter it may soon be tryed."
" I ne'er was afraid of a traitor thief ;
Although thy name be Hughie the Graeme,
I'll make thee repent thee of thy deeds,
If God but grant me life and time."
" Then do your worst, now, good Lord Scroope,
And deal your blows as hard as you can ;
It shall be tried within an hour,
Which of us two is the better man."
But as they were dealing their blows so free,
And both so bloody at the time,
Over the moss came ten yeomen so tall,
All for to take brave Hughie the Graeme.
He set his back against a tree
And .the yeomen com past him round ;
His mickle sword frae his hand did flee,
And they brocht Hugbie to the ground.
Then they hae grippit Hughie the Graeme,
And brought him up through Carlisle town ;
The lasses and lads stood on the walls,
Crying " Hughie the Graeme, thou's ne'er gae down !"*
Then hae they chosen a jury o* men,
The best that were in Carlisle town ;
And twelve of them cried out at once,
" Hughie the Graeme, thou must gae down !"
Then up bespak' him, gude Lord Hume,
As he sat by the judge's knee —
" Twenty white owsen, my gude lord,
If you'll grant Hughie the Graeme to me."
• Gae down — Be hanged.
" O na, O na, my gude Lord Hume !
Forsooth and sae it maumia be ;
For were there but three Graemes o' the name,
They suld be hangit a' for me."
'Twas up and spake the gude Lady Hume,
As she sat by the judge's knee —
'• A peck ef white pennies, my gude lord judge,
If you'll grant Hughie the Graeme to me,"
" O na, O na, my gude Lady Hume !
Forsooth and sae it mustna be ;
Were he but the one Graeme of the name,
He suld be hangit hie for me."
"If I be guilty," said Hughie the Graeme,
•'Of me my friends shall hae small talk."
And he has louped fifteen feet and three.
Tho' his hands they were tied behind his back.
He lookit ower hia left shouther.
And for to see what he might see.
Then was he aware o' his auld father.
Cam' tearing his hair most piteously.
" O haud your tongue, my father," he says,
" And see that ye dinna weep for me !
For they may ravish me o' my life,
But they cannot banish me frae heaven hie.
"Fare ye wee], fair Maggie, my wife ;
The last time we cam thro' the toon,
'Twas thou bereft me o' my life,
And wi' the bishop thou played the loon.
" Here, Johnny Armstrang, take thou my sword
That is made o' the metal sae fine ;
And when thou comest to the Enelish side,
-Remember the death o' Hughie the Giasme.
" And ye may tell my kith and kin
I never did disgrace their blude,
And when they meet the bishop's cloak,
To inak' it shorter by the hood."
Castle.
j|NE of the most picturesque objects in the
neighbourhood of Penrith, Cumberland, is
Brougham Castle. With its surroundings
it presents almost every feature in a land-
scape calculated to fascinate the eye of the artist. As
will be seen from our engraving, which it may be
explained is taken from the north (or Penrith) side of the
river Karnont, the ruins have a noble and venerable
aspect.
The chief entrance to the castle was from the east,
near to the small group of trees to the left of the
drawing. An outer gateway, surmounted by a tower,
led to an inner gateway also surmounted by a tower.
The great tower over the inner gateway was adorned
with turrets and banging galleries, all now ruinous. The
turrets are not at the present time in the condition
represented in the engraving ; indeed, the general appear-
ance of the whole edifice is one of gradual decay.
Brougham Castle first comes into notice in the time of
King John, when we find that it is one of the possessions
of Robert Veteripont, or Vetripont, whose grandfather
came over with William the Conqueror. Robert Veteri-
pont was a favourite of King John, who, giving him
possessions in Westmoreland, created him a baron and
560
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
S Dccemtie
\ 1890.
Sheriff of Westmoreland. Veteripont's estates, which
included the castles of Brougham, Brough, Pendraggon,
and Appleby, were made hereditary without limitation to
the male sex, at was also the office of sheriff. It is worth
noting tbat somn of his female descendants asserted the
right to act as sheriff.
The castle passed by marriage to the family of Clifford.
Roger, Lord Clifford, made large additions to the build-
ing, and placed over the inner gateway the inscription —
THYS
MADE
ROGER
Lady Anne Clifford, Countess of Pembroke, the last of
the Cliffords, commenting upon this inscription, says that
the words "are severally interpreted, for some think he
meant it. because he built that and a great part of the
said castle, and also the great tower there ; and some
think he meant it, because he was made in his fortune by
his marriage with Isabella Vetripont, by whom he
became possessor of this castle and lands."
The inscription is still to be seen ; but, instead of being
over the inner gateway, its original position, it is to be
found over the outer gate, where it was fixed about half a
century ago. For a long time the stone was lost to sight,
but was found in a neighbouring mill dam.
Roger Clifford's grandson, Robert, built the eastern
parts of the castle, and placed on them his own armorial
bearings and those of his wife. In the fifteenth century
the castle was almost destroyed, and the lands around it
desolated, by the Scots, for some time after which the
edifice was uninhabitable. The pile was subsequently
renovated ; but the Earl of Thanet, grandson of Anne
Clifford, demolished it for the mere sake of the materials,
when it became a permanent ruin. A later Earl of
Thanet, however, has preserved the ruins from dilapida-
tion.
It has been said, but not on very good authority, that
Sir Philip Sidney wrote part of his "Arcadia" at
Brougham Castle. Wordsworth makes it the scene of
one of his poems, describing the festivities on the restora-
tion of the " Shepherd Lord," Henry, Lord Clifford :—
From town to town, from tower to tower,
The red rose is a gladsome flower.
Behold her, how she smiles to-day
On this great, this bright array !
Fair greeting does she send to all
From every corner of the hall ;
But chiefly from above the board
Where sits in state our rightful lord, —
A Clifford to his own restored !
How glad is Skipton at this hour,
Though lonely, — a deserted tower !
BROUGHAM CASTLE, WESTMORELAND.
December 1
1890. j
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
561
Knight, squire, and yeoman, page, and groom,
We have them at the feast of Brough'm.
How glad Pendragon, though the sleep
Of years be on her ! — she shall reap
A taste of this great pleasure, viewing
As in a dream her own renewing.
Rejoiced is Brough, right glad 1 deem,
Beside her little humble stream ;
And she that keepeth watch and ward,
Her statelier Eden's course to guard ;
They both are happy at this hour,
Though each is but a lonely tower ; —
But here is perfect joy and pride
For one fair house by Eamont's side,
This day, distinguished without peer,
To see her master and to cheer —
Him and bis ladv mother dear.
FAVOURITE climb of visitors to the Eng-
lish Lake District is that to the top of
Helvellyn, the highest of the chain of hills
extending from Rydal to the foot of the
Vale of St. John, or Buredale, as it was formerly called.
Helvellyn is 3,055 feet above the level of the sea, being
about thirty feet higher than Skiddaw and a little over a
hundred feet lower than Scawfell Pike, the highest
mountain in England. It commands magnificent views
of the district, and the ascent, which may be made from
three or four different points, is not difficult. The top of
the mountain is gained from Patterdale by following the
ridge known as Swirrell Edge, or that known as Striding
Edge, which latter flanks the south-east of a mountain
lakelet known as Red Tarn. Our engraving (copied from
a photograph by Mr. Alfred Pettitt, Keswick) will convey
some idea of the nature of the route. Whilst admit-
ting that the journey along Striding Edge— thus called
because it is in parts so narrow as almost to be stridden —
has been performed hundreds of times without accident,
it cannot be said to be devoid of danger, and it should
never be attempted during the winter time, or when the
mist obscures the path. Two noted fatalities may act as
a warning to the adventurous.
STRIDING ED
:ED TARN, LAKE DISTRICT.
SO
562
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
r December
The first was the case of tbo unfortunate Charles
Gough. a young student of nature, who, in 1805, whilst
attempting to cross Hrlrellyn from Fatterdale, after
a fall of enow had concealed the path, fell, it is supposed,
from the summit of Striding Edge to the rocks below,
where his body lay for some three months, guarded by a
faithful dog which had accompanied him on his ramble.
Whether he was killed by the fall or perished from
hunger will never be known. Wordsworth and Sir
Walter Scott have both commemorated the touching
incident in verse.
Wordsworth's poem, "Fidelity," will be found in ttie
series entitled "Poems of Sentiment and Reflection,"
and is here reprinted : —
A barking sound the shepherd hears,
A cry as of a dog or fox :
He halts— and searches with his eyes .
Among the scattered rocks :
And now at distance can discern
A stirring in a brake of fern ;
And instantly a dog is seen,
(ilancing through the covert green.
The doc is not of mountain breed ;
Its motions, too, are wild and shy ;
With something, as the shepherd thinks,
Unusual in its cry :
Nor is there any one in sight
All round, on hollow or on height';
Nor shout nor whistle strikes his car ;
What is the creature doing here '!
It was a cave, a huge recess.
That keeps, till June, December's snow ;
A lofty precipice in front,
A silent tarn below !
Par in the bosom of Helvellyn,
Remote from public road or dwelling,
pathway, or cultivated laud ;
From trace of human foot or hand.
There sometimes doth a leaping fish
Send through the tarn a lonely cheer ;
The crags repeat the raven's croak,
In symphony austere ;
Thither the rainbow comes — the cloud —
And mitts that spread the flying shroud ;
And sunbeams ; and the sounding blast,
That, if it could, would hurry past ;
But that enormous barrier holds it fast.
Not knowing what to think, a while
The shepherd stood ; then makes his way
O'er rocks and stones, following the dog
As quickly as he may ;
Nor far had gone before he found
A human skeleton on the ground :
The appalled discoverer, with a sigh.
Looks round, to learn the history.
From those abrupt and perilous rocks
The man had fallen, that place of fear !
At length upon the shepherd's mind
It breaks and all is clear :
He instantly recalled the name,
And who he was, and whence he came,
Remembered, too, the very day
On which the traveller passed this way.
But bear a wonder, for whose sake
This lamentable tale I tell !
A lasting monument of words
This wonder merits well.
The dog which still was hovering nigh,
Repeating the same timid cry.
This dog has been through three months' space
A dweller in that savage place.
Yes, proof was plain that, since the day
When this ill-fated traveller died.
The dog had watched about the spot,
Or by his master's side ;
How nourished here through such long time
He knows who gave that lore sublime,
And gave that strength of feeling, great
Above all human estimate !
Scott's tribute to the faithful animal is entitled " Hel-
vellyn." It should be mentioned that Catchidecam is the
name of a mountain which joins Helvellyn. Here are
Scott's well-known verses : —
I climb'd the dark brow of the mighty Helvellyn.
Lakes and mountains beneath me gleam'd misty and
wide ;
All was ptill, save by fits, when the eagle was yelling,
And starting around me the echoes replied.
On the right, Striding Edge round the Red Tarn was
bending ;
And Catchedicam its left verge was defending,
One huge nameless rock in the front was ascending
When I mark'd the sad spot where the wanderer had died.
Dark-green was that spot 'mid the brown mountain
heather,
Where the Pilgrim of Nature lay stretched in decay.
Like the corpse of an outcast abandoned to weather.
Till the mountain-winds wasted the tenantless clay.
Nor yet quite deserted, though lonely extended,
For, faithful in death, his mute favourite attended,
The much-loved remains of her master defended,
And chased the hill-fox and the raven away.
How long didst tbou think that his silence was f lumber ?
When the wind waved his garment, how ott didst thou
start ?
How ruony long days and long weeks didst thou number,
Ere he faded before thee, the friend of thy heart ?
And oh ! was it meet, that — no requiem read o'er him —
No mother to weep, and no friend to deplore him,
And thou, little guardian, alone stretch'd before him —
L'nhonour'd the Pilgrim from life should depart 1
When a Prince to the fate of the Peasant has yielded,
The tapestry waves dark round the dim-lighted hall ;
With scutcheons of silver the coffin is shielded,
And pages stand mute by the canopied pall :
Through the courts, at deep midnight, the torches are
gleaming ;
In the proudly arch'd chapel the banners are beaming,
Far adown the long aisle sacred music is streaming,
Lamenting a chief of the people should fall.
But meeter for thee, gentle lover of nature.
To lay down thy bead like the meek mountain lamb,
When, wildered, he drops from some cliff huge in stature,
And draws his last sob by the side of his dam.
And more stately thy couch by this desert lake lying,
Thy obsequies sung by the grey plover flying,
With one faithful friend but to witness thy dying,
In the arms of Helvellyn and Catchedicam.
It has exercised the minds of many persons as to how
the dog existed during that long vigil. Mr. James Payn,
the novelist, quotes the opinion of a Borrowdale shepherd
who, dismissing the theory that the animal could have
caught sheep, birds, or foxes, boldly asserted that the
faithful companion lived upon the body of his master.
We totally dissent from this theory, for the evidence of
the dog's doings must have been clear and conclusive at
the time. The clothes of poor Gough would have been
disarranged, and the indications would have left no doubt
in the minds of the persons who found the remains as to
what had happened. But there is no record of the body
having presented an unusual appearance, and it is very
December >
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
563
well known that, had that been the case, it would have
afforded gossip for the guides and shepherds for years.
Besides, it is possible that the dog may have occasionally
made his way into Grizedale or Patterdale, and found
some morsels of food near the doors of the cottagers'
dwellings.
It has lately been announced that Miss Frances Power
Cobb and the Rev. H. D. Rawnsley, Vicar of Crosth-
waite, Cumberland, have jointly borne the cost of a monu-
ment to Gough's memory. It will occupy an appropriate
position on Helvellyn. The remains of the young man
repose in the place of interment connected with the
Friends' Meeting- House at Tirrel, Westmoreland.
The other fatal occurrence to which we have alluded
took place in November, 1858, when a man named Robert
Dixon was killed whilst engaged in the somewhat
perilous sport of hunting mountain foxes. It is probable
that during the excitement of the chase he had missed his
footing and rolled down the precipice. An iron cross
which stands near the east end of Striding Edge indicates
the place where he fell.
Hettlftocll, a
manner.
IIP to fifty years ago, says Mr. \V. Camidge,
a local antiquary, York always had liv-
ing in it men and women of singular
character and habits, but of inoffensive
They lived peculiar lives, and did peculiar
things, but were perfectly harmless. One of these
" characters " lived for many years at Clementhorpe.
He conceived the idea that eating was an acquired and a
pernicious habit, which might be dispensed with, if any-
body had the fortitude to carry out his purpose. To
prove that his theory was correct he beught very valuable
animals, weaned them by degrees, and when weakness
overtook them he hung them in strips of cotton ; but he
no sooner got them to live without food, than, much to
his annoyance and contrary to his expectations, they
died. This peculiar character, known by the name of
Lumley Kettlewell, was descended from a very respect-
able family. His father was an opulent farmer and wool
stapler, residing at Bolton Percy, and was a tenant of
Sir William Milner, Bart. Lumley was born in 1751,
receiving an education equal to his position in life, and
ultimately was apprenticed to Mr. Hotham, an eminent
haberdasher in the parish of St. Crux, whom he served
for eight years, which was then the usual term. He was
admitted to the freedom of the city by virtue of his servi-
tude, and became a member of the Merchants' Company,
to the freedom of which he was also admitted by virtue of
hi> eight years of apprenticeship. Ultimately he com-
menced business with a capital of £1,000 in High Or.se-
gate, his shop being distinguished by its elegant ap-
pearance, and a very magnificent fleece exhibited
outside ; but he never settled to the drudgery of
business, and soon disposed of his establishment
and stock, giving himself up to field pursuits.
When about thirty years of age, he imbibed his
peculiar notions about eating, and soon starved his valu-
able hunter to death. He then purchased another horse
of equal or greater value, only to practise upon it the
same cruelty, and all his life he was ever spending large
sums on the best race horses, hunters, asses, and sporting
dogs he could buy, and hungering them to death.
This cruelty became so notorious that occasionally the
people marked their sense of indignation by severe chas-
tisements. Although he was well to do, he lived on the
cheapest and coarsest food he could get. Denying himself
the luxury of a fire, he would sit by anybody's fireside to
get a little warmth in the winter. He died very sud-
denly (after an illness of four months produced by a fall)
on the 10th January, 1820. L. G. M., York.
The end of 1819, says an old number of the Wonderful
Magazine, closed the singular life of Lumley Kettlewell,
of Clementhorpe, near York. He died of wretched, volun-
tary privation, poverty, cold, filth, and personal neglect,
in obscure lodgings in Pavement (whither he had removed
from his own house a little while before) ; he was about
seventy years of age. His fortune, manners, and educa-
tion had made him a gentleman ; but, from some unac-
countable bias in the middle of life, lie renounced the
world, its comforts, pleasures, and honours, for the life of
a hermit. His dress was mean, squalid, tattered, and
composed of the most opposite and incongruous garments;
sometimes a fur cap with a ball-room coat (bought at an
old clsthes shop) and hussar boots; at another time a
high-crowned London hat, with a coat or jacket of oilskin,
finished off with the torn remains of black silk stockings.
Early in life he shone in the sports of the field, and he
kept blood horses and game dogs to the last ; but the
former he invariably starved to death, or put such rough,
crude, and strange provender before them that they gradu-
ally declined into so low a condition that the ensuing
winter never failed to terminate their career. Their
places were as regularly supplied by a fresh stud. The
dogs also were in such a plight that they were scarcely
able to go about in search of food in the shambles or on
the dunghills. A fox was usually one of his inmates, and
he had Muscovy ducks, and a brown Maltese ass of an
uncommon size, which shared the fate of his horses,
dying for want of proper food and warmth. All these
animals inhabited the same house with himself,
and they were his . only companions there ; for no
mortal, i.c., no human being, was allowed to enter that
mysterious mansion. The front door was strongly
barricaded within, and he always entered by the garden,
564
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
which communicated with Clementhorpe fields, and
thence climbed up by a ladder into a small aperture that
had once been a window. He did not sleep in a bed. but
in a potter's crate, tilled with hay, into which he crept
about three or four o'clock in the morning, and came out
again about noon the following day. His money used to be
laid about in his window seats and on his tables, and, from
the grease which had been contracted by transient lodg-
ment in his breeches pockets, the bank notes were once or
twice devoured by rats. His own aliment was most
strange and uninviting ; vinegar and water his beverage.
Cocks' heads, with their wattles and combs, baked on a
pudding of bran and treacle, formed his most dainty dish.
NIGEL, York.
***
"Lumley Kettlewell was the son of Mr. Richard Kettle-
well, an opulent farmer, of Bolton Percy, and was born in
1751. He used to carry about with him a large sponge,
and on long walks he would now and then dip it in water
and soak the top of his head with it, saying it refreshed
him more than food or drink. He admitted no visitor
whatever at his own house, but sometimes went himself to
see any person of whose genius or eccentricity he had con-
ceived an interesting opinion : and he liked, on these
visits, to be treated with a cup of tea or coffee, and the
use of books, with a pen and ink. He then sat down close
to the fire, rested his elbow on his knee, and, almost in
a double posture, would read or make extracts of passages
peculiarly striking to him, which occupation he would have
continued till morning if allowed. His favourite subjects
were the pedigrees of blood-horses, chemistry, and natural
history." The above is an extract from " Yorkshire Anec-
dotes," by the Rev. R. V. Taylor, who gives the following
references : — Gentleman's and the Monthly Magazine for
October, 1820; the Annual Biography and Obituary for
1822, p. 478 ; also a " Sketch of the Life and Eccentric! ties
of the late Mr. Lumley Kettlewell, of York," by Edw.
Peck, York, 1821, in two parts, (A pages, with engravings
of himself and his house, back and front, &c.
C. H. STKPHENSON, Southport.
»all.
[HE fair domain of Wynyard, situated a few
miles from Stockton-on-Tees, has had its
history traced back to the time of Edward I.,
when it was owned by Sir Hugh Capel, Knight. In H14-
it was the property of Thomas Langton, of Redmarshall,
once the "Chamberlain and Chief Officer, with Henry
Percy, Earl of Northumberland." At the death of
Thomas Langton, the estate passed to his niece Sibilla,
who married Sir Roger Conyers, and whose grand-
daughter, Sibilla, married Ralph Claxton. The grandson
of this last couple was William Claxton. who is described
as the owner of " Winyarde" in the heraldic visitation of
Durham, and who was the friend of Stowe and Camden.
Hia estates passed to his daughters, who married Sir
William Blakiston and William Jennison ; but in 1623
the manors of Fulthorpe, Wynyard, and Thorp Thewles
were advertised for sale by the co-heirs of William Clax-
ton. The Davisons, of Blakiston, became the purchasers..
From John Davison the estate passed to Thomas Rudd
WYNYARD HALL: NORTH FRONT.
December!
1890. /
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
565
of Durham, and from the latter to John Tempest, M.P.
for Durham, who died in 1766. At the death of John
Tempest's eon, who was also member for the Cathe-
dral City, the estate came to his nephew, Sir H.
Vane-Tempest, and so to his daughter Frances Anne
Vane-Tempest, who married Lord Londonderry.
Wyuyard was described more than two centuries ago as
"fruitful! of soile and pleasant of situation, and so
beautified and adorned with woods and groves as noe
land in that part of the country is comparable unto
thtm." Tiiat old description retains its truth. The
charms of art are added to those of nature, and successive
generations of bwners have done much to improve what
was excellent. Avenues have been formed, terraces con-
structed, gardens made almost perfect. A noble hall of
Grecian design was commenced in 1821 and completed in
1841. Being soon afterwards destroyed by fire, it was
immediately re-constructed. Large reception rooms, a
splendid dining-room, a statue gallery, a magnificent con-
servatory— these are some of the apartments stored with
the collections of art of many generations, which
abound with signs of the wealth, power, and culture of
the Londonderry family. An obelisk in the grounds
tells the story of the visit of the Duke of Wellington, in
1827, to his old companion-in-arms, Charles, Marquis of
Londonderry. Many Royal personages have also visited
Wynyard, the latest being the Prince and Princess cf
Wales during the last week in October of the present
year.
Our views of Wynyard are taken from photographs by
Mr. W. Baker, of Stockton-on-Tees.
HE picturesque ruin of Jedburgh Abbey*
occupies a fine situation on the west bank of
the river Jed. David I., King of Scotland,
founded the abbey for canons regular, who
were brought from the abbey St. Quintins, at Bevais, in
France. The architecture of the building is of a refined
type, and the workmanship is of superior quality. In
1296, Robert, prior of Jedburgh, swore an oath of fealty
to King Edward I., who, at that time, was suspicious
of the intentions of John, King of Scotland, and had
marched northward to punish his rebellious vassal. Rox-
burghshire, in the early centuries, formed part of North-
umberland, and thus became the scene of many a sudden
excursion and many a sanguinary fight. These events
had a disastrous effect on the welfare of Jedburgh Abbey,
so much so that its funds and the condition of the place
were inadequate to the maintenance of the canons.
Edward I., notwithstanding his warlike engagements,
remembered the sad state of the inmates of the abbey,
and sent several of them to other houses of the same
order in England, there to remain until their own horns
was restored. In 1523 the Earl of Surrey marched to
Jedburgh to punish the inhabitants for some maraud-
ing excursions into England. Surrey assaulted the place,
and an obstinate fight ensued. Incensed by the resist-
ance, he burnt the town and demolished th* abbey. The
* A view of this famous abbey, reproduced from a painting by
fieorue Arnald, A.R.A., in Sir Walter Scott's "Border Antiqui-
ties," forms the frontispiece to the present volume.
WYNYARD HALL: SOUTH FRONT.
566
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
/ Deceirber
X 1890.
abbacy was ultimately formed into a temporal lordship in
favour of Sir Andrew Ker, of Ferneherst (ancestor of
the Marquis of Lothian), who was raised to the peerage
by the tills of Lord Jedburgh, his patent being dated
February 2, 1622. During the troublous times antecedent
to the destruction of the abbey, Jedburgh lost all its
ancient records — those existing extending only to 1619.
The most beautiful part of the remains is a Norman door,
which gave access to the south side from the cloisters.
The nave has been restored, and serves the purposes of a
parish church.
HE death of Mr. John Hancock, which took
place in Newcastle, at the advanced age of 82
years, on the llth of October, 1890, ended
a life that was almost wholly devoted,
earnestly and lovingly, to the study of natural history.
Mr. Hancock was, especially, an ornithologist, and in
that branch of science achieved a success that has pro-
bably never been equalled. His love of natural history
was inherited from his father, and was shared by other
members of the family, notably by his brother Albany,
who died in October, 1873, at the age of 62 years.
In a memoir of Albany Hancock, published in the
volume for 1877 of the Natural History Transactions of
Northumberland and Durham, Dr. Embleton, a co-worker
with Albany Hancock and his friend Joshua Alder, gave
some interesting information respecting the Hancock
family. Present knowledge of the family extends only to
the time of the grandfather of John and Albany, about
the middle of last century. The grandmother, whose
maiden name was Baker, was by the maternal side
a Henzell, one of the family who, with the Tyzacks and
the Tytteries, had brought to the Tyna and Wear, and
also to Staffordshire, towards the end of the 16th cen-
tury, the important art of glassmaking.
Thomas Hancock, the grandfather, was a saddler and
ironmonger, at the north end of the Tyne Bridge, before
the year 1771. He had two sons, John and Henry. John,
the elder (the father of John and Albany), joined his
father in business. But his inclinations were rather scien-
tific than practical. When business was slack, he was in
the habit of making, with two or three like-minded com-
panions, trips on foot into various parts of the Northern
Counties, spending the day in searching for plants, and
insects, and especially shells. What they gathered, Han-
cock set in order and arranged, and in a few years he had
amassed a considerable collection, in which sea-shells pre-
dominated. Mr. Hancock died at the comparatively
early age of 43, in Sept., 1812, leaving a widow and six
children, the eldest being eight years of age. The eldest
on was Thomas ; Albany was the second son and third
child ; and John was the third son. Albany, John, and a
daughter, Mary, afterwards embraced the study of dif-
ferent branches of natural history ; but the exigencies of
business compelled Thomas to relinquish his inclination
for geology. Thomas and John entered the business at the
Bridge End, and for several years it was carried on under
the style of T. and J. Hancock.
To the departments ot entomology and ornithology
John Hancock early devoted his attention. In conjunc-
tion with his brother Albany, and with his friends W. 0.
Hewitson, George Wailes, R. B. Bowman, John Thorn-
hill, Joshua Alder, and others, he very carefully explored
the natural history of the district. To this band of
students Newcastle owes much of the celebrity which it
has attained in natural history circles, and to its
influence was due in a great measure the establishment of
Jokn.'Hancoclf.
the Natural History Society. About the year 1826, Mr.
Hancock turned his attention to the art of taxidermy,
principally owing to his friendship with Mr. R. R. Win-
gate, a celebrated bird-stuffer in Newcastle. The results
of Mr. Hancock's life-work in this direction now adorn
the shelves of the Museum of the Natural History Society
at Barras Bridge, Newcastle, where they form the
finest collection of British birds in the kingdom. When
the British Association met in Newcastle in 1889, the
President, Professor Flower, in his opening address,
said :— "You are fortunate in possessing in Newcastle
an artist who, by a proper application of taxidermy,
can show that an animal may be converted into a
real life-like representation of the original, perfect
in form, proportions, and attitude, and almost, if not
quite, as valuable for conveying information as the living
189J.
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
567
creature itself." Mr. R. Bowdler Sharp, in a paper pub-
lished in the English Illustrated Magazine on ornithology
at South Kensington, said that to Mr. Hancock was due
the credit of having broken away from the time-honoured
tradition in the mode of mounting animals in this
country — that he taught how to combine scientific
accuracy with artistic feeling, and that Mr. Han-
cock's name was a password throughout England
wherever taxidermy was mentioned. In 1851, at the
Great Exhibition in London, Mr. Hancock exhibited
a series of groups illustrative of falconry. They are now
in the Museum in Newcastle and form part of the
collection presented to the Natural History Society. Of
these groups, the late Rev. T. W. Robertson, of Brighton,
thus spoke in one of his lectures : — " I have visited the
finest museums in Europe, and spent many a long day in
the woods, in watching the habits of birds, hidden and
unseen by them ; but I never saw the reproduction of life
till I saw these. They were vitalised by the feeling not
of the mere bird-stuffer, but of the poet, who had
sympathised with nature, felt the life of birds as some-
thing kindred with his own ; and, inspired with this
sympathy, and labouring to utter it, had thus recreate;!
ife, as it were, within the very grasp of death."
Mr. Hancock was one of the closest and most careful
observers of bird life in this country, and his opinions
were held in the highest esteem by all ornithologists. He
gave close attention to the changes of plumage in the
falcons, and also to the discrimination between the Green-
land and Iceland falcons — a question which agitated the
minds of ornithologists here and on the Continent. In a
paper which he read at the meeting of the British Associa-
tion in 1838, as well as in a paper published in 1854, in
the "Annals of Natural History," this question was
first settled by him, and from his observations he
was enabled to lay down a general law regarding
the changes of plumage in falcons. His views are
now accepted by all ornithologists. Mr. Hancock was
not a prolific writer, his communications having
been principally short papers in the "Natural History
Transactions," and in the "Transactions of the Tyne-
side Naturalists' Field Club." In 1853, he published
a series of lithographic plates drawn on scorn: by
himself, illustrating the groups of birds shown by him
at the Great Exhibition in 1851. In 1874, he printed
in the " Natural History Transactions " a catalogue of
the birds of Northumberland and Durham, illustrated by
plates in photogravure from his own drawings. This
catalogue, republished in an independent form, is now the
great authority on the subject. In his earlier days John
Hancock and his brother Albany contemplated issuing
a work on British birds, with plates, in quarto ; but this
was never carried out, although some of the drawings
bad been prepared.
In the various institutions of Newcastle connected with
science Mr. Hancock took much interest. He was a
member of the Literary and Philosophical Society, and
for some years was a member of the committee. He was
one of the original members of the Tyneside Naturalists'
Field Club. The interest he took in the Natural History
Society, of which he was a vice-president, was evinced by
the energy and enthusiasm he devoted to the acquisition
of the new museum, and by his liberality in presenting to
it his unique collections. The old museum in Westgate
Street had for a long time been found to be too
small and cramped for the collections of the Natural
History Society, and the project of a more suitable
building in another locality originated with Mr.
Hancock. Through his personal influence, aud the
generosity of his personal friends, Lord and Lady
Armstrong, the late Colonel Joicey, the late Mr.
Edward Joicey, Sir Isaac Lowthian Bell, and many
others, the new museum, Barras Bridge, was begun
in 1880. In the following year he presented his
entire collection of British birds to the institution.
In August, 1884, the new museum was opened by the
Prince of Wales in the presence of a brilliant company,
and Mr. Hancock received the congratulations of his
friends on the success of his efforts. Of the Polytechnic
Exhibitions held in 1840 and 1848 Mr. Hancock was a
zealous promoter. He took an active part in the arrange-
ments for the British Association meeting in Newcastle
in 1863, and was an earnest promotsr of the fine exhibition
of works of art held in the Central Exchange Art Gallery
at that time.
Mr. Hancock was not identified with any municipal
concerns, with one exception. In the year 1868, there
was a proposal to beautify the Town Moor and Castle
Leazes, and a plan was prepared by Mr. Hancock. The
advocacy of the scheme was left in the hands of thn late
Mr. Lockey Harle, who, at a special meeting of the Town
Council on November 13, 1868, explained its details.
Mr. Hancock proposed to remove the walls of the Bull
Park (now the Bull Park Recreation Ground), laying out
50 acres as an ornamental pleasure ground. Eighty acres
of the Town Moor to the east of the North Road was to
have been converted into a plantation. Mr. Hancock
also proposed a plantation on each side of the North
Road, a hundred feet wide. There were also intended
to be plantations on the road towards Kenton. The drive
contemplated by Mr. Hancock was to be about six miles
long. Mr. Harle declared that it would b», when all the
plantations were fully grown, one of the most beautiful
drives in England, as it undoubtedly would have been if
the authorities had been equal to the occasion. The
Leazes were also to have been treated in a similar tasteful
manner. The Council, however, rejected the whole
scheme, though it cordially thanked Mr. Hancock for his
gratuitous preparation of the plans.
From his old friend Mr. W. C. Hewitson, author of
" The Eggs of British Birds," &c., Mr. Hancock inherited
a beautiful estate in Surrey. "Finding his residence in
568
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f December
1 1;90.
Hampstead inconvenient," says Mr. Welford, "Mr.
Hewitson purchased, in 1848, a portion of Oatlauds Park,
Surrey, at one time a seat of the Duke of York. Upon
one of the most commanding sites in this fine property,
having a view up the Thames Valley as far as Vi indsor
Castle, an old Newcastle friend, Mr. John Dobson, the
later life, is copied from a photograph by Mr. John
Worsnop, Bridge Street, Rothbury.
JOHN" HANCOCK.
( Frum a Photograph btf Mr. John WursiLop, Bride Street,
llotbbnry.)
architect, designed for him a charming house, while the
grounds surrounding it, sloping to Broadwater, were laid
out with admirable taste by himself and his still older
friend. Mr. John Hancock. In this delightful retreat
Mr. Hewitson lived and laboured for thirty years, and
there he died, on the 28th May, 1878, aged 72 years."
And it was to this same delightful retreat that Mr.
Hancock used occasionally to retire in the later years
of his life.
The great naturalist had considerable repugnance
to all forms of portraiture, especially photography.
Many efforts were made by Mr. H. H. Emmerson to in-
duce him to sit for his portrait, always without avail,
though the artist did succeed in painting a picture (not a
portrait), representing Mr. Hancock at work on a group
of birds. Mr. Joseph W. Swan, the eminent electrician,
has in his possession, however, the negative of a photo-
graph which was taken of Mr. Hancock in middle life.
It is from this photograph that one of our sketches a
reproduced. The other portrait, that of Mr. Hancock in
"4, St. Mary's Terrace, 24th inst., Albany Hancock."
This brief and simple announcement appeared in the
Newcastle Daily Chronicle on the 25th October, 1873, and
recorded the death of one of the most eminent naturalists
in the kingdom, whose fame, in his own particular branch
of natural history at least, was more than European.
After finishing his education, at the age of nineteen,
Albany was indentured to Mr. Thomas Clater, Eolicitor,
Newcastle, and at the end of his clerkship he pursued his
studies in London, being afterwards duly admitted as an
attorney. On returning to Newcastle in 1830, he opened
an office over the shop of his friend Joshua Alder, in the
Side. There for two years he waited for clients ; but the
charms of natural history proved too strong for him, and
he closed his office and left the legal profession for ever.
Between the years 1835 and 1840, Albany devoted
much attention to modelling in clay and plaster, and suc-
ceeded in turning out one or two very fair busts. He also
designed and painted flowers, fruit, and fish, and culti-
w '
lj^5%te\l
>any Tiancock
vated and improved his natural faculties and tastes for
the fine arts, which afterwards proved of much service
to him in his natural history work.
From 1842 to 1864, Albany Hancock, assisted by his
friend Alder, was engaged in the study of conchology,
and in the discovery of various new genera and species of
uudibranchiate molluscaof the Northumberland Coast and
other parts of the British Isles, and in the delineation
and description of their external characters. Up to 1844,
they had discovered and described two new genera and
thirty-one new species, though in the time of Linnaeus
only six apecies were known. In 1843, Joshua Alder
December 1
189}. J
NORIH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
569
and Albany Hancock were the joint authors of a paper,
published in the " Annals of Natural History,"
entitled " Observations on the Development of the Nudi-
branchiate Molluscs, with Remarks on their Structure."
About the time of the appearance of this article, a change
occurred in the direction of Aibany'i thoughts and
studies, which had great influence on his future scientific
career, and conduced to make him so distinguished an
anatomist in malacology that he was afterwards justly re-
garded as one of the highest authorities in this department
of science. It will be interesting, to naturalists especially,
t6 state the cause of this change. He had become con-
vinced that, valuable for classification as are the external
characters and the habits of animals, when carefully
observed, it is absolutely necessary to investigate and
understand their internal structure also, in order to form
a correct idea of their physiology, and of their proper
arrangement according to their natural affinities.
During the period between 1845 to 1855, there appeared
the justly celebrated " Monograph of the British Nudi-
branchiate Mollusca. with Figures of the Species, by
Joshua Aldei and Albany Hancock." This splendid work
was published by the Ray Society, aud soon gained for its
authors a wide reputation. The description of external
characters and the classification were the joint work of
the two authors; but most of the drawings of the species,
and the whole of those of the anatomy, were by Hancock
alone. The beauty of the drawings and the delicacy of
their colouring it would be difficult to surpass, and the
anatomical details are represented with perfect fidelity
to nature.
Albany Hancock was one of the founders of the Tyne-
side Naturalists' Field Club (instituted in 1846), and he
contributed several important papers to the "Tran-
sactions." A valuable essay from his pen appeared
in the " Philosophical Transactions " in 1858, under
the title of "The Organisation of the Brachiopoda,"
which proved that its author was an enlightened
naturalist, a philosophical anatomist, and an accom-
plished artist. In the same year that this great
essay appeared, the Royal Society, in appreciation
of the high value of his works, granted him its
gold medal, an honour conferred upon very few. In
1863, Mr. Hancock, with the able assistance of Mr.
Alder, classified and described, in the "Transactions of
the Zoological Society," a collection of Indian Nudi-
branchiata, sent by Mr. Walter Elliott. With Mr.
Howse (now curator of the Natural History Museum iu
Newcastle), he contributed valuable papers on the "Fossil
Remains of Marlslate of Durham" ; and with the late Mr.
Thomas Athey various descriptions of the " Fossil Fauna
of the Northumberland Coal Field."
Mr. Alder, Albany's old friend, had been engaged for
years in the preparation of an "Illustrated Catalogue of
*?^5-*^
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Jol|tt't|aTicoclfs'i?es(dence in Surrey.
570
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{December
1890.
the British Tunica ta," to be published by the British
Museum ; and it was almost ready for publication when
he received intimation that funds were no longer at the
disposal of the trustees. In this emergency, Mr. Alder
communicated with Mr. Hancock, asking for his assist-
ance in the completion of the work, which he suggested
should be more thorough and comprehensive than was at
first contemplated. Mr. Hancock at once laid aside other
duties, and undertook the onerous task. The Royal
Society was consulted and expressed its willingness to
publish the work in question ; but the death of Mr. Alder
in 1867 deprived his coadjutor of his valuable assist-
ance. Up to the autumn of 1873, Mr. Hancock had
completed a little over two-thirds of the book on the
Tunicata, when failing health overtook him, and he was
compelled to relinquish his task when he was within two
years of its conclusion. During his illness, he received
great attention from Sir William Armstrong (now Lord
Armstrong), who induced him to stay with him during a
portion of the summer at his beautiful seat at Cragside.
Other friends rallied round him and showed him every
kindness, but all was in vain. Dropsical symptoms,
added to his increasing debility, proved fatal, and on the
24th of October, 1873, he quietly breathed his last at his
own residence.
We have been greatly indebted for the foregoing infor-
mation to a very interesting paper on Albany Hancock,
written by his life-long friend. Dr. Embleton, in the
" Transactions of the Natural History Society."
THE CHESTERS.
A brief reference to Walwick Chesters, otherwise the
Chesters, situated on the line of the Roman Wall, a few
miles north of Hexham. the residence of the late John
Clayton, appears on page 422 ante, while a view of the
house will be found on page 424. The great attraction of
the place is the invaluable collection of Roman antiquities
made by the late proprietor, under whose direction
nearly the whole of the station, on the site of which it
stands, has been excavated.
Cilurnum — so the station was named — is supposed to
have been one of the fortresses reared by the legions
under the command of Julius Agricola, about the year
81 A.D. It certainly had an existence anterior to and in-
dependent of the Wall of Hadrian ; for, whilst the
stations of Procolitia, Borcovicus, and ^sica depend on
that wall for their northern rampart, the station of
Cilurnum is complete in itself, and has had communica-
tion? independent of the military way which accompanied
the wall. In the time of Horsley, whose " Britannia
Romana" was published in 1732, "there were visible
remains of a military way which seemed to have come
from Watling Street, south of Risingham, to the station
of Cilurnum, or the bridge beside it." " And from this
station," says Horsley, "a military way has gone directly
to Caervorran, which is still visible for the greater part
of the way." Agricola secured the possession of the
valley of the North Tyne by planting in its gorge the
fortress of Cilurnum, and amongst other communications
with it threw a bridge across the river, suitable, ap-
parently, for the march of foot soldiers only. Of this
bridge a single pier is now the only remnant, the piers
corresponding with it having either been washed away or
absorbed in the stonework of those of a larger bridge
subsequently built by Hadrian in connection with the
wall. The total area of the camp at Cilurnum is about
six acres ; and during the excavations a great number of
most interesting inscribed stones, coins, fragments of
Samian ware, implements of various sorts, &c., have been
found ; a complete catalogue of them would fill a good-
sized volume. The British name of the place, which the
Romans converted into Cilurnum, was probably Coiil-ur,
which means "the beautiful wood." The image of an
unknown goddess, Coventina, was some years ago dug
up in the grounds, and this singular name has given exer-
cise to the ingenuity of etymologists.
The Chesters estate, which formerly belonged to the
Erringtons, was sold by Mr. William Errington, of High
Warden, barrister at-law, seventy or eighty years ago, to
the Askew family, by whom it was resold, after a very
short occupation, to Nathaniel Clayton, father of the late
John Clayton. The mansion was built about the middle
of last century by John Errington, who died in 1783.
AWE.
A TYNESIDE TEMPERANCE ADVOCATE.
The roll of honour which included such well-knowu
temperance reformers as George Charlton, George Dodds,
James Rewcastle, Jacob Weir, and others, must also in-
clude the name of William PeeL, Perhaps he may not
have possessed the advantages of these worthy men or
have achieved so much distinction, but without doubt he
was every bit as earnest as they were, and probably de-
voted as much time and energy to the cause. Born at
Ballast Hills, Newcastle, on June 26, 1816, in humble
circumstances, he became
connected with the Primi-
tive Methodist Society in
that locality when he was
about the age of fourteen.
As a teacher in the Sun-
day School, it was his
duty to address the
children on simple topics.
He displayed a certain
fluency of language, and
not a little grasp of the
theme he selected for the
WILLIAM PEEL. subject of discourse.
December 1
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
571
Hence he was in frequent request, not only when other
teachers failed to put in an appearance, but also as
a helper for local preachers. Young Peel's first ser-
mon was preached at the age of sixteen in a colliery
school-room at South Shields. The place was so crowded
that he could only find entrance through the window
at the back. This was the commencement of bis
career as a local preacher, extending over a Deriod of more
than half a century. At the close of his philanthropic
career he was rewarded with the knowledge that the good
seeds sown by himself and other reformers had taken
root and flourished. Temperance societies were formed
with the best results in almost every village it had been
his lot to visit. William Peel closed his earthly career
on April 21, 1890. C.
BATH HOUSE, NEWCASTLE.
Two old cottages, of no consequence in themselves,
but having a certain interest from their associations,
were lately demolished in Westgate, Newcastle. The
cottage shown in the accompanying sketch was a sort of
lodge leading up to Bath House, which was built on the
site of the first public baths in the town. Bath House
HM"'|,V~ •£ iSIfffl*'
ittn +*1 .,. , -^? 'U
— • w^-,r^
'::^' I
was the residence of Alderman Dunn, a former Mayor
of Newcastle, and was purchased by Mr. Thomas Herd-
man from the representatives of the son of Alderman
Dunn. All the surroundings have undergone marked
change. Much of the ground that was formerly laid
out as pleasure gardens has been covered with small
workshops and warehouses. On referring to Mackenzie's
"History of Newcastle," we find that the baths were
built by Dr. Hall, an eminent medical practitioner, and
Messrs. Henry Gibson and R. Bryan Abbs, surgeons.
Dr. Hall was not only distinguished in his profession,
but was also extensively engaged in commercial specula-
tions. The baths were erected under the direction of
Mr. Craneson, architect, and were opened to the public
on May 1, 1781. " Considerable medical skill," it is
recorded in the "Picture of Newcastle," "has been
employed here in the application of the gaseous fluids ;
and we imagine we begin to see the comfort and
elegance of the Roman age revived in Britain, in the
use of vapour, hot, and tepid baths, the swimming basin,
and the cold enclosed baths, at this place." The water
that supplied the baths was cut off in sinking a pit-shaft at
Hemsley Main ; and no other supply was obtained. Dr.
Hall became sole proprietor of the baths and the adjoin-
ing premises, and at his death they were purchased by
Dr. Kentish. On that gentleman leaving Newcastle,
they were sold to Mr. Malin Sorsbie, at whose death
they came into the possession of Mr. G. T. Dunn.
XAVIER, Newcastle.
A GENEROUS SPOUSE.
Jim and Geordy were talking about the good qualities
of their respectivB wives. "Begox," said Geordy, "but
wor Meg's a grand un. She's that kind, man, that if she
only had half a loaf she'd give somebody else t'uthor
half !"
PILOTS AND CARPENTERS.
A South Shields pilot, whose sweetheart was rather
given to flirting, one day gave vent to his feelings as
follows : — "Fareweell, Annie. Nivvor ne mair gan wi'
them clarty carpenter bodies. Wey, they can't wark for
their pence a day, an" uz men warks for wor punds a
day ! "
RESPECT FOR THE DEAD.
In a house not far from the Ouseburn Police Station a
number of women were discussing the life of the late
Bridget McKinley, when the conversation turned upon
what route the funeral would take. One exclaimed :
"Noo, aa knaa Biddy as weel as onybody, and if they
divvent bring her doon past the pottery she will, aa knaa,
be aafully vexed !"
A TEST OF MATRIMONY.
At a village in Durham, recently, two miners were
heard in hot dispute on the knotty point whether a certain
companion of theirs was married to the female who had
the honour of sharing his bed and board. The following
were the closing exchanges of the colloquy: — "Wey,
Jack, man, aa tell thoo they're not married. Aa knaa
nicely." " But they are, aa can tell thoo for a sartinty.
Wey, man, didn't aa see him boy a glass at her ? Dis
thoo think he'd de that if she warn't married t "
THE INSTINCT OF PIGEONS.
The other day a pitman got into a railway carriage with
a small basket. After sitting awhile, he observed to
another pitman : — " Aa've some o" the best homing
pigeons in the warld heor. Man, when aa first got the
572
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
r December
I 1890.
breed frae London, some on "em, when they were let oot
in Newcassel, flew straight hyem sooth agyen !" "That's
nowt," said the other pitman ; " aa yence got some
pigeons' eggs frae London, and as syun as they wor
hatched, the young uns flew reet off te thor muthors ! "
MARRIAGE TROUSSEAUX.
A pitman was seen outside a well-known baby-linen
shop in Newcastle. After awhile he made bold to
enter. Said he to the young lady in the shop, "Let's
hev a luik at yor marriage troosors." The young lady
blushed, and ran for the principal. " What do you
want ''"interrogated the principal, on coming up to the
customer. " Aa want te see yor marriage troosois."
"Marriage trousers! We don't sell such things here,
sir." "Yes, ye de," persisted the pitman, "it says se in
the windor." And then he pointed to a placard bearing
the legend—" Marriage trousseaux." Tableau !
Mr. John Hancock, the eminent naturalist, died at his
residence in St. Mary's Terrace, Newcastle, on the llth
of October. (See p. 566.)
On the 13th of October, Mr. Thomas Freear, senior
Tiartner in the firm of Freear and Dix, shipowners and
brokers, Sunderland, died at his residence in that town,
at the age of 70.
Mr. Robert Ambrose Morritt. owner of Rokeby, im-
mortalised by Sir Walter Scott, died at Rokeby Park on
the 14th of October, aged 74 years.
The death was announced on the 15th of October, of
Mr. Isaac Crowther, newsagent, who was formerly
identified in a prominent manner with the Chartist
movement in Newcastle.
On the 17th of October, Mr. Mervyn L. Hawkes, a
young journalist, died at the residence of his father (Mr.
S. M. Hawkes, formerly of Marsdeu Rock), at Bruges,
Belgium. Commencing journalistic work, in his boyhood,
as a contributor to the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, the
deceased was. in the course of a few years, entrusted with
the editorial charge of a paper at Sunderland, and was
subsequently connected with the staff of the Echo in
London. Mr. Hawkes was twice or thrice a candidate
for a seat in Parliament, and was the author of a novel
entitled "The Primrose Dame." The deceased gentle-
man was only 28 years of age.
The Newcastle Weekly Chronicle of October 18, an-
nounced the death, as having recently taken place, of Mr.
Michael O'Hanlon, a frequent contributor to the columns
of that paper.
On the 20th of October, Mr. William Brockie, a vener-
able and esteemed journalist and author, died at his
residence in Olive Street, Sunderland. (See page 38.)
On the 22nd of October, Mr. F. Charlton Huntley, a
gentleman well known in shipping circles, and for some
years Consul of the Norwegian, Swedish, and Italian
Governments, died at Sunderland, at the age of 66 years.
Mr. Thompson Richardson, solicitor, died at Barnard
Castle, on the 25th of October, at the advanced age of 86.
In December, 1839, he was appointed magistrates' clerk
of the south-west division of Darlington Ward, which
he held till January, 1888, when he resigned through
ill-health.
On the 27th of October, the Rev. Evan Hughes, Vicur
of North Sunderland, died in London at the residence of
bia sister, Mrs. Clifford, to whom he was on a visit.
On the 28th of October, at the advanced age of 101 years,
Mary Wild, a maiden lady, died at Blakelaw, on the
Ponteland Road, about three miles from Newcastle.
On the 29th of October, as the result of having been acci-
dentally run over by a horse and cart, Mr. Robert Walters,
ofEldon Square, died in the Newcastle Infirmary. The
deceased gentleman, who had reached the advanced age
of 88 years, belonged to an old local family, being the
youngest son of the late Mr. Robert Walters, of the firm
of Clayton and Walters, solicitors. Between thirty and
forty years ago, he had a seat in the Town Council as one of
the representatives of East All Saints' Ward. Besides other
bequests, the deceased gentleman left £500 each to the
Newcastle Infirmary, the Newcastle Dispensary, and the
Newcastle Young Men's Christian Association.
Miss Anne Clayton, daughter of the late Mr. Nathaniel
Clayton, and sister of the late Mr. John Clayton, so long
Town Clerk of Newcastle, died at The Chesters, North
Tyne, on the 30th of October. The deceased lady, who
was the last survivor of a family of eleven members, con-
sisting of six sons and five daughters, was in the 94th year
of her age.
On the same day, Dr. James Smith, one of the oldest
members of the medical profession in Sunderland, died at
his residence, The Grove, Bishopwearmouth, at the age
of 72.
On the 31st of October, Mr. Robert Pybus, High-Bailiff
of the County Courts of Northumberland, died at his
residence in Wentworth Place, Newcastle. He was a
native of Langton-upon-Swale, and his connection with
this district began in 1847, when, on the establisment of
the County Courts, under the Act of 1846, he was ap-
pointed to the office which he continued to hold till his
death. The deceased gentleman was in the 79th year of
his age.
On the 4th of November, suddenly, Mr. John Thompson,
a well-known twmper-
ance advocate and ad-
vanced politician, died
in Newcastle. For
many years, the de-
ceased was a valued and
trusted servant of the
Post Office ; but he re-
tired on a pension
about eight years ago,
and devoted a great
deal of bis spare time
to the advancement of
the cause of teetotal-
isni. Mr. Thompson,
who was a native of
the Wooler district,
was in the 73rd year of his age.
On the same day, the Hon. Mrs. Charles Grey died at
St. James's Palace, London. She was an extra woman of
the bedchamber to the Queen ; and her late husband,
Major-General the Hon. Charles Grey, brother of the
present Earl Grey, was for many years private secretary to
her Majesty. The deceased lady was 76 years of age,
and was the mother of Mr. Albert Grey, formerly member
MR. J01IX THOMPSON.
Decrmber 1
1890 J
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
573
for South Northumberland. The body was removed to
Howick for interment.
Mr. Thomas M'Kendrick, a gentleman well known in
local art circles, and
treasurer to the New-
castle Sketching Club,
in connection with
which he was himself a
frequent contributor,
died on the iith of Nov-
ember. The deceased,
who was a son of Mr.
James M'Kendrick,
chairman of the New-
castle Co-operative
Society, was 37 years
of age.
In his fifty-third year, Mr. George Chatt, editor of the
West Cumberland Times, formerly connected with the
literary departments of the Hexham Herald and the
Hexham Courant, and the author of a volume of poems,
died at Cockermouth on the 8th of November.
On the 9th of November, Mr. Alderman John Spence
died at his residence, Northumberland Square, North
Shields, need 74. The deceased gentleman was mayor of
the borough in 1881.
At the advanced age of 80, Mr. John Bradburn, head
of the well-known firm of John Bradburn and Co., dyers,
Newcastle, expired suddenly on the 10th of November.
In early life, the deceased was actively associated with
political movements. As a representative of the Northern
Chartists, he attended the Complete Suffrage Conference
held at Birmingham in 1845 under the presidency of the
lat« Joseph Sturge. Mr. Bradburn also took a keen and
practical interest in matters of local government, and at
one time or other he had been a member of the Town
Council, the Board of Guardians, and the School Board.
©ccurrcntcs.
OCTOBER.
10. — At the annual meeting of the Society of Medical
Officers of Health, held at the Holborn Restaurant,
London, Mr. Henry E. Armstrong, Medical Officer of
Health, Newcastle-on-Tyne, was re-elected president.
11. — On the occasion of his first visit to West Hartlepool,
the Bishop of Durham consecrated the church of St. Aidan,
which had been erected at a cost of close upon £5,000, and
towards which the lute I)r. Lightfoot had subscribed
£1,000.
12. — Mr. Cuninghame Graham, M.P., inaugurated the
winter sessional meetings of the Newcastle Socialists.
13.— Mr. Wigham Richardson, as president, inaugurated
the eleventh session of the North-East Coast lastitution
of Engineers and Shipbuilders.
—A public meeting against gambling was held in the
Town Hall, Newcastle. The chair was occupied by
Bishop Wilbarforce, who was supported by the Bishop of
Durham and a large number of local clergymen and
others. Resolutions bearing upon the subject were
carried unanimously.
—During a harvest thanksgiving service in High West
Street Wesleyan Chapel, Gateshead, under the presidency
of the Mayor (Mr. Alderman John Lucas), Stephen Ren-
forth, who had been instrumental in saving upwards of a
dozen lives, was presented with the bronze medal and
certificate of the Royal Humane Society.
15. — At a meeting of the Newcastle City Council, the
Mayor (Mr. T. Bell) read a letter from Mr. William
Donaldson Cruddas, of Elswick, stating that he was the
owner of about 4a. Or. 21p. of land adjoining Scotswood
Road, near George's Road, and that it would afford him
much pleasure to give it to the town, upon condition that
the Corporation form it into and maintain it in perpetuity
as a recreation ground for the children and inhabitants of
the neighbourhood. On the motion of the Mayor,
seconded by the Sheriff (Mr. E. Culley), it was resolved
that the warmest thanks of the Council be given to Mr.
Cruddas for his very generous and valuable gift, and that
the spot be called the Cruddas Recreation Ground.
16 — In the afternoon of this day, the Right Hon. Arthur
J. Balfour, M.P., Chief Secretary for Ireland, arrived in
Newcastle, with a view of taking part in a series of
public demonstrations in that city. On the following
afternoon, at the People's Palace, in Percy Street, under
the presidency of the Duke of Northumberland, he was
presented with a number of addresses of welcome from
Conservative and Liberal Unionist Associations in the
four Northern Counties. In the evening, Mr. Balfour
was entertained to a grand banquet in St. George's Hall,
the chair being occupied by the Marquis of Londonderry.
On the afternoon of the 18th, the Irish Secretary ad-
dressed a large public meeting in the People's Palace, over
which Mr. W. D. Cruddas presided ; and in the evening,
under the presidency of the Mayor, he distributed the
prizes to the successful students in connection with the
School of Science and Art in Bath Lane,
18. — It was announced that the position of general
passenger superintendent of the North-Eastern Railway,
rendered vacant by the death of Mr. Christison, had been
tilled up by the appointment of Mr. W. B. Johnson, who
had for some years occupied the position of assistant
general manager. Mr. Charles Jesper succeeded Mr.
Johnson.
19. —A horsekeeper, named Joseph Cooper, died at
Coundon, near Bishop Auckland, from injuries alleged
to have been violently inflicted ; and the coroner's jury
returned a verdict of manslaughter against William
Staveley and George Spenceley, two of five men who
had been taken into custody.
20. — Surgeon T. H. Parke, medical officer of the
late expedition to Central Africa, gave a lecture in the
New Circus, Bath Road, Newcastle, on " Incidents Con-
nected with the Relief of Emin Pasha."
—The Right Hon. Earl Granville, K.G., leader of the
Liberal party in the House of Lords, and formerly, as
Lord Leveson, member for Morpeth, visited Newcastle as
president of the Newcastle Liberal Club. In the after-
noon, his lordship presided over a largely-attended
luncheon held under the auspices of the club in the
New Assembly Rooms, Barras Bridge, at which the
Right Hon. John Morley, M.P. for Newcastle, was also
present. Later on the same day, Mr. Morley unveiled
a portrait of Dr. Spence Watson at the Liberal Club,
Pilgrim Street. In the evening, a great meeting was held
in the Town Hall. Mr. Thomas Burt, M.P., occupied the
chair, and the principal speakers were Earl Granville and
Mr. Morley.
574
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
f December
\ 1890.
21. — At a Convocation at Durham, the honorary degree
of D.C.L. was conferred upon Mr. H. M. Stanley, in his
absence, and upon Surgeon Farke, of the Emin Pasha
Relief Expedition.
— A public meeting, under the auspices of the Society
for the Suppression of the Indian Opium Trade was
held in the Town Hall, Newcastle. The Bishop of the
diocese occupied the chair, and he was supported by the
Rev. Canon Basil Wilberforce, the Rev. W. S. Swanson
(lately missionary in Amoy, China), and others. There
was a good attendance, and resolutions condemnatory of
the opium traffic were adopted. {See ante, p. 142.)
— Th« inquest on the bodies of William Murphy, James
Gray, and William Bowey, the members of the Newcastle
Fire Brigade who lost their lives through the Mosley
Street disaster, resulted in a verdict, finding that the
deceased died from the effects ot inhaling the fumes of
nitric acid. (See ante, p. 525.)
22. — A boy named Walter Thompson, aged nine years,
fell over the cliff at Hendon, and was killed on the spot.
24. — Madame Adelina Patti, the famous singer, gave
a grand concert under the auspices of the Police Benefit
Fund Committee, in the Tyne Theatre, Newcastle.
26. — For the twenty-first year in succession, the annual
collections on behalf of the Hospital Sunday Fund were
taken in the majority of the churches and chapels in New-
castle and district. The weather, unfortunately, was of a
most stormy character, and owing to the meagre attend-
ances at the places of worship there was a considerable
faHinp-off, in many instances, in the amounts realized.
The largest sum, £109 Is. 5d, was obtained at Jesmond
Church ; St. George's Church, Osborne Road, coming
next with £71 8s. lOd. ; while £70 12s. lOd. brought
Brunswick Place Chapel into the third position. Hospital
Saturday, constituting the operative section of the Fund,
was observed on the 8th of November.
— The eighth session of the Tyneside Sunday Lecture
MR. WILLIAM JENKINS.
( From a Photograph by Henry ran der Weyde, London.)
Society was inaugurated in the Tyne Theatre, Newcastle,
by Mr. Herbert Ward, late of Mr. Stanley's Emin Pasha
Relief Expedition, the subject being " The Congo
Cannibals of Central Africa."
27. — A complimentary dinner was given in the National
Schools, Consett, to
Mr. William Jenkins,
general manager of the
Consett Iron Com-
pany, Limited, in re-
cognition of his twenty-
one years' service at
Consett. In the even-
ing, a public meeting
was held in the Town
Hall, when he was
presented with an
album and address.
Mr. David Dale pre-
sided on both occa-
sions.
—A religious conven-
tion, extending over
several days, on the principle of the Keswick Convention,
was commenced by a preparatory prayer meeting in
the Circus, Bath Road, Northumberland Street, New-
castle.
— Their Royal Hignesses the Prince and Princess of
Wales arrived at Wynyard Park, as the guests of the
Marquis and Marchioness of Londonderry. (See page
564.) On the 1st of November, their Royal Highnesses
and their noble host and hostess, with several guests,
proceeded by special train to Seaham Harbour, where the
Prince reviewed the 2nd Durham (Seahatn) Artillery
Volunteers, of which regiment the Marquis of London-
derry is colonel commandant. Addresses were presented
by the Local Board of Health of Seaham Harbour and
the local lodge of Freemasons. The town was splendidly
decorated for the occasion.
— There was launched from the shipbuilding yard of Sir
W. G. Armstrong, Mitchell, and Co., at Els wick, the
Sirius, a second-class cruiser, for her Majesty's navy.
The christening ceremony was performed by Lady
Augusta Percy, wife of Earl Percy.
29. — At a special meeting of the Newcastle City Council,
it was unanimously resolved to confer the honorary freedom
of the city on Mr. Alderman Charles Frederic Hamond,
in recognition of the long services he had rendered to the
city. With the exception of two short intervals, Mr.
Hamond has been continuously connected with the Council
nince the 1st of November, 1852. The alderman was also
for some time one of the Parliamentary representatives
of the borough. The official document conveying the'
freedom was formally presented by the Mayor (Mr. T.
Bell), at a meeting held in the Town Hall on the 8th of
November. The gift was accompanied by a gold star
medal bearing a suitable inscription.
— As the result of a Conciliation Board formed on the
suggestion of the Mayor of Newcastle, a settlement was
effected of the strike of shipyard joiners on Tyneside, the
joiners being directed to resume work on Mr. Burt'g
award, with the exception of that referring to the
engineering work.
—Mr. Norris Watts, son of Mr. Edmund H. Watts,
colliery owner, of Newcastle, London, Cardiff, and New-
port, was shot through the groin by an unknown man
December 1
1893. f
NORTH-COUNTRY LORE AND LEGEND.
575
•while be was out hunting in the woods, near Cumberland
Gap, Tennessee, U.S.
— The Rev. Frank Walters concluded his very interest-
ing and successful series of lectures on " Shakspeare " in
the Grand Assembly Rooms, Barras Bridge, Newcastle.
(See page 557.)
30.— The tower erected at St. Paul's Church, Spenny-
moor, in memory of the late Mr. Robert Buncombe
Shafto, of Whitworth Park, Spennymoor, and known as
the Shafto Memorial Tower, was dedicated by the Bishop
of Durham.
— At a meeting of the ratepayers of South Stockton, a
letter was read from Mr. Thomas Wrightson, Norto.i
Hall, of the firm of Messrs. Head, Wrightson, and Co.,
engineers and bridge builders, announcing his desire,
conditional upon the adoption of the Free Libraries Act.
to build a suitable library on a central site, at a cost of
£1,500, and to present it to his fellow-townsmen. The
contents of the communication were greeted with loud
cheers, and a resolution in favour of the adoption of the
Act was carried unanimously.
NOVEMBER.
1. — New business premises erected in connection with
the Swalwell District Industrial and Provident Society
were formally opened by, Mr. W. Fletcher, president of
the society. On the same day, Mr. H. R. Bailey, of
Newcastle, opened some new premises for the accommo-
dation of the grocery and provision departments of the
Blaydon District Co-operative Society.
— In common with other parts of the country, the
annual municipal elections took place throughout the
North of England. In Newcastle there were contests
in four wards, viz., North E'lswick, Moith St. Andrew's,
West All Saints', and St. Nicholas'. A working man
candidate came forward in each case. The retiring
representatives in North St. Andrew's, West All Saints',
and St. Nicholas' were, however, returned by large
majorities' ; while in Elswick Ward Mr. James Blakey
was elected in the room of Mr. Walter Scott, who did not
solicit re-election. In Uateshead there was opposition in
two wards, in one of which a working man was likewise
unsuccessful. There were also contests in several other
northern boroughs, but the proceedings altogether were
of the most quiet and orderly description.
2. — The lecturer in the Tyne Theatre, Newcastle, under
the auspices of the Tyneside Sunday Lecture Society was
Mr. W. E. Church, of London, who chose for his sub-
ject— " Famous Literary Clubs and Coteries."
4. — Dr. W. Boyd Carpenter, Bishop of Ripon, preached
in St. Nicholas' Cathedral, Newcastle.
— A purse of gold and an illuminated address were
presented by his parishioners to the Rev. Father Turnerelli,
on the occasion of the completion of twenty-five years'
priesthood in Sunderland.
5. — It was announced that the theological library of
Dr. Lightfoot, late Bishop of Durham, which was
bequeathed to the Divinity School of Cambridge, had
been transported thither. It consisted of 1,900 volumes,
weighing four tons. The rest of his library was be-
queathed to the University of Durham.
— A coroner's inquest was opened, but was formally
adjourned, as to the death of Richard William Forsyth,
who, on the previous day, had been found lying dead in
the office of bis employer, Mr. Taylor, cement manufac-
turer, Gateshead. The marks of fingers were found on
the throat, and bruises on the chest and stomach of the
deceased, as if he had been knelt upon, and foul play was
suspected.
— At a meeting of the Sunderland Town Council, the
Mayoress (Mrs. Shadforth), on behalf of the ladies of the
town, presented a robe of office to the Mayor, and a mace
to the Council, together with a robe for the macebearer.
On the motion of Mr. Alderman Gourley, M.P., the gifts
were accepted. A letter was then read from Mr. Alder-
man Storey, M.P., resigning his connection with the
Council after 21 years' membership, and enclosing the
usual penalty, on the ground that he disapproved of these
"mediaeval customs."
—The annual show of poultry, pigeons, rabbits, cats,
and cavies, under the auspices of the Newcastle National
Columbarian Society, was opened in the Corn Exchange,
Town Hall Buildings, Newcastle, the total entries being
1,740.
6. — The handsome pile of buildings erected in Fawcett
Street as a Town Hall and Municipal Offices for Sunder-
land (see page 576), was opened by the Mayor (Mr.
Robert Shadforth). The style of the structure, which has
cost, in all, about £50,000, is that of Italian renaissance,
the architect being Mr. Brightwen Binyon, of Ipswich.
The buildings are 150ft. long by 90ft. broad, with an
average height of 46 feet and a height to the top of the
tower of 140 feet. The tower in the centre contains an
illuminated chiming clock, with four dials, each 8ft.
6in. in diameter. The
opening ceremony took
place shortly after
noon, and a procession,
consisting of the mem-
bers of the Corpora-
tion, officials, Mayors
and Town Clerks of
neighbouring towns,
and members of the
other public bodies in
the town, left the old
Council Chamber and
proceeded by way of
High Street to the
Town Hall. The day
was generally observed
as a holiday, and, as
the weather was de-
lightfully fine, the streets on the route were densely
crowded with townspeople. Fawcett Street was lined
with Venetian masts, and there was a good display of
bunting. When the procession arrived at the hall, the
Mayor was presented with a gold key by the architect,
with which he unlocked the door, and the party pro-
ceeded to the Council Chamber, where a handsomely
illuminated address was presented to his Worship by the
chairman of the Building Committee (Mr. Alderman
Fairless). In presenting the address, Mr. Fairless
referred at length to the progress of the town, which at
its incorporation consisted of about 45,000 inhabitants,
whereas there were then quite 140,000 people living
within the boundaries. In the evening, the Mayor enter-
tained the members of the Council and other guests to
dinner in the reception room of the new Town Hall.
— Mr. W. T. Oliver was eelcted secretary to the New-
castle Royal Infirmary.
7. — At the annual meetings. Sir Matthew White
Ridley, M.P., and Earl Percy were respectively re-elected
MR. R. SHADFORTH.
576
MONTHLY CHRONICLE.
{D«erober
1890.
chairman and vice-chairman of the Northumberland
County Council ; while Mr. John Lloyd Wharton. M.P.,
and Mr. Alderman Pease were similarly re-elected to the
corresponding offices in the Durham County Council.
— A most favourable report was presented and adopted
at the third annual meeting, which was held under the
presidency of Earl Percy, of the Tyneside Geographical
Society. The Council acknowledged the services
rendered by the local newspapers, especially the pro-
prietor of the Newcastle Chronicle, which journal not only
published a supplement containing verbatim reports of
Mr. Stanley's speeches, but kindly lent the type for the
purpose of a reprint.
9.— In the Tyne Theatre. Newcastle, Professor Sir R.
S. Ball, Astronomer-Royal for Ireland, lectured under
the auspices of the Tyneside Sunday Lecture Society, his
subject being " An Astronomer's Thoughts about the
Explosion of the Volcano of Krakatoa."
10. — The 9th of November having fallen on a Sunday,
the election of mayors
and other civic digni-
taries took place to-day.
In Newcastle the gentle-
man chosen as mayor
was Mr. Joseph Baxter
Kills, of whom a por-
trait will be found on
page 45 of the Monthly
Chronicle for 1889. Mr.
Stephen Quin, a mem-
ber of the Roman
, Catholic persuasion, was
' elected to the office of
sheriff. Mr. Alderman
John Lucas was suc-
ceeded in the mayor-
alty of Gateshead bv
Mr. Alderman Silas
Kent. The elections,
in the great majority of cases, had been matters of pre-
arrangement.
—Mr. Councillor F. E. Schofield, ex-Mayor of Mor-
peth, was presented with several suitable articles, in
commemoration of the birth of a daughter during the
year of his mayoralty.
UR. STEPHEN" QUIN.
(Scncral ©ccurrcnccs.
OCTOBER.
12 — The English barque Melmerby struck on an island
near Pictou. The captain and sixteen men were drowned.
13 — A disastrous fire occurred in London by which
eight persons lost their lives.
—Death of Mr. J. E. Thorold Rogers, M.A., Professor
of Political Economy at Oxford University.
15— General d'Abreue Sousa, Portuguese Premier,
made a statement that the Portuguese Government was
unable to recommend to the sanction of the Chambers the
convention of August 20th with Great Britain in regard
to the Anglo-Portuguese dispute in East Africa.
—The Channel Fleet arrived at Scarborough.
16 — The river Orinoco, South America, overflowed it»
banks, causing terrible loss of life and property. Twenty
square miles of land were flooded to the depth of six feet.
19. — Sir Richard Burton, the explorer, died at Trieste.
He was born at Barbara House, Hertfordshire, in 1821.
One of his most important expeditions was made in 1856,
when, together with Captain Speke, he explored the Lake
Regions of Central Africa, and discovered Lake Tan-
ganyika.
21. — Mr. Gladstone began a political campaign in
Scotland by addressing a large meeting at Edinburgh.
— Mr. Sheehy, M.P., was committed to Clonmel gaol
for a week for contempt of court at the Crimes Court,
sitting at Tipperary, which was engaged in the trial of
several Irish members for conspiracy.
22. — The result of a Parliamentary election at Eccles
was as follows :— Henry J. Roby (Gladstonian Liberal),
4,901 ; Hon. Algernon Fulke Egerton (Conservative)
4,696.
24. — The boding of a woman named Phoebe Hogg and
her baby, Phcebe Hanslope Hogg, were discovered in
Kentish Town, London, under circumstances which led
to the belief that they had been murdered. A woman
named Pearcey was arrested on suspicion, and charged
with having committed the crime.
25. — It was announced that the strike in Australia had
collapsed.
26. — Field-Marshal Count von Moltke celebrated his
ninetieth birthday.
— Vice-Ad miral Fremantle captured Vitu, South-East
Africa, and burnt the town to the ground. Some
Germans had been taken prisoners there, and it was found
necessary to punish the natives.
29. — A party of moonlighters at Ardacra Cliffs, Moher,
county Clare, fired three shots through the window of a
house occupied by Patrick Flanagan, and killed his
daughter who was asleep in bed.
30.— Mr. Charles Pebody, editor of the Yorkshire Post,
died at Leeds, aged 51.
31. — The census in the United States showed that the
population of the country numbered 62,480,540 persons.
NOVEMBER.
4. — Death of Admiial Robert Tryon, of the English
Fleet, aged 84. The admiral in his youth was present at
the battle of Navarino.
5. — Millet's celebrated picture, "The Angelus," was
repurchased in the United States on account of the
French Government. (See Monthly Chronicle, 1889,
pp. 384, 432.)
7. — During a violent storm which raged in the Irish
Sea, Viscount Cantelupe, eldest son of Earl De La Warr,
whose yacht had been driven ashore in Belfast Lough,
was washed overboard nnd drowned. Many ships were
wrecked on the English and Irish coasts with loss of life.
—The Government Powder Mills at Taiping Fu,
Shanghai, China, exploded, three hundred persons being
killed.
10.— Lord Salisbury attended the Lord Mayor's banquet,
at the Guildhall, London, and delivered a speech on
various public questions.
Printed by WALTEE SCOTT, Felling-on-Tyne.
Adams, W. E., and Lord Tennyson's Letter.
526.
Adamson, Daniel, Death of, 139.
Advocate, Tyneside Temperance (William
Peel), 570.
^Eneas Sylvius (Pope Pius II.) in the North,
261.
Affleck, Alderman, Death of, 141.
Ainsley, Thomas L., Death of, 141.
Akenside and Smollett, 330.
Aldam, William, Death of, 423.
Alefounder, James, Newcastle's First Post-
man, 39&
Allhusen, Christian, Death of, 139 ; Will of,
191.
Allies, the Grand, 170.
Alnwick : — Church, 8 ; Monument to William
the Lion, 181 ; Castle, 303 ; American
Poem, 309 ; Abbey, 344 ; Stables in the
Sixteenth Century, 389 ; Brislee Tower,
440 ; Dominate Tower, 495.
Amers, John II., 335.
•• Angelus," Millet's, 576.
Anderson, James, Drowning of, 142.
Andrassy, Count Julius, Death of, 192.
Ankarstroem, the Assassin of Gustavus of
Sweden. 319.
Arctic Expedition and a Newcastle Election,
498.
Armstrong, Johnny, 438.
Armstrongs and Elliots, 529,
Artists, a Family of (the Hemys), 417.
Artists :— G. F. Robinson, Arthur H. Marsh,
J. Rock Jones, Stephen Brownlow, 181 ;
Charles Napier, Tom M., and Bernard
Benedict Hemy, 417-8-9 ; Thomas
M'Kendrick, 573.
Assassination of Gustavus of Sweden, 318.
Athol, Sir Aymer de, 503.
Avison, Charles, Tombstone of, 334 ; First
Public Concerts in Newcastle, 326.
Axe, a Jeddart, 294.
Aydon Forest. 37.
Aynsley, Mark, Dealh of, 428.
Baines, Sir Edward, Death of. 192.
Balfour, A. J., in Newcastle, 573.
Ballast Hills on the Tyne, 276.
Ball in a Coal Mine, 171.
Bamborough Keep, 193 ; the Remains of the
Forsters, 282.
Bank, Failure of the District, 548.
Barber, Joseph, Bookseller, 82.
Barber's News, or Shields in an Uproar. 52.
BarKas, Alderman, Presentation to, 479.
Barnard Castle Church, 57 ; Bowes Museum,
256.
Barnett, John, Death of, 288.
Bastie, de la, Murder of, 405.
Bath House, Newcastle. 571.
" Baubleshire, the Duke of," Thomas French,
163.
Beacons in Northumberland, 44.
Beaumont, Wentworth C. B., Marriage of,
46 ; Lewis, 324.
Beckwith, Thomas, Death of, 235.
Bedlineton Legend, 278 ; the Leakes, 393.
Bee, Jacob, on Ponteland, 503.
Beeswing and Lanercost, 270.
Belk, Thomas, Death of, 379.
Bell, Thomas, 89 ; Matthew, 173.
Bell Tower, Berwick, 458.
Bellister Castle, 545.
Belsay Village, Castle, and Hall, 399.
Benwell Board School, Laying Foundation
Stone, 528.
Berkeley, Lady Henrietta, and Forde, Lord
Grey, 241.
Bertram, Sir, and the Hermit of Warkworth,
346.
Berwick Bridge, 454 ; Bell Tower. 45&
Bewicke, William, of Threepwood. 14L
Bewick Family, 7.
Bigamist, Taylor the, 48L
Biggar, Joseph Gillis, M.P., Death of, 192.
Bird, John, Mathematician, 901
Bird Life on the Fame Islands, 463,
Birds :— Wren, 16 ; Titmouse Family, 86 ;
Pipits, 124 : Brown Linnet and Lesser
Redpole, 163; Raven, Carrion, and
Hooded Crow, 221 ; Shrike, or Butcher
Bird, 247; Hawfinch, Bullfinch, and
Goldfinch, 296; Jay, Chough, and the
Nutcracker, 375; The Buntings, 419;
Herring Gull, 466; Great Auk, 466;
Common Guillemot, 467 ; Puffin, 467 ;
Warblers, 515 ; Redstarts, 554.
Birnie, Alexander, the Case of, 13.
Bismarck, Prince, Resignation of, 240 ;
Count Herbert at Wynyard Park, 332.
Blackstart, 555.
Blackett, Joseph, 42.
Blackett-Ord, Mrs., Death of, 476.
Blagdon Hall and Gates, 311.
Blair, Rev. James S., Death of, 380.
Blake Family Romance, the, 449.
" Blind Jimmy " (James Tearney), Death of,
523.
"Blow the Winds, I-ho," 109.
Bolam, Archibald, and the Savings Bank
Tragedy, 76.
Bolam, Village of, 39L
Bondgate Tower, Alnwick, 496.
Bonnet, Blue, the Shilhottle, 244.
Boucicault, Dion, Death of, 528.
Books, the Household, of Naworth Castle,
257.
Borders, a Nook of, 363 ; Clans, 404.
Bowes, Marjory, wife of John Knox, 60.
Bowes Museum, 256.
Bowey, William, Death of, 525, 574.
" Bowld Airchy Droon'd," 165.
Bowman, Rev." Edward L., Death of, 140.
" Boys at Play," Sketch by Dorothy Tennant
('Mrs. H. M. Stanley), 432.
Boyle, J. R., on Alnwick Church. 8 ; on St.
Hilda's Church, East Hartlepool, 55 ;
Barnard Castle Church, 57 ; Durham
Cathedral, 117 ; Mitford Church, 150 ;
St. Oswald's Church, Durham, 152;
Durham Castle, 166 ; Durham City, 207 ;
A Roman Traveller in the North-Coun-
try, 261 ; John Leland in Durham and
Northumberland, 289 ; Kirkwhelpington
Church, 350; Egglescliffe Church, 367 ;
Harrison's Description of the North,
375; Camden's Account of the Northern
Counties, 387 ; Town and Port of Sunder-
land, 406; Michael Drayton's Descrip-
tion of the Northern Counties, 446 ;
Haughton-le-Skerne Church, 470; Toad
Mug's, 474 ; John Taylor, Water Poet,
485 ; Kirkharle Church, 495 ; Three
Norwich Soldiers, 533 ; Redmarshall
Church, 543.
Bradburn, John, Death of, 573.
Bradley, Rev. Edward ("Cuthbert Bede"),
Death of, 91 ; Sarah, Death of, 428.
Brancepeth Castle. 371 ; the Brawn, 371.
Brandlings, the, of Gosforth, 170.
Brantwood and Coniston, 511.
Branxholme Tower, near Hawick, 433.
Brawn of Brancepeth, 371.
Brigade, Tynemouth Volunteer Life, 319, 52V.
Brignal Church and Banks, 32.
Brignal, William. Death of, 140.
Bnslee Tower, Alnwick, 440.
Brockie, William, on Madame Stote and her
Salve, 33 ; An Eccentric Magistrate
(William Ettrick), 69 ; Tyne Conservancy
Contest, 131 ; Mosstroopers, 354, 402. 436,
500, 529 : Jingling Geordie's Hole, 349.
Brockie, William, 38 ; Death, 572.
Brough, Jackey, 3L
Brougham Castle, 559.
Brown. Giles, of Seaham, 199.
Brownlow, Stephen, 185.
Bruce. Dr. J. Collingwood, on "Sair Feyl'd
Hinny," 325.
Bryson, John A., Death of, 235.
Buccleugh, Wat of, 530.
Buddie, William, the Newcastle Butcher, 39 ;
the Buddies, 171.
Bull Ring, North Shields, 232.
Burdett-Coutts, Baroness, and the Dicky
Bird Society, 239.
Burnett, John, and the Labour Conference
at Berlin, 238-9 ; Eleanor, 33?.
Burnup, Jane. Death of, 187.
Burt, Thomas, and the Labour Conference
at Berlin, 238 ; Miss Dorothy Tennant,
333 ; Joiners' Strike, 431.
Burton, Sir Richard, Death of, 576.
Bury's (Bishop) Lending Library, 517.
Butcher s Dog, the : a Story of the Morpeth
Road, 39.
Butcher Bird, 247.
Calliope, H.\LS., at Portsmouth, 240.
Cantelupe, Viscount, Drowning of, 576.
Camden's (William) Account of the Northern
Counties, 387.
Cameron, Commander, in Newcastle, 46.
"Camilla of the White House "—Camilla
Colville, 135.
Campbell, Superintendent, Death of, 428.
Carlisle, Railway Accident at, 192.
Carrick, Thomas, on Oak-Tree Coffins of
Featherstone, 185.
Cauldron Snout, 105.
Centenarian, a Newbrough, 522.
Challoner, John, Death of, 284.
Charleton, R. J., on Pandon Dene, 71.
Charlton, James, and the Kirtley Hall Rob-
bery, 314.
Chatt, George, Death of, 573.
Chess Tournament at Manchester, 480.
Chesters, The, Resilience of John Clayton,
424, 570.
Chevington, West, Gun Accident at. 527
Childs, George, Death of, 476.
Chilton, Tommj, and Nicky -Sack, 37.
Chough, 375.
Christison, Alexander, Death of, 476.
"Chronicle," Newcastle, 223.
Church Schools, Newcastle, 257, 287.
Clark, George Noble, 428 ; Will, 477.
Clarke's (Charles Cowden) Visits to New-
castle, 148 ; Thomas, Death of, 331 ;
William, Death of, 428.
Claverings, the, 546 ; Clavering's Cross, 546.
Clayton, John, Solicitor and Antiquary, 422,
427; Will. 429; Chesters, 670; Anne,
Death of, 572.
Clephan, James, on the Invention of the
Lucifer Match, 145 ; the Lighting of
Towns, 218; the Household Books at
Naworth Castle, 257 ; A Cleveland Tra-
gedy and a Cleveland Poet, 385 ; Arctic
Expedition and a Newcastle Election,
498 ; Bishop Bury's Lending Library,
517 ; Bishop Cosin's Public Library, 532.
Cleveland Tragedy, a, 385.
Clifford, Lord, and Brougham Castle, 559.
Clock Mill, Miller of the, 487.
Coal Trade in the Northern Counties, 170 ;
" Success to the Coal Trade," 494.
Cockburn, Piers, 438.
Cocklaw Tower, 41.
Coffins, the Oak-Tree, of Featherstone, 185.
Coldstream Bridge, 183.
Coleridge. Hartley, and Nab Cottage, 272.
Collier, the First Screw. 200.
Collingwood, Edward, 20.
Colville, Camilla, 135.
Common, the. Strong Men, 234 ; John, 234.
Concerts, First Public in Newcastle, 326.
Coniston and Brantwood, 511.
Conservancy Contest, the Tyne, 131.
Cook, Captain, 145.
Cooke, Joseph, Mystic and Communist, 54.
Cosin's (Bishop) Public Library, 532.
Cosyn, John, 19 ; House, la
Coughron, George, 22.
Countess's Pillar, 71.
Coupland, John of, 60 ; Castle, 201.
" Cousin's House " Sun Dial, 19.
Cownley, Joseph, 67.
Cradock, Dr., an ill-fated Churchman, 78.
Craig, Joseph, Rescue by, 526.
Craster House. Northumberland, 128.
Crawford Jack, Unveiling of Memorial at
Sunderland, 239 ; William, Death of, 380 ;
Toad Mug, 397.
Crawley Tower, 185.
Creagh", Sir William, 114.
Cresswell, Sir Cresswell, 68,
Crewe, Tragedy at, 144, 240.
Cronin Trial at Chicago, the. 96.
Cross. Launcelot, on Charles Cowden
Clarke's Visits to Newcastle, 148 ; Cross,
Ancient, at Gosforth, Cumberland, 473;
Clavering's, 546.
Crossfell, Cumberland, 11.
Crow, the Carrion and Hooded, 221.
Crowley, Ambrose, 536; Crowley's Crew, 537.
II.
INDEX.
Cuckoo Jack (John Wilson), lid
Culley, Edward, 89 ; Matthew and George,
116.
Cumberland Poet, Joseph Relph of Seberg-
ham, 4&a
Curwens, the, of Workington, 553.
Customs, Curious, of the Lake District, 130.
•• Cuthbert Cede " (Rev. Edward Bradley),
Death of, 9L
Cutter. Councillor John, Death of, 188.
Cutty Soams, 214.
Dac-re, Thomas Lord, 154 ; Mosstroopers, 436.
D' Albert, Charles and Eugene, 105.
Dale, David, at Berlin, 238.
Darlington, Suicide of Thomas Donnison,
143.
Darnell, Rev. W. N., 155.
Davcll, Robert, 156.
Davis, Jefferson, Death of, 48.
I>avison, Sir Alexander, 157.
Dawes, Richard, 202.
Dawson, Kenrv, 203.
Deer Parks in the North, 36.
Delaval, Sir Ralph, 250 ; Admiral Sir Ralph,
251; John Hussey, 252; Thomas, 2o4 ;
Edward Hussey, 255.
Deodands, 174.
Derbyshire, Watson, Death of, 236.
Derwentwater, the Karl of, 1 ; Insurrection,
1, 49, 97 ; Lake, 175.
nick, Guinea, 42.
Dickie o' the Den, 355.
Dickinson, Robert, Death of, 33i
Dickson, William, Clerk of the Peace. 205.
Dicky Hird Society, Baroness iiurdett-Coutts
and the, 239 ; 524 ; Lord Tennyson, 526 ;
John Ruskin, 526.
Dixon, Robert, and Helvellyn, 563.
Dixon, Sir Raylton, and the Freedom of
Mlddlesbro', 237 ; Jeremiah. 245.
Dobson, Alderman John, Death of, 140;
Thomas, 298.
Dodd, William. Death of, 139 ; Rev. William,
299.
Dodils, Alderman Ralph, 294.
Dod Man, or Hermit of Skiddaw, 4j.
Dog of Ennerdale, the Wild, 555.
Diillinger, Dr., Death of, 96.
Dolly, the Wooden, North Shields, 161.
Donkin, John George, Death of. 93 ; Armorer,
300 ; John G., on a Nook of the Borders,
3o3 ; William, Marriage of, 140 years
ago. 37a
Doubleday, Robert. 206.
Dove, Robert, Death of, 476.
Drayton's (Michael) Description of the
Northern Counties, 446.
Dryburgh Abbey, 233.
Dryden, William, of BIyth, Death of, 236.
Duane, Matthew, 302.
Duckett, Thomas, Death of, 379.
Duncan, Colonel, Bust of, 239.
Dungeon Gill Force, 345, 346.
Duns Scotus, 459.
Durant, William, 337.
Durham : — Deer Parks, 36 ; Dr. Lightfoot
81- Cathedral, 117; St. Oswald's Church,
152; Castle, 166; Henrv Dawson, first
M.P. for County, 203 ; the City of Dur-
ham, 207 ; Thomas Morton, Bishop, 283;
Consecration of Bishop Westcott, 287 ;
John I.eland. 289 ; William Camden,
387; Miners' Demonstration, 429; Elec-
tion, Mid-Durham, 429 ; The Sanctuary,
Durham Cathedral, 447 ; Illicit Whisky,
610 ; Bishop Bury's Lending Library,
517.
Edlingham Burglary, and Justice Manisty'
Edom of Gordon, 403.
EgKlescliffe Church, 367.
Egglestone, W. M., on Deer Parks in the
North, 36 ; A Weardale Knitting Stick,
90; A Weardale Holy-Stone, 330 ; A
Weardale Stay Busk, 378.
Ekins, Jeffrey, 443.
Electricity in New York, Execution by, 432.
Electric Lighting In Newcastle, 96.
Elgey, Mrs. Mary, Death of, 140.
Ellis, James, 442 ; Jos. Baxter, 576.
Ellisons, the Cuthbert, 339 ; Henrv, 341 •
John, 342 ; Nathaniel, 411 ; Robert, 413.
Elliott, Thomas, 441; Willie, Liddesdale
farmer, 514.
Elliotts and Armstrongs, 529.
Elsdon, Winter's Stob, 134 ; Village, 159.
Elstob, William, 444 ; Elizabeth, 445.
Elswick Overseership, 524.
Elvet Bridge, Durham, 212.
Embleton Bog, 329.
Emln Pasha, 240.
Emeldon, Richard, 489.
Engineers' Strike, Newcastle, 237.
Ennerdale, the Wild Dog of, 555.
Ettrick, Wm., an Eccentric Magistrate, 69.
Everett, Rev. James, 490.
Evers, Henry, Teacher of Science, 439.
Execution of Earl of Derwentwater, 100.
Expedition, Arctic, and a Newcastle Election,
498.
Explosions : — Ellison Terrace, Newcastle,
142 ; Llanerch Pits, Monmouth, 144 ;
Jarrow, 190; Morfa Colliery, Glamorgan-
shire, 192 ; Government Powder Mills,
China, 576.
Fairfax, General, in Newcastle, 507.
Fairies, Win. Watson, Death of, 523.
Fairman, Robert, Death of, 428.
Fairy Pipes, 186.
Falloden Hall, 281.
Falstone, the Last Laird of, 174.
Fame Islands, Bird Life on, 463,
Farthing Giles and Guinea Dick, 199.
Fawcett, J. W., on Newcastle in Danger,
283; on Illicit Whisky in North-West
Durham, 510 ; Miss Philippa, 336 :
Christopher, 492 ; Dr. Richard. 493.
Fawsitt, Amy, the Sad Story of, 126.
Featherstone, the Oak-Tree Coffins of, 185.
Felton, Village of, 560.
Fencibles, Northumberland, 439.
Fenwick, Sir Ralph, in Tynedale, 406; Sir
John, 537 ; Lieut.-Col. John, 540 ;
Colonel George, 54L
" Fidelity," Wordsworth Poem, 562.
Firemen, Disaster to, in Newcastle, 525.
Flambard, Bishop of Durham, 167.
Fleming, John, Death of, 187; Will of, 191,
286 ; Sale of Furniture, &c., 287.
Fletcher, Edward, Death of, 92.
Ford Castle, 253.
Forde, Lord Grey, and Lady Henrietta
Berkeley, 241.
Forster, Thomas, of Adderstone, 2 ; the
Remains of the Forsters of Bamborough,
Forsyth, Richard Wm., Murder of, 675.
Forth Bridge, Opening of, 192.
French, Thomas, "Dukeot Baubleshire," 163.
Fynes, Richard, Presentation to, 46.
Galilee, Durham Cathedral. 123.
Galloway, Alderman, Death of, 284.
Garnett, Joseph, 17.
Gateshead :— Tramcar Accident, 47 ; Peram-
bulation Tokens, 222 ; Thomas Topnam,
283; High School for Bovs, 449; Tra-
gedy, 675 ; New Mayor, 576 ; Murder,
Gavelkind, the Law of, 502.
Ghost, Stephen Hollin's, 271.
Gibsone's Conches. 381.
Gilchrist, George H.. 85 ; Robert, 165.
Gosforth Colliery, Ball in, 171; Ancient
Cross at Gostorth, Cumberland, 473.
Gosman, Fred, Death of, 523.
Gosse, Edmund, in Newcastle, 189.
Gough, Charles, and Helvellyn, 562.
Graemes, the Gallant, 500.
" Grajtne, Hughie the," 558.
Graham, Mrs. Cunninghame, in Newcastle.
191.
Grainger, Richard, Builder, 28, 90.
Grand Hotel, Newcastle, 526, 527.
Grange, Cumberland, 175.
Granville, Earl, in Newcastle, 573.
Graves, John Woodcock, Death of, 140.
Gray, Thomas, Death of, 235 ; William, 333,
Green, Dr. Charles, Death of, 141.
Greenwell, Dora, 8 ; G. 0., on Old Street
Calls in Newcastle, 379.
Grenadier Guards, Insubordination, 432.
Greta Hall, Keswick, 175.
Grey, Hon. Mrs. Charles, Death of, 572.
Grey, F. R., Death of, 235: Lord (Forde)
and Henrietta Berkeley, 241 ; James, 525,
" Guinea Dick," 42, 1S9.
Gustavus of Sweden, Assassination of, 313.
Halfnight, Richard, Artist, 280.
Hall, Sergeant C., on Workington Hall, 352 ;
the Wild Dog of Ennerdale, 565.
Halleck, Fitz-Greene, on Alnwick Castle, 309.
Halls, the, of the Borders, 502.
Haltwhistle Harried and Avenged, 529 ;
Bellister Castle, 545
Hamond, Alderman, and Freedom of New-
castle, 574.
Hancock, John and Albany, 566, 572.
Harbottle, Northumberland, 365.
Hardcastle, M. H., on Miracle Plays and
Mysteries in the North, 461.
Harle, Lockey, on Justice Cresswell, 68.
Harper, Thomas, and a Cleveland Tragedy,
385.
Harrison's (William) Description of the
North, 373.
Hartburn, Northumberland, 391.
Hartlepool, East, St Hilda's Church, 55.
Hartley, John, Death of, 45.
Haswell, Thomas, Death of, 91 ; George H.,
on Old Street Cries in Newcastle, 473.
Haughton-le-SKerne Church, 470.
Hawkes, Mervyn L., Death of, 572.
Hebburn Hall, 42.
Hedley, John, Death of, 28b ; Ralph, Sketch
of the Sanctuary, 448.
Heenan, Mrs. (Madame Tomsett), 396.
" Hellflrc Lad " (Rev. James Everett), 491.
Hell Kettles, 374.
Helm Wind, 11.
Helvellyn Fatalities, 56L
Hemy, Charles Napier, 417 ; Tom M., 418 ;
Bernard B., 419.
Henderson, Archibald, " Bold Archy," 165.
"Henwife Jack," 522.
Herdman, Edward, on Gateshead Perambu-
lations, 223 ; Bell Tower, Berwick, 458,
Hermitage Castle, 513.
Hermit of Skiddaw, 43, 90, 231 ; Warkworth,
346.
Hetheringtcn, a Northumbrian Highway-
man. 229.
Hexhamshire, 502.
High Level Bridge, Newcastle, 263.
" Highlander, the Old," North Shields, 326.
Highlanders at Wolsingham, 246.
Highwayman and the Preacher, the, 138;
Northumbrian, 229 ; Captain Zachary
Howard, 506.
Hills, the Burning, of Shields, 276.
Hinde, John, Death of, 235.
Hodgson, Mrs. Solomon, Thomas, and James,
224, 225 ; John, of Hartburn, 391.
Hole, Jingling Geordie's 349.
Hollin's (Stephen) Ghost, 271.
Hollinside Manor, 128.
Hollon, Richard VV., J.P., Death of, 427.
Holy Island, Accident to Excursionists, 240.
Holy-stone, a Weardale, 330.
Horse Stealers of Last Century, 532.
Horses, Pack, in the North. 397.
Hotspur Tower, Alnwick, 496.
Howard, Lord William, and Naworth Castle,
257 ; Captain Zachary, 506.
Hoyle, John Theodore and James Thain,
319; Rev. Jonas, Death of, 427.
Hudson, Thomas, and the Tyne Conservancy
Contest, 132.
" Hughie the Grame," 558.
Hullock, Baron, 43.
Hulne Abbey, 416.
Hunt, Dean, 534.
Hunter, James, Death of, 45 ; James, on the
First Screw Collier, 200.
Hurst, T. G., Death of, 427.
Inglewood Forest Thieves, SOL
Insurrection, the Derwentwater, 1, 49.
Jack Tar Inn, Newcastle, 112.
" Jackey Brougn," 31.
Jay, 37b.
Jed burgh Abbey. 565.
Jeddart Axe, a, 294.
Jenkins, William, 574.
Jesmpnd Dene, Old Mill, 282.
Jingling Geordie's Hole, 349.
Jock •' the Side, 531.
Jones, J. Rock, 183.
INDEX.
in
Kemble, Stephen, and " Barter's News," 52.
Kenrtal, Journalistic Enterprise at, 282.
" Kened y, Lord" (Taylor), the Bigamist, 481.
Eenmure, Earl of, Execution of, 99.
Kenton, Oriel Window at, 327.
Kerrs, the Raid of the, 405.
Keswick, Cumberland, 175.
Kettlewell, Lumley, a York Eocentric, 663.
" Kinmont Willie," 453, 530.
Kirkharle Church, 495.
Kirkley Hall and Obelisk, 311 ; Strange
Robbery at, 314.
Kirkstone Pass, Fatal Accident in, 480.
Kirkwhelpington Church, 350.
Knitting Stick, a Weardale, 90.
Knox, John, in Newcastle, 59.
Kohen, Sophia, German Governess, Mysteri-
ous Disappearance of, 96.
Krapotkine, Prince, in Newcastle, 47.
Laird of the North-Countree, a, 174.
Lake District, Curious Customs of the, 130,
186.
Lanchester, Mrs. Ann, aged 107, Death of, 92.
Lanercost and Beeswing, 270.
Langton, Thomas, and Redmarshall Church,
543.
Lark Hall Sprite, 558.
Lauder, Rev. Mr., and the Lark House
Sprite, 558.
Lawson, Rev. John, Death of, 475.
Leakes, the, of Bedlington, 393.
Leland, John, in Northumberland and Dur-
ham, 289.
Leonard, John, 6.
Library, Bishop Cosin's, 532 ; Bishop Bury's,
517.
Liddell, Sir Henrv Thomas, 172.
Liddesdale Thieves, 501 ; Farmer, 513.
Liddle, R. K., Death of, 623.
Liddon, Canon, Death of, 480.
Lietch, Thomas Carr, and the Tyne Conser-
vancy Contest, 132.
Life Brigade, Tynernouth, 319.
Litton House, Newcastle, 524, 525.
Lightfoot, Dr., Bishop of Durham, 81, 92 ;
Will of, 95, 240 ; Library, 575.
Lighting of Towns, 218.
Linnet, Brown, 163.
Linton, W. J., and Brantwood, 513.
Lister, J. Moore, on Richard Grainger, 90.
Llanerch Pits, Monmouth, Explosion at, 144.
Locke, Wm. Ferguson, Memorial to, 285.
Lof tus, Captain A. J. , 190.
Lomax, J., on the Hermit of Skiddaw, 43.
Londonderry, Lord, and Wynyard Hall, 565.
Longevity, Family, 28L
Long, Luke. Quack Doctor, 275.
Long Meg and Her Daughters, near Penrith,
273.
Loraine, Sir William, 495.
Lushburn Holes, 437.
Mackay, Dr. Charles, Death of, 96.
Mackenzie, James A. S. W., 173.
Magdala, Lord Napier of, Death of, 144.
Magistrate, An Eccentric, 69.
Manisty, Justice, 136.
Marsh, Arthur H., 18£
Match, Lucifer, Invention of, 145.
Mathematician, W. 8. B. Woolhouse, 327.
McKinley, Bridget, Death of, 475; Tariff
Bill, 528.
Milbanke, Lady, 199.
Miller, the, and his Sons, 372 ; Clock Mill, 487.
Millet's "Angelus," 576.
Millie, Joseph, and tbe Savings Bank
Tragedy, 76.
Mill, Old, Jesmond Dene, 282.
Milne, James Thomson, Death of, 427.
Milne-Home, David, Death of, 523.
Milvain, Alderman Henry, Death of, 188.
Miracle Plays and Mysteries of the North, 46L
Mitford Church, 150 ; Castle, 324.
M'Kendrick, Thomas, Death of, 573.
Montpensier, Duo de, Death of, 144.
Morpeth Road, a Story of the, 39.
Morrison, John, 320, 527.
Morrttt, Mr., and Sir Walter Scott, 33.
Morritt, Robt Ambrose, Death of, 572.
Morton, Thomas, Bishop of Durham, 283.
Mosstroopers, the, 354, 402, 436, 500. 529.
Mugs, Toad, 3%.
Munoaster Castle, 40.
Murat, Jean Paul, 499.
Murders :— In Newcastle, 95, 190 ; Crewe,
240; Switzerland, 528; Canada, 528;
Oateshead, 575.
Murdock, William, and the Lighting of
Towns, 218.
Murphy, William, 525, 574.
Murrav, Lindley, at York, 267.
Mysteries of the North, Miracle Plays and, 46L
Nab Cottage, Rydalmere, 272.
Naworth Castle, the Household Books of, 257.
Neville, Cicely, the Rose of Raby, 4,
Newbrough Centenarian (Mrs. Teasdale), 522.
Newcastle :— Streets, So. , 30 ; New Assembly
Rooms, 46 ; John Knox, 59 ; Pandon
Dene, 71 ; Savings Bank Tragedy, 76 ;
Riot of 1740, 83 : Mayor and Sheriff, 89 ;
Uncle Toby's Exhibition of Toys, 94 ;
Murder, 95 ; Pantomimes, 94 ; Mys-
terious Disappearance of a German
GpTerness, Sophia Kohen, 96 ; Electric
Lighting, 96 ; Fires, 141 ; Dissolution of
Literary Club, 141 ; Explosion in Elli-
son Terrace, 142 ; Suicide of Mordaunt
Cohen, 142 ; Burns Club, 142 ; Valen-
tine Smith, 143 ; Accident to a Furni-
ture Van, 143 ; Tramway Employees,
143, 144 ; Bewick Club, 143 ; Sir Edward
Watkins, 144 ; Charles Cowden Clarke's
Visits, 148; William the Lion, 180;
Hospital Fund, 189; Edmund Gosse,
189; Execution, 190 ; R S.P.C.A. Branch
Meeting, 191 ; W. D. Stephens Elected
Alderman, 192 ; Suicide on Town Moor,
192 ; the Quayside, 215 ; Xemastle
Chronicle, 223 ; Plumbers' and Engi-
neers' Strike, 237 ; Sir J. Crichton
Browne, 238; H. M. Stanley and the
Freedom of Newcastle, 239, 381 ; Boat
Race on the Tyne, ^39 ; Sandow, Strong
Man, 240 ; New Church Schools, 257 ;
Pope Pius IL, 261 ; Bridges, 263 ; New-
castle in Danger, 283 ; Miss Helen Glad-
stone, 287; John Leland, 291; First
Public Concerts, 326 ; Government
Licensing Meeting, 332 ; Bernbard
Btavenhagen, 333 ; Fatal Accident at
Haymarket " Hoppines," 334 ; Charles
Avison'a Tombstone, 334 ; Street Calls,
379 ; Sunday Music, 381, 431 ; Gibsone's
Conches, 381 ; Gosforth Park Races, 382;
Temperance Festival, 382 ; Starvation of
Child, 382 ; St. Augustine's Church, 382 ;
St Jude's Church, 383 ; First Postman,
398; John Clayton, 422: New Town
Hall, 430 ; Joiners' Strike, 431, 527 ; J. G.
Youll's Resignation as Alderman, 431 ;
Old Street Cries, 473 ; Oystershell Hall,
474; the Mayor and H. M. Stanley's
Valet, 476 ; Storm, 477 ; Opening of Drill
Hall in Barrack Road, 477; Thomas
Richardson Elected Alderman, 478; Rose
Inn, Pudding Chare, 479 ; Town Moor
Allotments, 479 ; Presentation to Alder-
man Barkas, 479 ; John Taylor, Water
Poet, 486 ; an Arctic Expedition and a
Newcastle Election, 498 ; General Fair-
fax, 507 ; Hospital Sunday Fund, 524 ;
George Sterling and the Elswick Over-
seership, 524 ; Lifton House, 524, 525 ;
Disaster to Firemen in Mosley Street,
525, 574 ; Grand Hotel, 526, 527 ; Presen-
tation to David Urwin, 527 ; Remnant of
Roman Wall, 528 ; Benwell New Board
School, 528 ; Three Norwich Soldiers'
Description, 535 ; Failure of the District
Bank, 548 ; John and Albany Hancock,
566 ; Bath House, 571 ; Gift of Recrea-
tion Ground by Mr. W. D. Cruddas,
673; Mr. Balfour, 573; Surgeon T. H.
Parke, 573 ; Earl Granville, 573 ; Madame
Patti, 574 ; Herbert Ward, 574 ; Alder-
man Hamond, 574 ; Municipal Elections,
675; Tyneside Geographical Society,
676 ; Sir H. & Ball, 576 ; New Mayor and
Sheriff, 576 ;
Newman, Cardinal, Death of, 480.
Nicholson, John, Death of, 475.
Nicholson, John I., on Cuckoo Jack, 110.
Nicky-Nack, 37.
Niell, William, Death of, 235.
Nitric Acid Disaster in Newcastle, 525, 574.
Northbourne, Lady, Death of, 140.
North Countree, Laird of the, 174.
North-Country Artists, 181, 417, 573.
North, Deer Parks in the, 36.
North Road, Two Bits of the, 488.
Northumberland, Beacons in, 44 ; Duke,
and John Knox, 60 ; Highwaymen, 229 ;
Farmer's Wedding 140 years ago, 378 ;
Fenclbles, 439 ;
Norwich Soldiers, Three, 533.
Nugent-Hopper, G. W., on Journalistic En-
terprise at Kendal, 282; Old Will Rit-
son. 282.
Nutcracker, 375.
Oatlands, Surrey, Residence of John Han-
cock, 569.
"Ogihie's (Sawney) Duel with his Wife," 193.
Ogle Castle, 328.
Ogle, Dean, and Kirkley Hall, 314.
O'Hanlon, Michael, Death of, 572.
Oriel Window at Kenton, 327.
Ovingham Village, 7.
Oystershell Hall, Newcastle, 474.
Pack Horses in the North, 397.
Pare, Dr. David, Death of, 188.
Paley, Dr., and Guinea Dick and Farthing
Giles, 199.
Pandon Dene, Newcastle, 71 ; Home of Julia
St. George, 104.
Parke, Surgeon T. H., in Newcastle, 573.
Parker, Mr., and Coldstream Bridge, 184.
Parnell Commission, Close of, 48.
Paton, Robert, of Rothbury, Death of, 142,
486.
Patterson, W. H., 542.
Patti, Madame, in Newcastle, 574.
Pebody, Charles, Death of, 576
Peel, William, 570 ; Death of, 284.
Penrith Castle, 249; Long Meg and Her
Daughters, 273 ; Brougham Castle, 559.
Perambulations, Gateshead. 222.
Percy, Dr. , and the Hermit of Warkworth,
346.
Phipps, Hon. Constance John, 498.
Pickering, T. D., Death of, 380.
Pierson, Thomas, a Dramatist, 387.
Pinnacles, Fame Islands, 463.
Pipes, Fairy, 186.
Pipits, the, 124.
Plant Lore, Yorkshire, 474.
Plays and Mysteries of the North, Miracle,
461.
Ponteland, 503.
Pope Pius II. in the North, 361.
Postman, Newcastle's First, 393.
Preacher and the Highwayman, the, 138.
Prelate, the Captured, 323.
Price, John, Death of, 523.
Priiiule, Airnes, Artist, 399.
Prophecies, Mother Shipton and Her, 61.
Pudding Chare, 138.
Pudsey, Bishop, 119.
Pybus, Robert, Death of, 572.
Q. E. D., the First Screw Collier, 200.
Quack Doctor, Luke Long, 275.
Quayside, Newcastle, 215.
Quin, Stephen, Sheriff of Newcastle, 576.
Raby, the Rose of, 4.
Radcliffe, James, the Last Earl of Derwent-
water, 1 ; Charles, 101.
Ramsay, John, Death of, 427.
Ranulph de Glanville, 180.
Raven, the, 22L
Redesdale Thieves, 501.
Redmarshall Church, 543.
Redpole, Lesser, 163.
Redstart, 654.
Red Tarn and Striding Edge, 56L
Reformation, Morning Star of the, 518.
Reid, Christian Bruce, Death of, 91.
Relph, Joseph, of Sebergham, 463.
Renforth, Stephen, Presentation to, 384.
Richardson, T. M., Jun., Death of, 93;
James, Death of, 379.
Riot, of 1740, the Newcastle, 83 ; Sunderland
Seamen, 508.
Riteon, Old Will, Death of, 183, 282.
Robbery at Kirkley Hall, 314.
Robinson Crusoe (Bracev R. Wilson), Death
of, 91.
Robinson, G. F., 181; Rev. Thomas, Death
of, 476 ; John, Death, of 476.
Robson, Wm. Wealands, on Justice Cress-
well, 69 ; Turnip Husbandry, 101.
IV.
INDEX.
Rogers, J. E. Thorold. Death of, 576.
Roker, Boating Fatality at, 430.
Roman Bath Found at Weaterton Folly, 431.
Roman Wall, Remnant of, 528.
Rookhope Hyde, 228.
Rose Inn, Pudding Chare, Newcastle, 479.
Rothbury, Storm at. 142.
Rnutledge, George, Will of, 142.
Kuskin, John, and Brantwood, 513 ; Dicky
Bird Society, 526.
Russia, Outbreak of Influenza in, 48, 96.
Rutherford, Dr. John Hunter, 226, 235;
Will of. 283.
Rutherford, John Henry, Death of, 429.
Rydalinere, Nab Cottage, 272.
Sadler, Joseph, Death of. 92.
" Sair Feyl'd, Hinny," 325.
Salve, Madame Stote and her, 33.
" Sanctuary, The," 447.
Sark, the Battle of, 292.
" Saufey Money," 437.
Saving Bank Tragedy, Newcastle, 76.
Scots, William the Lion, Kins.' of, 178.
Scott, Sir Walter, and Mr. Horritt, 33;
Hranxholme Tower, 434 ; " Kinmont
Willie," 453 ; Liddesdale, 513.
Scott, John, Karl of Eklon, and Coldstream
Briilce. 183 ; Bessie Surtees, 215 ; Alder-
man John O., Death of, 187, 287 ;
Percival. Death of, 379 ; Adam, King of
the Border, 438.
Scotus, Duns, 459.
Seaham, New (Xicky-Nack) Colliery. 37.
Seamen's Kiot at Sunderland, 1825, 608.
Searle, Henry Ernest, Death of. 48.
Seaton Delaval Hall and the Delavals, 251.
Sehergham, Joseph Relph of, 468.
Shadforth, Robert. Mayor of Sunderland, 575.
Sharp, Archdeacon, of Hartburn, 391.
Shield, William, composer, 14 ; John, and
" Barber's News," 52.
"Shields in an I'proar, Barber's News, or," 52.
Shields, Wooden Dolly, 161; B-^ll Ring, 232;
Burning Hills, 276; Old Highlander,
326 ; Opening of New Post Office, 383 ;
.Seventy Years A«o, 390.
Shilbottle, Blue Bonnet, the, 244.
Shipton, Mother, and her Prophecies, 61 ;
Cave at Knaresborough, 63.
Shortreed, Robert, and Liddesdale, 513.
" Show me the Way to Wallington," 421.
Shrike, or Butcher Bird, 247.
Side, Jock o' the, 531.
Skiddaw, Hermit of, 43, SO, 231.
"Skipper's Wedding, the." 269.
Slack, John, Death of, 92 ; Thomas and
Mrs., 224.
Smith, George, Hermit of Skiddaw, 43, 90,
231 ; Valentine, 135, 143 ; James,
Draughts Champion, Death of, 188;
William and the Cleveland Tragedy, 385.
Smollett and Akenside, 330.
Snape, Dr. James, 196.
Snowdon, Ann, niece of George Stephenson,
Death of, 427.
Soaras, Cutty, 214.
Soldiers, Three Norwich, 533.
Southampton, Serious Kiots at, 480.
Southey, Rooert, 175.
Spence, Joseph, Death of, 91 ; John Forster,
5<!l, 52V ; Robert, Death of, 429 ; John,
Death of, 573.
Spindlestone Heuirh, the Laidley Worm of,
Sprite, Lark Hall, 558.
St. Augustine's Church, Newcastle, 382.
St. Coluiuba's Church, Sunderland : Con-
secration Ceremony. 335.
St George, Julia, and Pandon Dene, 74, 103.
St. George's Church, Jesmond, Newcastle,
441.
St. Hilda's Church, East Hartlepool, 55.
St. Jude's Church, Newcastle, iSJ.
St Oswald's Church, Durham, 152.
Sugg. Mrs., Sister of Sir Francis Blake. 451.
Staite, W. E., and Electric Lighting, 220.
Stanhope, Deer Park at, 36.
Stanley, H. M., 48; 283, 333, 336; Freedom
of Newcastle, 239 ; in Newcastle, 381 ;
" Darkest Africa," 384 ; Edinburgh and
Manchester Freedom, 384 ; Marriage, 432.
Stanwix, Gun Accident at, 528.
Stapylton, Miles, 532.
Stavenhagen, Herr Bernhard, 333.
Steward Farm House, 2.
Stay Busk, a Weardale, 378.
Steel, John, and the Wild Dog of Ennerdale,
555.
Stephens, W. D., 192.
Stephenson, William, 269 ; C. H., on Jed-
dart Axe, 294 ; on Smollett and Aken-
side, 330 ; on Lumley Kettlewell, 564 ;
Robert, Death of, 427.
Stockton and the Invention of the Lucifer
Match, 147 ; Free Library, 575.
Stokoe, John, on North-Country Garland of
Song, 6, 52, 109, 165, 198, 269, 325, 372,
421, 453, 434, 558.
Storey, Alderman, 575.
Storm on the North-East Coast, 240.
Stote, Madame, and her Salve, 33.
Street Calls in Newcastle, 379, 473.
Striding Edge and Red Tarn, 561.
Strong Men : the Commons, 234.
" Success to the Coal Trade," 494.
Sunday Music in Newcastle, 387.
Sunderland, Tragedy in, 94 ; Jack Crawford
Memorial, 239; St Columba Church,
Southwick, 335; Town and Port, 406;
Seamen's Riot, 1825, 508; New Town
Hall, 575 ; Alderman Storey, 575.
Surtees, Bessie, and Coldstream Bridge, 183,
215.
Swan. J. W., and Electric Light, 220;
William's Misfortunes, 273.
Sweden, Gustavus of, Assassination of, 318.
Swing Bridge, Newcastle, 263.
Stybarrow Crag and Ullswater, 63.
Tait, James, on a Liddesdale Farmer, 513.
Tantield, and Stephen Hollin's Ghost, 27L
Taylor, " Lord Kenedy." the Bigamist. 481 ;
John, " Water Poet," 485.
Tearney, James (" Blind Jimmy "), Death
of, 523.
Tea.sdale, Mary, a Centenarian, 522.
Tennant, Miss Dorothy, and Mr. Thomas
Burt, M.P., 333; at Wallington, 432;
Marriage to H. M. Stanley, 432.
Tennyson, Lord, and the Dicky Bird Society,
526.
Temperance Advocate (William Peel), 570.
Teviotdale, Raids in, 405.
Thain, James, and the Assassination of
Gustavus of Sweden, 319.
Thompson, John, Death of, 572; Wm. Gill,
85 ; Lewis, Bequest of, 477.
Thomson, James, on Aydon Forest, 37.
Thornton, Roger, and Pandon Dene, 74.
" Thornton Brass," Restoration of, 191.
Titmouse Family, 86.
Toad Mugs, 396, 474.
Tomlinson, W. W., on Ovingham Village, 7 ;
Elsdon Village, 159 ; Clavering's Cross,
546.
Tomsett, Madame (Mrs. Heenan), 396.
Topham, Thomas, in Gateshead, 283.
Towneley Farrily, the, 12iu
Towns, the Lighting of. 218.
Tragedies :— Savings Bank, Newcastle, 76 ;
Sunderland, 94; Gateshead, 381, 575;
Cleveland, 385 ; New Cross. London,
432 ; Leeming, near Bedale, 525 ; Kent-
ish Town, London, 576.
Traslaw, Cuthbert H., on Pudding Chare, 138.
Tuer, Andrew W., on Fairy Pipes, 186.
Tunstall. Bishop, and John Knox, 59.
Tupper, Martin P., Death of, 48.
Turnbull, John, " Henwife Jack," 522,
Turn bull, Mr., and Lark Hall Sprite, 558.
Turnip Husbandry, 101.
Twizell House, Northumberland, 249 ; Castle
and Bridge, 451.
Tyne Conservancy Contest, the, 131 ; Bridge,
266.
Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade, 319.
527; Jingling Geordie's Hole, 349;
Dicky Bird Society Boats, 430.
Tyzack, Wilfrid, Death of, 427.
Ullswater and Stybarrow Crajr, 63.
Uncle Toby's Exhibition of Toys, 94 ; Boats
at Tynemouth, 430 ; Dicky Bird Society,
524 ; Lord Tennyson's Letter, 526.
United States, Census of, 576.
Urwin, David, Presentation to, 527.
Wakenshaw, Thomas, Death of, 379.
Walker, John, Inventor of the Lucifer
Match, 146 ; Wylam, Death of, 476.
Wallace, W., on the Helm Wind, 13.
Wallington, Northumberland, 358 ; " Show
me the Way to," 421 ; Dorothy Tennant
(Mrs. H. M. Stanley) at, 43H
Wallis, Rev. Richard, 42.
Walters, Rev. Frank, 557, 575; Robert,
Death of, 57a
Walton, Thomas, Death of, 523.
Walwick Chesters, 570.
Warblers, 015.
Ward, Herbert, 574.
Warkworth Castle, 23 ; Hermit 346.
Wat o' Harden, 357 ; Buocleugh, 530.
" Water Poet" in the North, 485.
Watkin, Sir Edward, in Newcastle, 144.
Watson, G., on Family Longevity, 281;
Mason, Death of, 284.
Watts, Norris, Shooting of, 674.
Waugh, Edwin, Death of, 288.
Weardale Knitting Stick, a, 90 ; Rookhope
Ryde, 228 ; Holystone, 330 ; Stay Busk,
"V7R
" Wedding, the Skipper's," 269.
Weedy, James, Murder of, in Bedale, 525.
Welford, Kichard, on " Men of Mark 'Twixt
Tyne and Tweed" :— 19, 55, 114, 154, 202,
250, 289, 337, 411, 441, 489, 537; Dr.
Cradock, an illfated Churchman, 78 ;
Gateshead Perambulations, 223; Luke
Long, Quack Doctor, 275.
Werner, Hildegard, on Charles and Eugene
D'Albert, 105.
Westcott, Bishop, 236, 332.
Westerton Follv, Relics found at, 431.
Whisky, Illicit, in North- West Durham, 510.
White, Robert, and the Miller of the Clock
Mill, 487.
Whitefleld, George, in the North, 321.
Whittle, Thomas, m
Wiggins, Captain, in Newcastle, 47.
Wilkins, the Rev. John, Death of, 187.
Wilkinson. Bishop of Hexham and New-
castle, 190 ; Northumbrian Highway-
man, 229; Rev. George P., Death of, 475.
William the Lion, King of Scots, 178.
" Willie, Kinmont," 453, 530,
Wilson, Sarah, on Hume Abbey, 416; on
Brislee Tower, Alnwick, 440 ; on Bond-
gate Tower, Alnwick, 496; Bracey R.,
Death of, 91 ; John (Cuckoo Jack), 110;
F. R., on Alnwick Castle, 303; Alex-
ander, Death of, 332 ; W. E., on Branx-
holme Tower, 433.
Winlaton Hopping, 6 ; Mill, 535-6-7.
Winter's Stob, Elsdon, 134.
Wolsey, Cardinal, and Mother Shipton, 62.
Wolsingham, the Highlanders at, 246.
Woolhouse, W. 8. B., 327.
Wordsworth on Dungeon Gill Force, 346.
Workinpton Hall, 352.
Worm, Laidley, of Spindlestone Heugh, 193.
Wreck at South Shields, 240.
Wren, the, 16.
Wrightson, Thomas, and Free Library for
Stockton, 575.
Wycliffe, John, 518 ; Church, 520, 52L
Wynyard Hall, 564, 574.
York, Lindley Murray at, 267; Lumley
Kettlewell, 563.
Yorkshire Plant Lore, 474,
Youll's (J. G.) Resignation as Alderman of
Newcastle, 431.
Pape 28, col 2, line 29— for
eleventh.''
•fourteenth" read "tenth or
Page 28, coL 2, lines 35, 37, and 38-delete from " This was " to
" to himself."
Page 308, col 2, line 26— for " 400 apartments " read " 200 apart-
ments."
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